Hi All— Let’s get down to it. I’ve been persuaded to write about my life from ages ten to around thirty. I can and do pound out pages of text a day, and that has translated into this monologue I’m having with an unseen reader. As of right now my opening lines are: I’ve long known that I have three distinct voices: the technical writer voice, the family/friend voice and the one that only I can hear. When I’m at work I write to communicate specific information and use as little descriptive language as possible. When speaking to family and friends I tend toward language a bit more complex than average but with some notable exceptions people understand me. Then there’s the voice in my head. That voice likes to play with words, uses a lot of similes/metaphors/figurative language and doesn’t much care whether anyone understands. While researching memoir norms I noted “consistent voice” is a recurring theme and I get that. Problem is I don’t think that way. As I’ve been writing and reviewing this document I’ve noticed that when I’m trying to communicate data I default to work voice. When I’m trying to explain things I default to friend voice and when I’m trying to explain things I don’t quite understand myself, I default to the inner voice. I don’t really want to change that because it’s integral to the story. Yet it’s also contrary to the norm for the genre. And speaking of genre, I can’t decide how exactly to define this thing. All of it is factual but a lot of the evidence is in warehouses all over the country (timeframe 1981-1986) and will require a huge amount of effort to locate if it even exists anymore (court records, police reports, medical records, etc.) I’ve seen references to “ fictional memoir” which sounds like a contradiction in terms. Anyone familiar with the specifics of that genre? And then there are the cattle carcasses. If I do this I’m going to have all sorts of sacred cows on spits and in light of that, I have to be wary of libeling anyone. Would a “fictional memoir” resolve the issue of saying things about which others will absolutely take exception? Anyone familiar with other genres or methodologies that could help with these issues? Thanks in advance!
No experience. Avoid label? No real names. Write what you want. Be selfish. Let the inner voice consume all. Why? Well... what voice brings the most whimsy to any tale? Yes. Excited to read excited indeed.... cattle carcasses. Basically: Human Eats Burger: The Pre-Quill (how has humanity become so sensitive?)
Don't take this the wrong way, but what I immediately sense from your opening passage is that it is condescending towards the reader. You can't treat it like a two way conversation. It's not. The reader can't respond to you. You ask them to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you haven't given them a reason to do that so far. You're sitting in the Keystone mountains enjoying the snow? Well, bully for you. You tell me to believe what I will. That, to me, sounds like you don't care wht I think, so why should I read this book? Sorry if that sounds harsh but that really is how I feel after reading the few lines you posted.
I think you need to read several memoirs The Suicide Index and Just kids are two of my favorites. There's also a book by Mary Carr that is pretty recent called something like The Art of Memoir. I read it when it first came out, and I'm a fan of her work. A consistent voice is something that is needed in any story. Remember you are telling a story and not just recapping your life. You're also talking about a pretty long length of time. Are you sure all that together ends up being one story? But, yes, a consistent voice is something important. I would get over your reasons for not doing it. If you want to write this book and have it published, that's going to be key. You still have to form a story true or not. There's a bit of a different structure and approach when it comes to writing a novel and writing a memoir. As for fictional memoir, I think that's absurd. That's just not what a memoir is. I'm sure if you google it, you'll find something, but the idea is ridiculous to me. It's either a true story about your life or you're going to fictionalize it enough to be a novel. It's also important to remember that a lot of things that actually happen in real life aren't always believable in fiction. Don't try and do both. It's hard enough to publish a book. And I can tell you the people I know in publishing wouldn't even consider something called a fiction memoir. Another thing is a lot of publishers aren't going to be okay with name and place changes if you are writing a memoir. I regularly write and sell personal essays which are mini memoirs and I've been approached about writing a memoir, but it's not something I'm in a rush to do. Plus, I want to give it more thought. But name changes are a big no-no for a lot of place. You could be asked to get signed releases from people, but that's never happened to me. And I use names. I've written about my lover and used a middle name. I sometimes call my lover by this middle name a lot. I think it's a pretty cool name, but I did have to tell my