# I read a fiction novel, and I am convinced the author knows who I am **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109 "2023-05-16T03:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Michael\_Varn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michael_varn/32/14411_2.png) [@Michael\_Varn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Varn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/1 "2023-05-16T03:52:44Z")
Are you an avid reader of fiction? Have you ever come across a character in a fiction novel that bears a striking resemblance to you? Iam not just talking about generalities here, because in order to attract readers, authors will create characters that alot of people can identify with in order to sell books. No, Iam talking about specifics, and a proponderance of them. Now, this may be a topic you might expect to find on Creepy Pasta, but I will continue here. It stands to reason that writers and creators of fiction, which also includes movies and music, may not only base stories and characters on themselves and their life experiences, but also other people. These “other people” that you may expect here would be family members, close friends, or associates of the author, writer, or creator. Many film makers and musicians over the years have revealed the identities of these “other people” while they were being interviewed and questioned about the source material for their work. For example, Paul Mcartney of the the Beatles wrote their song, “All The Lonely People”, and included a name in the lyrics, Elanor Rigby. We had to wait fifty some odd years before Paul Mcartney revealed that Elanor Rigby was a real person, a scullery maid who worked and was buried in the cemetary of the church where the band members met. What is interesting to me about these “other people” is how far removed they could be from the author, writer, or creator. They never met. There is no distant family connection. There is absolutely no connection between the author and the reader. But somehow, the author knows who you are!!! In my case it seemed to me that that through a fictional character, the author was detailing my entire life from early childhood, through adolescence, and into adulthood. Now, with all of this being said, Iam just going to assume it is just a coincidence, and just leave it at that. The title and author of the book will remain anonymous. But hypothetically this scenario is plausable, and Iam willing to bet this has actually happened to someone somewhere at sometime. Could it be you? If so, the author most likely will never reveal who you are publicly to their fan base. But that is the most interesting thing of all. You will have a mystery to ponder from time to time for the rest of your life that will never be solved. It is possible, however unlikely, that this author I speak of knows who Iam. If so, the question is how did the author learn about me, and why did the author decide to write about me? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/2 "2023-05-16T05:29:09Z")
As a teen that was an avid reader, yes, I occasionally came across stuff that made me want to search my bedroom for hidden cameras or listening devices. I gradually realized I was typical (though I’ve oddly had trouble convincing other people). ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/3 "2023-05-16T06:14:06Z")
Madison was a shy, awkward, inwardly beautiful teenaged girl just like you. -Brandon Specktor [2013 Lyttle Lytton Contest](https://adamcadre.ac/13lyttle.html) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/4 "2023-05-16T06:18:27Z")
It’s easy to assume the “OMG, that’s just like me!” attitude. When in reality people see us as very different than we see ourselves. Yeah, coinkydink, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/5 "2023-05-16T09:36:27Z")
> [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > Iam not just talking about generalities here […] > No, Iam talking about specifics […] > Iam just going to assume it is just a coincidence […] > Iam willing to bet this has actually happened to someone somewhere at sometime. > It is possible, however unlikely, that this author I speak of knows who Iam. Iam Sam Iam (Maim a Smai) I know what book it was. It’s by Dr. Seuss, right? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/6 "2023-05-16T09:46:24Z")
In the early days of the comic “Dilbert”, I was convinced the author worked not only for my corporation, but probably in my division. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d been located in my cube-farm somewhere. But never for something as complex as a fiction novel. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/7 "2023-05-16T10:08:27Z")
Okay, I’ll go ahead and admit it - I wrote the book, and yes, it is about you. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/8 "2023-05-16T10:37:14Z")
One thing to keep in mind is that if you are so unique that you are literally a “one-in-a-million” type of person, there are 8,000 people in the world just like you. > [@pullin](#): > > In the early days of the comic “Dilbert”, I was convinced the author worked not only for my corporation, but probably in my division. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d been located in my cube-farm somewhere. If you are an engineer, Dilbert wasn’t a comic, it was a documentary. I used to hang comics up on a bulletin board outside of my office. The one comic I could never put up there was Dilbert because the jokes always hit way too close to home. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/9 "2023-05-16T10:44:48Z")
You need to be really careful when convinced that a total stranger knows details about you or you may end up rooming with David Letterman or asking Kenneth about the frequency. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/10 "2023-05-16T11:34:37Z")
Alas, without the willingness (be it from privacy or legal concerns) to give all the specific details here, there’s really nothing we can say here to you. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/11 "2023-05-16T12:41:55Z")
The OP is in pretty good company. [The same thing happened to Roberta Flack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4A5XuMz_Tw), though in song, not novel form. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Varn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michael_varn/32/14411_2.png) [@Michael\_Varn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Varn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/12 "2023-05-16T13:23:28Z")
Have you ever seen the movie “Feild of Dreams” with Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones? The way their two characters came into contact with one another is related to this topic. The JEJ character was an author who wrote a book about baseball, and mentioned the name of a player who was vitually unknown. The player was called up for one game and played just one inning in the outfeild. This player turned out to be the father of the KC character. Now, if the player was famous and well known, the KC character would have thought nothing of it. But the fact that the player was so obscure, the KC character was interested. So interested in fact, that he traveled clear accross the country to meet the author to figure out wether the inclusion of his father in the book was just random, or if there was more to it than that. Of course, Iam not going to spoil the rest of the film for those of you who have not seen it. ---
