History Main / RomanAClef

* In the early 2020s former Music/GirlsGeneration member Jessica Jung wrote two young adult romance novels, ''Shine'' and it's sequel ''Bright''. Both books are based on Jung's life story as a K-Pop trainee and eventually an idol. In particular, some of Bright's plot bears heavy resemblance to events from Jung's career, most notably the main character establishes a fashion line and eventually leaves her group.

* The very premise of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' is that the eponymous author is trailing Detective Beckett around for inspiration. While the plots of his novels don't draw directly from the cases he "consults" on, the characters do. This is no secret in-universe. A method actress cast as Castle's protagonist Nikki Heat even got in-character by joining him in following Beckett around to learn her mannerisms. And Beckett's not even his first muse. The protagonist of one of his earlier series, Clara Striker, is based on a CIA agent he shadowed. No word on who "inspired" his one male protagonist, Derek Storm, but based on his track record, the in-universe real life version is probably walking around somewhere.

* The infamous 1979 ExploitationFilm ''Guyana: Crime of the Century'' (aka ''Guyana: Cult of the Damned'') was made just months after the Jonestown tragedy, and was all about Congressman "Lee O'Brien" and his journey to Guyana to investigate Rev. "[[UsefulNotes/JimJones James Johnson]]" and his remote jungle commune called "Johnsontown".

The name is pronounced "Ro-''mahn'' ah ''cley''."[[note]]/ʁɔmɑ̃ a kle/ in French[[/note]] It's French for, roughly, "novel with a key" (read: decoder ring). As seen [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_a_clef here]] on Website/TheOtherWiki, sometimes the key to who the names were supposed to be would be published and in circulation. It has nothing at all to do with [[IncrediblyLamePun unusual Italian musical notation]] or [[Website/SCPFoundation Dr. Alto Clef]].

* The 50's sci-fi show ''Series/OneStepBeyond'' was allegedly this. In many cases the veracity of the strange plots of the episodes can actually be confirmed.

* The 50's sci-fi show ''One Step Beyond'' was allegedly this. In many cases the veracity of the strange plots of the episodes can actually be confirmed.

A fictional account of RealLife events, loaded with {{Captain Ersatz}}es of real people. These are often autobiographical or RippedFromTheHeadlines. These differ from InspiredBy and VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory in that the story is not [[{{Dramatization}} dramatized]], merely [[LawyerFriendlyCameo retold with different proper nouns]]. (Which isn't to say that ''no'' ArtisticLicense whatsoever is taken.) Historically, many of these have been great success merely from people in high society buying them to figure out if they are one of the characters.

* The ''Dragnet'' parody ''St. George and the Dragonet'' by Stan Freberg for Creator/CapitolRecords.
--->'''Narrator:''' The legend you are about to hear is true. Only the needle should be changed to protect the record.
** And again in ''Little Blue Riding Hood''.
--->'''Narrator:''' The story of Little Blue Riding Hood is true. Only the color has been changed to prevent an investigation.

* another ''Dragnet'' parody with ''St. George and the Dragonet'' by Stan Freberg for Creator/CapitolRecords.
-->'''Narrator:''' The legend you are about to hear is true. Only the needle should be changed to protect the record.
** And in ''Little Blue Riding Hood''.
-->'''Narrator:''' The story of Little Blue Riding Hood is true. Only the color has been changed to prevent an investigation.

* ''St. George and the Dragonet'', another ''Dragnet'' parody by Stan Freberg for Creator/CapitolRecords.

* Some Bible students have speculated that the apocryphal Literature/BookOfJudith is one that was about a socio-political situation happening at the time it was written, and that it was using names of characters and locations from the Jews' past to tell that story. Hence, the AnachronismStew of King Nebuchadnezzar being the king of Assyria when in actual history and canonical Scripture he was the king of Babylon. Also, the story is said to take place after the Jews have returned to their homeland from their exile, which was after both the Assyrian and Babylonian empires have been conquered by the Medes and Persians.

* The infamous 1979 ExploitationFilm ''Guyana: Crime of the Century'' (aka ''Guyana: Cult of the Damned'') was made just months after the Jonestown tragedy, and was all about Congressman "Lee O'Brian" and his journey to Guyana to investigate Rev. "[[UsefulNotes/JimJones James Johnson]]" and his remote jungle commune called "Johnsontown".

Compare with VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, {{Biopic}}, {{Docudrama}}, AnonymousRinger or HistoricalDomainCharacter. For an inversion, see BiographyAClef, where CaptainErsatz of fictional characters and events are retrofitted to tell the life of the artist and creator.

The name is pronounced "Ro-''mahn'' ah ''cleff''." It's French for, roughly, "novel with a key" (read: decoder ring). As seen [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_a_clef here]] on Website/TheOtherWiki, sometimes the key to who the names were supposed to be would be published and in circulation. It has nothing at all to do with [[IncrediblyLamePun unusual Italian musical notation]] or [[Website/SCPFoundation Dr. Alto Clef]].

The name is pronounced "Ro-''mahn'' ah ''cleff''." It's French for, roughly, "novel with a key" (read: decoder ring). As seen [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_a_clef here]] on Website/TheOtherWiki, sometimes the key to who the names were supposed to be would be published and in circulation. It has nothing at all to do with [[IncrediblyLamePun unusual Italian musical notation]] or [[Wiki/SCPFoundation Dr. Alto Clef]].

* Spoofed in "Mathcounts" a Dragnet parody about detectives that used math skills to solve crimes that ran as part of ''Series/SquareOneTV''. Every episode began with the narrator stating "the story you're about to hear is a fib, but it's short. The names are made up but the (math) problems are real."

* James Salter's debut novel 'The Hunters' was about his experiences as a Korean War jet fighter pilot in MIG Alley. He wrote under a pseudonym (his real name was James Horowitz) because in addition to detailing his own frustrations (Salter only had one kill in the war) but the antagonist was based on Lieutenant James F. Low, who had nine kills to his credit in Korea. When Low discovered he was so portrayed he publicly assailed Salter's skill as a pilot and lack of a killer instinct.

* Many police procedurals, starting with the archetypal ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}''. Other examples include some of Jack Webb's other series, such as ''Series/AdamTwelve'', although that often drifts into [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory Very Loosely Based]] territory.

* Creator/BertoltBrecht's ''Theatre/TheResistibleRiseOfArturoUi'' tells of the rise to power of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler up to the Night of the Long Knives, but tells it through the setting of a MobWar in 1930s [[{{gangsterland}} Chicago]]. Quoting from Wiki/TheOtherWiki: "All the characters and groups in the play had direct counterparts in real life, with Ui representing Hitler, his henchman Ernesto Roma representing Ernst Röhm, Dogsborough representing Paul von Hindenburg (a pun on the German Hund and Burg), Emanuele Giri representing Göring, the Cauliflower Trust representing the Prussian Junkers, the fate of the town of Cicero standing for the Anschluss in Austria and so on."

The name is pronounced "Ro-''mahn'' ah ''cleff''." It's French for, roughly, "novel with a key" (read: decoder ring). As seen [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_a_clef here]] on Wiki/TheOtherWiki, sometimes the key to who the names were supposed to be would be published and in circulation. It has nothing at all to do with [[IncrediblyLamePun unusual Italian musical notation]] or [[Wiki/SCPFoundation Dr. Alto Clef]].

* ''Literature/Anathem'' by ''Creator/NealStephenson'' this for the whole history of Western philosophy. Readers can identify individuals such as Plato , Diogenes or Bertrand Russell, or movements such as Kantian thought.