publisher that it was a middle name. I think nicknames you actually used could work, too. But real names should be used unless otherwise directed by your publisher. I don't seek out permission from the people in my life I write about. I'm writing about me, my stories. And it's never been a secret that I'm a writer. I had a discussion early on with my lover about writing about our life. I wasn't looking for permission, though. And I consider very few things off limits. I know a lot of people worry about names and getting sued over nonfiction if it's published. The majority of my income comes from writing about my life. I never worry about getting sued. Fear is not a writer's friend. If you get a publisher of agent, they'll be able to better direct you. But most memoirs do use at least real first names. Really, don't call it a fiction memoir. Please. That just hurts the form of memoir writing. If you can't put your story out there, write a novel and draw on your experience but also allow it to actually become a work of fiction. In fiction, you're not bound to the truth. With a memoir the truth is very important, at least your truth. And do give some more thought into what sort of story this is. As for the beginning you've posted, it's not quite the style of most memoirs. You haven't given the reader any idea of what this is about. It seems like this was written for the reader just to tell them you're writing a story. You could just start with the story and forget about addressing the reader. That's what I would do. People who read memoirs are looking for true stories. You don't need an intro telling them that's what you're doing. I hope some of this is helpful. Good luck.
Hi deadrats! I'll check those out, thank you! Well yeah, since everyone seems to be interested in how I went from a 12 year old middle school dropout hitchhiking across the country to Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum Laude, Who's Who, etc. It's a lot but unless it's all in there it won't make sense. One doesn't go from that extreme to the other extreme very quickly. Whew! I was really questioning my education when I saw that. An unreliable narrator is one thing. A fictional memoir made no sense at all. Yeah I've heard that about a million times.That's why I'm concerned about documentation. I don't yet know if the Jacksonville PD has arrest records from 1985. This is where it gets really tricky. We're talking about some criminal activity, some not so criminal but nonetheless unsavory activity and plenty of pure bad press. If I start naming names all hell is going to break loose. Funny you mention this. I talked to hubby about this project a couple of days ago. His immediate response was, "I've been telling you to do that for years." Then a beat and, "you aren't going to write about me are you?" We've only been married 25 years, what does he think I'm going to do with that?? Unfortunately fear is a large part of my life even now. Don't worry. It sounded wrong from the first which is why I asked. The original I sent to my cyber-friend author didn't have that in it. It was kind of a security blanket for me I suppose. Very helpful. Thank you! I've been thinking it over tonight and I'd almost rather go back to the worst projects I've worked on than do this.
As I've been writing I've had Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air in mind. I like his style and it seems to come naturally to me to some extent.
@Mary Elise I like your last paragraph best (of the three you wrote.) Is there some reason you couldn't start with that and dump the first two, which are a bit waffly and unspecific ...and consequently annoying and NOT intriguing. We will be intrigued if you give us a reason to be. Give us an intriguing situation, as in: "Believe what you will. If you ask for evidence I can provide it later. For now grant me the benefit of the doubt." This tells us that your 'story' is going to be something that's difficult to believe ...but true. That's intriguing. It also gives readers a hint as to WHY you are writing this memoir. That being said, I do believe you will need to spit out the actual reason pretty soon. Dark hints won't keep people going for very long. Unless you a celebrity or otherwise famous, people do need a story-related reason to read your memoir. What is this memoir going to be 'about?' It's about what happened ...when? And to whom? I think your first two paragraphs just dilute this issue without adding anything. Think about when somebody starts talking to you. If they start off with, "I want to tell you this, but you might not like it, but on the other hand you might, but you might not get it, though, and it doesn't actually make much sense, and some people tell me to tell everybody and others aren't keen and I have no idea whether I should be telling it or not, and...." you're very likely to say, "Spit it out. I haven't got all day." @deadrats is TOTALLY correct in her assertion that this is a story you are telling. Whether it's true or not makes no difference. You need to make it read like one, with the narrator (you) as the central character. You need to employ storytelling skills. When