Disguise Your Characters

If you're going to write fiction that's even vaguely autobiographical—and which of us hasn't?—in trying to decide what to put in and what to leave out, don't consider what your friends, neighbors and especially your immediate family are going to think and or say, assuming, that is, that they ever read what you write. You don't want to hurt people deliberately; if you've got the proper skills, you can disguise most people so they won't recognize themselves.

ANNE BERNAYS