I have wanted to write a book for years and have a few ideas started. Recently I had a family members journals given to me by them. For over a 10 year period, there are journals, short stories, poems and drawings. The way the person writes is raw and real and I love reading everything. I want to turn a lot of it into a memoir. The twist I want to put on it is taking letters to him from myself and other family members and letters from him to us and background information and interweave that. Why do I think this would an interesting read? This person was in juvenile detention as early as age 14. He started showing signs of mental illness just after that. He lost his mother when he was 16 years old and had a turmoil, almost non existent relationship with his father. He had 2 stints in prison and the bulk of his journals are a 2 year period in prison from 2005-2007 where he talks about the people he meets and things that happen on the inside and his suicidal thoughts. His journal entries after prison detail him being a vagabond, wandering from place to place. Being homeless, eating out of dumpsters, staying in "homeless camps", in forests and parks, squatting and begging for food. I don't want to glorify anything. I have done work with mental health non profits. I have had family members attempt suicide from feeling alone and the weight of life. I know that many people sit in their nice comfy homes and have no clue what some people on the streets go through, or rather put themselves through since I know some of it is self induced. I know because I am that person. I just want to tell a story of someone that had a rough life and what happened from the decisions he made. First of all, I don't know if it is odd to write a memoir of someone else's life. Second, a good portion would be the actual words from the journals, so at that point, am I really the author? And lastly, is this a story worth telling?
I have wanted to write a book for years and have a few ideas started. Recently I had a family members journals given to me by them. For over a 10 year period, there are journals, short stories, poems and drawings. The way the person writes is raw and real and I love reading everything. I want to turn a lot of it into a memoir. The twist I want to put on it is taking letters to him from myself and other family members and letters from him to us and background information and interweave that. Why do I think this would an interesting read? This person was in juvenile detention as early as age 14. He started showing signs of mental illness just after that. He lost his mother when he was 16 years old and had a turmoil, almost non existent relationship with his father. He had 2 stints in prison and the bulk of his journals are a 2 year period in prison from 2005-2007 where he talks about the people he meets and things that happen on the inside and his suicidal thoughts. His journal entries after prison detail him being a vagabond, wandering from place to place. Being homeless, eating out of dumpsters, staying in "homeless camps", in forests and parks, squatting and begging for food. I don't want to glorify anything. I have done work with mental health non profits. I have had family members attempt suicide from feeling alone and the weight of life. I know that many people sit in their nice comfy homes and have no clue what some people on the streets go through, or rather put themselves through since I know some of it is self induced. I know because I am that person. I just want to tell a story of someone that had a rough life and what happened from the decisions he made. First of all, I don't know if it is odd to write a memoir of someone else's life. Second, a good portion would be the actual words from the journals, so at that point, am I really the author? And lastly, is this a story worth telling?
So you want to make something similar to what Stephen E. Ambrose did? P.S: I don't think you can call it a memoir.
People write 'memoirs' of other peoples' lives all the time - they're called biographies. You'd be the author if you made it clear which words were his and which yours. The story may well be worth telling, but I would go into the project as something you'd self-publish for your family to read. It's unlikely that others will find it worth buying.
I think...do it. My mind is hazy because I'm nearly 50 but back at the turn of the century there was a UK publishing sensation, the discovered diaries of an old fella who went to work in an office all throughout WW2, tended his allotment and walked his dog. Nothing happened, it was very nice, it was okay. Set against an Earp type perspective. I've said before about a colleague who promised to type up and edit the dreary, tiresome diaries of an old rocker, 'no two days the same' kind of glory-hell/ 'at the end of the day it was breakfast' and so forth. She was in tears, this guy, the security guard had written 200 00o words.
So a biography then? Even though it is a section of time and not an entire life. Not sure what genre it would fit in.
It's an interesting structure. A memoir doesn't have outside sources (in your case, the original journals and the letters from other family members). And an (auto)biography covers the breadth of a life, not a focused moment, which is the job of a memoir. A memoir, is literally, a "memory," and has no sourcing. It's how the author remembers their life. The reliable narrator comes into play because there's no fact checking. There's actually a big fight over the correct definition of memoir/autobiography in the Pulitzers right now. Memoirs keep winning the autobiography category, and some consider that cheating. It's a big deal to win and you can imagine what it's like to get cut out of the prize by someone who is technically in the wrong category. But, you can write whatever you want. Just know the form is going to be a bit unusual. It's a hybrid, a memoir using autobiographical sources, written by an outside voice. Or maybe it's an autobiography pretending to be a memoir. Whatever it is, it's unique. I would definitely do it. The guy sounds fascinating.
My first thought is in terms of copyright and permission. Maybe everybody's already happily consented and thats's not an issue, but I wanted to bring it up.
It sounds like this relative is still alive; have you discussed it with him? There's a thriving memoir market but it's also a very crowded market. Your story really needs to be unusual or unique to have a chance, especially with this kind of story (homelessness, jail, rough life) which there is a glut of. The other glut is cancer survival stories. Many people self-publish this kind of thing, because they just want to get it out there and make it available to their families and descendants, but they aren't worried about selling to strangers. How would you feel about that?
As a non-fiction writer, I wouldn't do it without explicit permission signed in writing...and witnessed. Even then, I'd be extremely wary of doing it while the person was living. Also...there are other considerations, such as is the person of employment age? Some of the revelations could negatively impact their prospects for future employment. No way would I want to impact someone's future in that way. ETA: Not to mention the fame aspect. The person who entrusted you with their private journals probably has no intention of becoming a public figure...and once that genie bottle's uncapped, you can't close it back up.
I don't think it's a memoir unless you're writing about your relationship with this person and these works. Or it could be some sort of ghostwritten thing, but you're name wouldn't be on it. I would think some more about how you want to approach this and what sort of goals or expectations you have. I guess I don't really understand what you're trying to do from what you said. Or I'm not sure what kind of market there is for this. Both could be a problem.
My inclination would be to change the names and some identifying details... or to use it as source material for a fiction project
Thank you to all for the feedback. I had spoken with the person in past years about someday writing a book about his experiences. I asked him again recently after getting the journals and he is ok with it. He likes the idea of seeing his writings in print, so I wouldn't be doing it behind his back. I was not planning on using his name so except for our own family members, no one would have an idea who it was. There are some periods of time that are missing. Or times when he is writing in the journal after a long hiatus and then refers back to something in the past. So for those reasons, I did think of just using a lot of the information as a basis for a fiction book. Which depending on the content and style, may make it more enticing as opposed to a biography anyway.
1- It does not mean anything if it's odd or not. Or... Odd is +. It's positive thing. Odd is interesting. 2. Good inspiration, good material, If you have his permit, then... What are you waiting? 3. The author is that person who does the artistic and technical decisions. Will it be you or him or both? Hmmm... He is alive. He is talented. He writes.... I think you should think about naming him your cowriter. And maybe he could actually do some parts of writing. The easy way might be just to jump to structural work and seek what material fits where, what knowledge you need more, what emotions different parts of structure stress... And talk about that structure with him.
