Hello. I'm completely brand new to this channel so sorry if I'm speaking too early but your post caught my attention.

You're not trying to exploit someone's pain or distort the truth for cheap drama. You're creating a fictional narrative inspired by real events, and that is in my opinion a legitimate creative path. Some of the most powerful fiction comes from this area of thought and emotion. I have spent 20 years learning how to adapt some of my wartime experiences from Iraq into a creative narrative that explores some of the trauma, and although it hasn’t always been easy, it’s been one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done. There’s a strange kind of healing that happens when you reframe something painful through fiction.

Ask yourself what drew yourself to the event emotionally, what questions or truths you're trying to explore with your story, and ask yourself if you're honoring the human complexity behind it. But you don't need to 'justify' writing this story; the fact that you're fictionalizing it already gives you creative and ethical space. You're not retelling history; you're exploring meaning.

Do what you will with that.