people sit down to read a memoir—especially by somebody they don't know anything about—they expect to be intrigued and entertained and maybe enlightened. A Memoir not an essay or a dissertation. As for all the legal stuff? I reckon that's up to you. You may reveal stuff you will be uncomfortable about later on. There may be repercussions, personal and/or legal. Folks you love may be angry with you. Folks you hate may be out to get you. This is what happens when you write something you claim is true, and start naming people. Just be aware you are risking a bit. However, if you are willing to risk it, fair enough. I would advise you to get it written. Then have a good hard look at what you've actually written. Maybe show it to a few trusted betas ...either people who are involved in the story or perfect strangers. Take on board what they say. You might run the gamut of publishing it as it is, or rewriting parts of it that might be legally troublesome and impossible to prove. You might consider disguising identities throughout (let the reader know at the start that while the events are true, you've changed people's names.) Or you could rewrite it as total fiction and change ALL the names and locations and don't let on that it's based on truth. Or you could simply not make the story public at all. One of my very best friends has written a fascinating memoir about her personal life, so her grandchildren (who are now adults) can learn about what her early life was like. The writing is to an extremely high standard, but she won't consider publication because she said she told the truth, and people (or are relatives of the people) who are featured in the story might be hurt or upset. It's a shame, but that's how she feels.
Hi! All three could go into the recycle bin. The version I sent to my cyber-friend/author began with: I don't get into the really gnarly stuff for a few pages. I don't think the people who want me to do this realize they aren't going to like a lot of it. Hubby for instance knows all of the timeline but he's never asked for details of my life as a street kid in 1984 and I've never offered. There's a lot of ugly in there. I wish! Executive U must have a required course in Waffling 101. If I could get back the hours I've spent listening to executives speak in exactly that manner. ... That's an interesting perspective. I've told a couple of short ones in my introduction post and that comes easily, mainly because it's nothing major. Strangers. Definitely. I just have to figure out the first use stuff, find people who are willing to take it on. ...I gotta stop thinking. Fiction failed in college. I tried. Changing names et cetera is my instinctual move. Hmmmm. ... I understand why she would be reluctant. Thanks so very much jannert! PS: what's the code structure for tagging someone and where do I locate a member's ID? Is that the same as the USER ID? I'm still using phpbb3.
To answer your last question, if you want one of our members to know you've tagged them, they'll get an alert if you just put @ in front of their username, typed exactly as they have written it (caps, spaces, etc.) For example, I'm tagging you here: @Mary Elise Usually when you're partway through typing it out, a little thingy will appear—screenshot here—the little thingy in blue with the avatar and name in it. If you just click on that (not in this screenshot, obviously) the tag should appear where you were typing. If it doesn't appear, chances are you've typed the name wrongly ...but not always. Anyway, once the tag is 'successful,' it will appear in blue in your text : Go ahead and tag me in a reply to this post, if you want, just to be sure it works for you. .............. I'm speaking as one of the Moderators here. We are trying to keep the catch-all category General Writing free of anything that could be better placed elsewhere. After about 20 threads, your topic and thread will be buried in General Writing, never to be seen again! I wish we had a genre category for Autobiography/Memoir but we don't. However, I will move this thread into 'By the Genre' Non-Fiction, but add the word Autobiography to your thread title, so anybody looking down that page will know your non-fiction discussion isn't about the cattle industry! If that's not okay with you, let me know, and we can discuss where else it could reasonably go.
@jannert Tag test. ETA: It worked! I was afraid my ad blocker was causing problems. Fine with me. I'm the newbie in this digital neighborhood so I'll go with what the long time residents think best. I looked for an autobiography/memoir sub-forum and when I didn't find one I decided to go with General since I'm all over the place in terms of issues. That didn't even occur to me.
I think memoirs do fit under nonfiction. That's where I would it. I also think the nonfiction section should have more threads like this. When I post there, I'm thinking memoir, not helping someone with their 5-paragraph essay homework. @jannert -- maybe the section could be something like nonfiction/memoir. Just a thought since most of us (even writing nonfiction) are still focusing on our work as creative writing.
