Reply to Subject of famous/infamous New Yorker "Cat Person" short story revealed

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Writers who claim that it’s normal to borrow so many true-life details that readers can identify the actual people on which characters were based are probably crappy writers. It’s not difficult to develop characters that aren’t obviously based on real people. And it’s the ethical thing to do. [/quote]

Yes, crappy writers like Hemingway:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Farewell_to_Arms: The novel was based on Hemingway's own experiences serving in the Italian campaigns during the First World War. The inspiration for Catherine Barkley was Agnes von Kurowsky, a nurse who cared for Hemingway in a hospital in Milan after he had been wounded. He had planned to marry her but she spurned his love when he returned to America.[5] Kitty Cannell, a Paris-based fashion correspondent, became Helen Ferguson. The unnamed priest was based on Don Giuseppe Bianchi, the priest of the 69th and 70th regiments of the Brigata Ancona. Although the sources for Rinaldi are unknown, the character had already appeared in In Our Time.

Or Fitzgerald, fictionalizing his friends the Murphys in Tender is the Night (spoiler: they did not enjoy being fictionalized):

https://www.hellomonaco.com/sightseeing/history-pages/stranger-than-fiction-the-real-lives-that-inspired-tender-is-the-night/#:~:text=On%20July%2028%2C%201962%2C%20Gerald,%2C%20by%20twenty%2Dfour%20years.

I'm not saying the author of Cat Person is Hemingway or Fitzgerald, but your comment, though it sounds good, is naive about how (a lot of) writers work.[/quote]

That was a different time and ethics were different then. Also, it was before the advent of social media, which changes the ball game. How many people at that time even realized who those character were based on? If CP writer had just changed a few more details, no one would have put two and two together. [/quote]

PP again. I meant to say not just social media but the internet in general. No one is suggesting you can’t base characters off of real people, but in this day and age, if the real people can be quickly and easily identified, then you’re either a lazy/crappy writer or unethical (or both).[/quote]

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