Hi everyone, I am Heather, a Psychology major student, and future author! I knew I was going to be a writer and wanted to eventually share my testimony for over 11 years now... Only now, as I have all these journals around me and have tried to compile them into my first book, I am confused about what this would be considered genre-wise. The original idea of my book has developed over the past few years and as my life story and knowledge have expanded, I am wondering if this would be considered a self-help book, memoir, or something else. I am changing the names of everyone mentioned (including myself) so I guess I am just confused as to what that would make this book. It's a story of inspiration and overcoming a lot of traumas. I wanted it to show what I have done to get through, but I just cannot figure out what type of book this is. Especially seeing as how I am not using my name as the main character because that would be a dead giveaway of who is referenced in the book. I changed the names to protect identities and out of fear that I could be sued. It's all true but can really ruin a person's reputation so just felt it may be better to use other names.
The first thing that coms to mind for me is either self-help or biography. Since you changed names, I would not try to market it as an autobiography. Same goes for memoir. Perhaps you could wait to typecast it until you get further along in it's creation? Just a thought.... Oh, and welcome to the forum. Lots of good info here. It will be a ride though.
I'm dealing with the same dilemma as yourself . . . in the exact same position as far as journaling goes. I considered autobiography as I wouldn't be changing the names. If anything comes back at me, at least the people I'd be writing about will know who they are. My other suggestion is changing the name to the appropriate synonyms ie: he/she, chairman/chairwomen etc. thoughts only . . . PS: welcome
