Here’s The Truth About Whether or Not "13 Reasons Why" Is Based on a True Story
13 Reasons Why has always been a show that wanted to show the real world for what it is, not shying away from hard topics and experiences that many people have gone through in real life. While the show might be fictional, a lot of fans are wondering if the characters on the show are real and if they are based on real life stories.
While the show might totally seem real, the show is based on a YA book by Jay Asher of the same name. The book was originally published in 2007 and has since become a worldwide hit and award winning book.
Although Hannah, Clay and the others might not actually be real, Asher has revealed that some of the the things that happen in the book come from his own experiences and those close to him.
"All of the reasons Hannah describes were based, at least loosely, on situations I’d either experienced or heard about, mostly from my wife or close female friends. While Hannah wasn’t specifically based on anyone, her character always felt very real. So it was a matter of interpreting those situations through her thoughts and feelings," he told Coming Soon. "But, years before I came up with the premise, a close relative of mine attempted suicide when she was also a junior in high school. When I eventually did come up with the idea, it was obvious why it came to me as a female in high school."
According to the official 13 Reasons Why discussion guide, Asher got the idea for the tapes after taking an audio tour. "He was struck by the eeriness of the voice in his ear — a woman who described exactly what he was looking at, but wasn't there."
The show's first season is follows the book pretty closely, but since there aren't any sequels, everything else that happens next is totally original to the TV series, so there is a chance the show writers were inspired by other things.
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