Basing characters on real people...

In a new project of mine, I'm basing a lot of it on things that happened to me last year and all of the characters are based on real people, mostly my friends. I feel like I know the characters and the situations super well and everything makes sense to me because they're my friends and these are things I experienced. However, I don't think it translates super well to the reader.
So what I'm wondering is, how can I make it translate better to the reader?
If anyone's interested I can give you a sample of what I've done so far if that'd make it easier for you.
Thanks much!

-Carly

I think what you'll have to do is start on the somewhat difficult task of figuring out the exact situation. As in, every inside joke, lead-up to the situation, character quirk that made it possible, everything about the situation, then find out how to show that to the reader. Chances are you won't be able to spot this until you post it for reviews, but if you figure out each character/situation from a stranger's point of view will help some of the "inside joke" feeling.

I think your main concern here is figuring out exactly why it wouldn't translate well to a reader. Do you mean that the situation is really improbable but it really did happen? Or just that you're starting with characters who you've drawn from real life and whose traits are thus unexplained in the actual prose?

Either way, I think realism will be your best friend. Even if the characters don't seem to be translating well, you can have faith in them because you know they're grounded in real people. No having to second guess whether or not they're believable, and that's awesome. And hey, fiction is almost universally improbable.

If you want, I'd love to read it and tell you what I think!