Fictional renaming can give characters more reality than biographical fidelity would

Evidence

No doubt Peace changed the names in part to avoid legal action, but in an odd way the extra imaginative latitude he is granted by not being compelled into fidelity to actual biography gives the characters more reality. He is able to get inside their heads in a way that would not be possible with actual biographical individuals. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 217

Categorization

• APHORISMS: A counterintuitive craft principle: the constraint of real identity can reduce rather than increase a writer’s ability to render convincing interiority.
• XREF: connects to: Recognizable fictional characters must be recorded faithfully from life, not softened — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1039; Deliberate small flaws make a persona read as more authentic — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 271

Broader Connections

• Recognizable fictional characters must be recorded faithfully from life, not softened #contradicts (0.85) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1039
• Deliberate small flaws make a persona read as more authentic #expands (0.72) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 271