Author Talk: Hey, is that me in your book?

Most novelists aspire to create three-dimensional, unforgettable characters. But is it OK for writers to model their characters on real people?

Perth novelist Marcia van Zeller, author of Be a Good Girl, Valerie will explore:

• how some of the world’s most celebrated novelists have drawn from actual people to create complex, believable characters

• the pitfalls (legal and ethical) of making characters readily recognisable to readers.

Marcia will also share her own process of writing Be a Good Girl, Valerie, inspired by her own lived experience. (She is often asked the question, Are you Valerie?)

Van Zeller will present her novel Be a Good Girl Valerie. In the story, Valerie is very comfortable being an older woman. She can wear Rockport loafers on her feet, trousers with elasticated waists, and keep her hair in an unassuming mid-length bob. She has long accepted the sheltered age of invisibility. But when she learns that her young Gen Z co-worker, Anna, has effectively been fired for rejecting the older boss’s advances, Valerie boldly becomes Anna’s champion and in doing so, awakens long-suppressed, traumatic memories from her own past. 

Has the world progressed since 1978? Will the courts care about a crime committed decades ago? Whose memory will be believed? 

Born in Canada, Marcia van Zeller completed a BA at the University of Toronto before landing a job in television production. She arrived in Perth, Western Australia in the 1980s to embark on a long career in journalism and professional writing. After many years spent composing words to the specifications of others, Marcia decided she had a story or two of her own to tell. She completed her first novel as part of her PhD thesis through Curtin University’s School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry. Marcia continues to work as a freelance editor and is a professional member of the Institute of Professional Editors WA.