Julie BroadYour Non-Fiction Sidekick for Writing, Publishing & Marketing a Book That Builds Your Brand and Grows Your Biz

How to Write About People in Your Book - Tip 3

29 Apr 2023 · 1 min

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Julie Broad recommends blurring identifying details in sensitive passages: use "a friend" instead of a name, change gender, switch to they/them. She acknowledges the person may still recognize themselves, but says protecting privacy matters less than finishing your book and letting readers into your real life.

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The third and final tip I have for you Blur the details of who you are talking about when you know it's going to be sensitive. Now this doesn't work if you're writing about your brother and you have to disclose that it's your brother. But it can work to say a member of my family or a friend or someone I met or a client and you can refer to them even as the opposite sex or just say they or them. Likely the person will figure out who you're talking about and might have feelings about what you say, but nobody else will know and you'll have to realize that their feelings are their feelings and you didn't write the book for them, you wrote it for your reader and for you. Most importantly, write your book. It's your book, it's your memory, your experience of what happened to you. Your reader will only benefit if you get the book done and into the world and you share some of those personal experiences.