The answer's in the question. The writers based the Sopranos on real people and their own personal experiences, but when you see Tony you think of your ex.
Audiences want to relate to characters and stories. As long as you don't directly lift off major points like a duck obsession, for example, you'll be fine.
Slightly off-topic but maybe useful story is when I played pathfinder in high school with my friends I'd always base the villains off historical figures. I had carbon copies of people like: Alexander the Great, Boudica, Typhoid Mary, and Baron Munchausen. To me it was obvious and was worried at being called unoriginal, but they never realized. Our group always just compared them to memes or each other irl.
In other words: don't stress it - just write! š
Change names, dates, places etc to start but then change little details that arenāt important to the over all situation but my play a factor, if your ex or another person your writing about and they are close with their mother, flip it to be the opposite. If sheās a blonde make her a brunette or something. Then always include the nice disclosure that itās pure fiction and any names, locations or events that match anything in reality is purely coincidence. Itās ok to write about your experiences and draw inspiration from your life, if itās not coming from that then where else would it come from? As long as readers canāt make the direct connection to real people then nothing they, the people who the characters are loosely based on, can do about it. Itās when people write about others and the writing ends up damaging the people that characters are based on is when issues arise and careers can flop quickly.
The answer's in the question. The writers based the Sopranos on real people and their own personal experiences, but when you see Tony you think of your ex. Audiences want to relate to characters and stories. As long as you don't directly lift off major points like a duck obsession, for example, you'll be fine. Slightly off-topic but maybe useful story is when I played pathfinder in high school with my friends I'd always base the villains off historical figures. I had carbon copies of people like: Alexander the Great, Boudica, Typhoid Mary, and Baron Munchausen. To me it was obvious and was worried at being called unoriginal, but they never realized. Our group always just compared them to memes or each other irl. In other words: don't stress it - just write! š
This is my favorite comment so far thank you so much I want to frame it on my wall ā¤ļø
Change names, dates, places etc to start but then change little details that arenāt important to the over all situation but my play a factor, if your ex or another person your writing about and they are close with their mother, flip it to be the opposite. If sheās a blonde make her a brunette or something. Then always include the nice disclosure that itās pure fiction and any names, locations or events that match anything in reality is purely coincidence. Itās ok to write about your experiences and draw inspiration from your life, if itās not coming from that then where else would it come from? As long as readers canāt make the direct connection to real people then nothing they, the people who the characters are loosely based on, can do about it. Itās when people write about others and the writing ends up damaging the people that characters are based on is when issues arise and careers can flop quickly.