The Composite Character

You want to tell the story. You can’t tell the story. The settlement says you can’t identify the company or specific individuals.

So you create a composite. Different name. Different title. Same machinery.

“This story contains fictionalized elements for legal protection. The machinery it describes is real.”

A composite character is the cost of telling the truth with a settlement attached. You change the name, the city, the industry. You keep the pattern. The pattern is what matters.

The settlement doesn’t just buy silence. It buys a mask. And the mask fits so well you can almost forget you’re wearing it.

Almost.