Because she writes realistic fiction, Author Judy Blume says her family and friends often assume that characters in her books are based on them. Her mother, in particular, told her daughter to leave her out of her books and was convinced Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself was too close to home. Although she draws from her own experiences—especially those from when she was 9-12, years she remembers vividly—Ms. Blume says that more times than not her characters are fictional.
