Reality Versus Fiction

The danger in using something that happened in real life, at least to some degree, as the basis of a novel is you may find, as I have, that you become too concerned with telling the story of what really happened, and not concerned enough with telling a great story.  I have my beta reader to thank for indirectly pointing this out through his outstanding feedback.

In reading the notes my beta reader wrote for me, sometimes, I wanted to write back and say, "But this really happened.  Why would you ask me to change it when that's not what took place?"

Fortunately, my beta reader has no idea what really happened.  All he knows is what he sees on the page I've written, and, on the basis of that, he knows it could be better.  It could be reduced here, and beefed up there.  Instead of your protagonist doing this, he should do that.  If you change it–that is, if you depart from what you remember happening, and imagine that this could happen in its place–then, potentially, your story will be stronger, your characters more compelling, and your reader more absorbed in what's going on.  Plus, I hasten to add, writing the damn thing might be more interesting too. 

So, although real life is often the source of material for a novel, beyond providing the characters and the basis of a situation, everything else should be open for re-imagining.  At the very least, don't allow yourself to get into a rut around recreating what really happened, to the extent that you can't see beyond it, can't see the possibilities.  What really happened is one thing.  What should happen in the story you're telling is something else altogether.      

Another great reason for a beta reader.