I consider technical writing creative. You'd be surprised at the gymnastics one must perform to create a business requirements document that all 19 signers agree with. And there's always the one who thinks because they speak English they know better than you how to write it.
Technical writing really doesn't fall under the scope of creative writing the same way memoir does. I can understand that you might have to get creative when it comes to technical writing, but that doesn't make it creative writing.
Another thing is that most nonfiction books are sold on proposal. There's some debate over if this applies to memoir, but, in my experience, that's how it worked. Years ago I was working on a memoir or rather the proposal of it. My proposal was more than 50 pages. There's a certain way to write these things. And you usually include two sample chapters. That's all I had when I got an agent and interest from a publisher. With a detailed proposal, those interested in getting it published can sort of guide you on how to best write the story and also address your other concerns. If gives the agent and publisher a chance to work with you and your material in a more hands way to produce something they believe can sell. Some people say with memoir you need to finish the book AND write one of these proposals. And others say you just need the book. If I were you I would research nonfiction book proposals and work on that. Also, have at least two solid chapters. But with this proposal you can start contacting agents and gauge interest. Book proposals can be tricky. The whole point really is to get you an agent an an advance before you do all the writing. I found it very challenging to write this kind of proposal. It's quite a bit of work. But if that's something you want to do and have any questions along the way, feel free to message me and I'll help if I can.
Actually, the proposal sounds easier for me. Thank you for the offer! Should I stop writing and start looking for professional help? Or keep writing and worry about that once I have something worth reading? Incidentally, I C&Ped a section of writing that encapsulates many of the problems I'm experiencing. If you'd like to take a look it's >3,500 words at this link. And just in case a professor is searching the 'Net to determine if a student borrowed it, one of the last sentences is kind of unique. "I heard a cop car streak past with siren screaming while lying prone in the scooped back of a garbage truck."
It's yet another thing only the owner can set up. I'm hoping he will get to a bit of revamping of this nature at some point. We mods aren't able to change categories, etc. I'm noticing lots of current interest in 'memoir/autobiography' on the forum—many new members express an interest—and like our OP here, suspect they may hunt around a bit before they find a place to post their questions about that genre.
In a way I agree but then again I don't. It's definitely a different kind of creativity but when I'm stuck between two department managers arguing over the wording of a requirement I have to come up with the language to which both agree. Thinking about publishing, I've never had a publishing house print a single word I've written. Yet my documents are bound, stored and referenced at DHHS, DOD, DVA, BOP/DOJ, several state agencies throughout the country and innumerable businesses. So in a way I am published. My copies of Fowler's, Roget's Thesaurus and Random House Word menu migrated to my cube within a year of starting.
Let's just say this. I have a terminal degree in creative writing and know nothing about technical writing. There is a major difference.
You don't need professional help to write a book proposal. You can do it yourself, but there is a pretty strict format to follow and it needs to include certain things. It's not a quick project. Again, I wouldn't call proposal writing creative writing, but I would call your memoir creative writing.
Hi! Oh no doubt the differences are dramatic, hence its inclusion in my list of issues. I'm finding the transition tough sometimes. I'm sorry, I was unclear again. You said: In light of this ought I pause and search out those individuals, or keep writing and wait until what I want to say is in electrons and then look for those individuals? ETA: That link doesn't work. I did something wrong with the tag. Let's try again? https://app.box.com/s/tjqgemz5vjayhuijcbvqxlnpu1i7n755
I'm having serious second thoughts about doing this. In the little bit posted above I give details that literally no one but the cop, the doctor and the nurses knew anything about and even they didn't know it all. My husband knows I turned myself in in Jacksonville, went through O'Hare in shackles and escaped from Pueblo. He has no idea why I turned myself in. He's never asked and I never offered. What if he gets upset finding out the details? Crap. NPI was so much easier. I didn't think I'd ever find a project worse than NPI.