**Author:** ![NinthAcolyte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ninthacolyte/32/13676_2.png) [@NinthAcolyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinthAcolyte)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/13 "2023-05-16T13:29:08Z")
There’s a certain kind of mildly-kinky sexy art I’m fond of, and last week I saw a picture in that “genre” of a character who _looks a lot like me, named my actual for-realsies name._ I just about choked to death on my Diet Coke. The picture was a commission of someone’s original character, and a little research showed they’d been commissioning art of the character for _ages._ There’s no possibility that it’s actually based on _me._ Still. It was one of those moments where you kind of feel reality dissolve around you and you feel like you’re dreaming. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/14 "2023-05-16T13:30:16Z")
I’ve certainly seen my Doppelgänger out in the world. But not since my 20s. We all seem to age in idiosyncratic ways. All old people look alike in some ways, but somehow we also look more different from each other than we did when we were 20. One of my high school friends fancied himself a writer & wrote bad teenage fiction based very clearly on his cast of friends, including me. None of that was ever published. Unless the OP has some reason to believe the author, or one of the authors advisers / researchers, is personally acquainted with him, the OP is simply fooling himself. > [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > But somehow, the author knows who you are!!! No, the author doesn’t. > [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > It is possible, however unlikely, that this author I speak of knows who Iam. > > If so, the question is how did the author learn about me, and why did the author decide to write about me? If we assume, _arguendo_, that the author does know who you (generic “you”, not **Michael\_Varn** “you”) are, the likely ways they’d know somebody here in the 2020s is via their voluminous social media posts. Better still if you had a common hometown or college or once shared an employer. Of course the larger a public personality you are, the more knowable you become. If you’re an ordinary schlub such as myself, the odds the author is really writing based on you collapse to approximately zero plus/minus zero. IMO the OP’s entire notion is mostly fanciful. The Beatles picked the name “Eleanor Rigby” off a headstone as a generic female name with the right number of syllables to match the meter of their song. They did not write the song about a dead scullery maid of that name from that town. It smells to me like the OP is having trouble with this distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/15 "2023-05-16T13:32:58Z")
If you’ve never met the author and they have no reason to know about you, odds are that any resemblance between you and the character are coincidental. “Eleanor Rigby” actually _was_ the name of the Beatles song, not “All The Lonely People”. Sorry, just had to mention that. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/16 "2023-05-16T13:43:41Z")
There’s a book set in my city (Brisbane) called Praise by Andrew McGahan. He grew up in Dalby, a country town a few hours drive away. He went to HS with an ex of mine. The book is semi autobiographical and includes excruciatingly graphic and kinky sexual detail about his relationships. The main one is with a girl who is the very embodiment of the reason you “don’t stick your dick in the crazy”. To anyone who grew up in the same town as Andrew McGahan and went to the same HS it is completely obvious who the girl is. Quite mean really. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Varn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michael_varn/32/14411_2.png) [@Michael\_Varn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Varn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/17 "2023-05-16T13:49:03Z")
In the Police song, “Don’t Stand So Close to me” , Sting was singing about his days as a high school teacher. The premise of the song was about one of his female students who was flirting with him in class. Most high school teachers deem this behavior inappropriate for obvious reasons. And Sting wrote a song about it. The question is wether or not this female student was fictional, or a real person. If so, I guess fans of the band would like to know who this person is, you know, like Elanor Rigby. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/18 "2023-05-16T14:28:16Z")
steven king definitely is writing about me whenever he writes about alcoholism, addiction, and the recovery process. his insights into my thoughts and feelings scares me more than the deadlights or the wendigo or the lobstrosities or the cellar in jerusalem’s lot ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/19 "2023-05-16T14:33:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The Beatles picked the name “Eleanor Rigby” off a headstone as a generic female name with the right number of syllables to match the meter of their song. They did not write the song about a dead scullery maid of that name from that town. Even if they did: did they know whether she actually felt lonely? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109/20 "2023-05-16T14:34:24Z")
ETA: @ **QtM** a couple posts above. Tolstoy may have written: > All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. And he was doubtless a keen observer of the human condition, far beyond mere mortals such as myself. But ISTM that dysfunctional individual behavior is surprisingly routine and stereotypical. e.g. Pretty much every alcoholic’s descent runs the same track with the same branches for the same reasons, differing only in minor details. As the lawyers might say, there are plenty of distinctions in each case that don’t rise to the level of a difference. Said another way, the _what_ is far more variable and individual than the _why_. > [@Michael\_Varn](#): > > If so, I guess fans of the band would like to know who this person is, you know, like Elanor Rigby. And do you suppose the girl (woman now) wants the world to know who she was/is? Probably not. As @Princhester says, for an author who grew up in a small enough town, and who has few scruples about outing real people there, the other contemporary townies can certainly sort out which character(s) represent which local(s). At least for the flamboyant ones. And unless that fact is publicized across the rest of the internet, the “secret” stays within the contemporary townies & their immediate acquaintances; it probably doesn’t rise to the level of something to go viral. Which may be just as damaging to the outed locals, since their townies are the only ones they interact with. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-a-fiction-novel-and-i-am-convinced-the-author-knows-who-i-am/984109.md?page=2)