Some time ago I wrote a short story which was inspired by a news article that I read years ago, and couldn't get out of my mind. The news article was about someone who got killed by being hit on the head by a remote control model plane. The story is told from the point of view of the victim's brother (whether there was a brother or not in real life, I don't know), and explores the feelings that might come from losing a member of your family so abruptly and in such an unlikely way: grief, anger, and extending that into a sense of how ludicrous, cruel and arbitrary life can be. I create a character for the dead person, too.
Anyway, I've never submitted this story anywhere before, and I'd quite like to send it off to a particular competition where part of the prize is getting the story published in a collection. Thing is, in the unlikely event that I win, I would hate it if someone who was related to the original victim happened to read the story and was upset by it. Should I submit it, or not?

Oooo! Good question. I've just heard today’s news about a nurse injecting patients to stop their breathing so that he could enjoy reviving them – it’s eerily similar to a crime novel I've been writing off and on for the past couple of years, which kind of freaked me out a bit.

I think most of us find inspiration in everyday life, which can often be too bizarre for fiction. I would say go for it, but try and change as much detail as possible. In practice, many deaths are the result of a series of events, all of which need to happen in the correct sequence to get the victim into the wrong place at the wrong time. Does it have to be a model airplane? Could it be something falling off a real plane?

Dee

Get this, I posted a synopsis for a play about a Victorian murder in the synopsis group and was contacted by not one but two relatives of the killer. One , a grandson said could I be discreet as the murderer at remarried at a very late age and had two children who were still alive and did not know of the murder! I told him that as yet I had no plans for it as I was busy but as the story was in the public domain I felt it deserved to be explored. Having said that, yours is still a very raw subject, I agree with Dee, change the object to something else. Good luck, I remember that awful news story breaking at tthe time and thinking how bizarre it was.

Jubbly

My gosh, Jubbly, that's incredible, what a coincidence that they'd be on writewords! Life definitely is stranger than fiction...
It's a good idea about changing the object, I'll think about it. I just can't imagine anything more insanely appalling and yet ludicrous than what actually happened. the fact that you remember the story too, shows it was something that resonated with a lot of people.
Thanks both for your replies.
Leila

I once heard of someone who died after being struck by a block of frozen urine that fell from an aeroplane… but that could be urban legend.

Dee

They weren't on writewords, they just did a google search for their relatives and my proposal came up, they then joined WW as trial members to contact me. You never know Dee, sometimes the fact is stranger than fiction, and don't even get me started on the day I've had with a certain delivery firm, grrrrrr!

xx