Serious question, my writing prompt borrowed from a coworker's tough week
I figured real struggles add depth to fiction (heck, it's how stories grow), but now it seems like I'm mining their pain for ideas. Where's the line on using real life in prompts?
What specific lines come to mind that writers shouldn't cross? Like, using a friend's traumatic story without asking feels obviously wrong, but what about basing a villain loosely on a public figure? Where's that messy middle ground?