Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
Hybrid fiction & non fiction novel
Hi this is my first time here and my first post.
I am currently writing a novel about my experiences in Iraq as a private security contractor. I'm not doing it for money or for fame just a tick off my bucket list.
I won't lie to anyone, I'm not actually writing it but talking into a dictaphone and having a company transcribe it into word document.
Here is my question and I hope anybody out there can help.
I have got quite far into my story all based/drawn on from actual real events but I would like the story to go off in a direction that tells a story if I'd have done what was ask then this is what would have happened scenario. I hope that makes sense, I was wondering if this is perfectly acceptable?
Comments
There are several things to think about. Is your true account completely unbiased and without libellous comment? Could anyone sue you for defamation of their character? Even a characterisation you think is fair and even kind could be viewed quite differently by the person it depicts.
Then there is the fictionalisation of characters' (who are real) actions . What would they think about this?
Im not wanting to write a autobiography just a story that's based on experience but to include a mission that never took place in reality but takes place in the book. Thanks for the heads up on liable I will have to look into that but names and places would be changed for security reason
I hope I've explained myself a little better and I apologise also because I'm writing this on my iPhone.
Any input would be great
If you want to do that then make it entirely fiction. You will no doubt use elements from your experiences in the story you create, but you'll need to do more than just change people's names to avoid libel and defamation risks...
Barbara Cartland (yes, from the sublime to the ridiculous!) dictated all her novels, you know.
Make your work fiction; that means altering things so that they aren't recognisable as happening within a specific company, but are, as it were, generic across the security business. Anything that only one company did should be changed. You can't in this instance mix fact and fiction; you could have people trying to sue you, or the identifiable company, for an event that never took place, if, for instance, what you describe in the non-real part goes wrong.
And of course, write under a pen name.
Actually official secrets is something you'll need to consider for the writing too. It would be advisable to check with your employer if you're at all unsure if you have permission to reveal any of the details you wish to include.
Once you've typed up your spoken notes, it might be a good idea to get it edited so that it comes across as professional. I don't know how much you know about writing books, but writers can take years to perfect a story - rewriting whole chunks or just rephrasing sentences, adding in, cutting out, reordering, so it's not just a matter of typing and thinking it's finished. Sorry about that! Editing is important whether you choose to go down the fiction or non-fiction route if this book is going to be for public consumption.
As I gather, your story currently begins as a factual account, then becomes fiction, but with all the realism gained from your experiences. I think the danger there is that the 'join' might show where you link the two. I agree that it would work better if it was all (realistic) fiction, rather than autobiographical, but I think you've already come to that conclusion!
You might decide not to go any further than that draft - who knows? - but it generates new ideas for future projects.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2233261/Face-suicide-bomb-victim-Hero-British-bodyguard-shows-horrendous-injuries-surviving-Iraq-blast.html
Just get it down for now: brainstorm. Don't worry about the order too much. You can sort that out later. A computer is a wonderful tool for cutting, pasting, highlighting, etc.
I'm sure you'll get some satisfaction from this project. Keep going with it!
e.g.
I aimed my rifle as the insurgent's leader approached. One bullet, one shot and the uprising was over. Home with my wife, my children. Medals displayed in the cabinet, blah, blah, blah . . .
Continue, embellish . . .
Return to original moment.
But I couldn't pull the trigger. I just stood there and peed myself.
- There's nothing wrong with 'dynamically' reporting what you 'imagined'.
I hope that makes sense.
As an ex-editor of an international sports magazine {too many years past to have relevance in todays computing technology} receiving tape recorded articles from sportsmen etc., was encouraged. It enabled spontaneity of a situation, with tone of the delivery, to be scribed for an entertaining read. It was often the case that final article displayed few words from the original tape because transcription included 'interpretation' of actions into a readable format.
Perhaps you should consider dictating to a computer voice recognition package such as Dragon. Then only you see your dictation developing in its raw form.
Oh, good luck and welcome to Talkback.
Alternatively you could give a ghostwriter your ideas and have them do all the writing and editing for you. In that case your name (or pen name) would be on the cover, but you wouldn't really have written it. Lots of books which are apprently written by celebrities are produced that way. It's an option, but not likely to be cheap.
Is it the story you want to tell, or do you have a burning desire to write? Because at the minute writing isn't really what you are doing. Barbara Cartland used to dictate her novels but she was already imbued with the talents needed, ie to arc a story, describe in a few words an entire scenario, venue, country, town, characterise so you understood immediately what someone looked and acted like so you had a picture in your head, etc. etc.
It seems to me you have a brilliant story to tell, but to tell it as an account is completely different to fictionalising it, which is quite a task.
Have you written anything before?
At the risk of my book not being as good as it could be If I used a ghostwriter totally defeats the object to me. I would rather have my book at an under potential status than not being able to say all that in my book are my words.
Yes I'm not actually writing the words down on paper, but that alone doesn't make you a writer, in my eyes anyway.
The book is not to make money but to just give to friends and family, I really don't like the idea of a ghostwriter, they may know how to put down on paper what it's like in a contact, to see your friend blown to pieces whilst part of his brain is on your clothing but to me it wouldn't be my book, all I'm doing is asking a lady to type up what I have said, I don't want her to actually come up with the actual story which I gather is what a ghostwriter does, is that correct?
The suggestions regarding using a ghost writer were probably made because you have a powerful story to tell but don't necessarily have the writing skills to tell it as well as a professional writer could do it on your behalf.
I don't know enough about ghost writing to advise, but maybe someone else will know.
Good luck however you decide to do it.
You have an incredible story to write - and that's what you should do, whether someone helps in that process is irrelevant. It's your story to tell.
Good luck with it.
I agree with Baggy that your enthusiasm will get you a long way along the road - but I also think it is a story worth telling so that many will be able to read it. So it is worth telling well - and I don't know anyone whose first novel was that good. Take any writer and they will tell you that it took many years to hone their craft - and the less experienced you are the more likely you are to think you can do it!
Your first hand words can be used, just shaped (not the actual words, the story) by another, but it could also be done after you have done the main body of the work.
I'd definitely get it read by an expert once you think it mostly done. But I am certain you will get it done!
Then grab a 'how to' book which will show how it needs to be set out and presented. You can pay for that service, but attempting it yourself would be part of the drafting process.
Writing Mag and Writers' Forum both publish useful articles each month that might be of interest.
If, once you've done your 'writing' research, you decide to get the manuscript looked at, you will have more knowledge of what you need to pay for and won't waste your money.
Both those magazines run adverts for various services that you might be interested in.
You'd be amazed at how much you can lose that doesn't add to your story - but at the point of first writing it, you may not actually know what the core story is. Any writer will tell you that they can start out to write one thing and find that the characters take them down a different route. I suspect this is already happening to you with your fictionalised part wanting to take over. It's developing in front of your eyes.
Once you've written your first draft, you can decide what adds to the plot and what is just padding or back-story (the part of the story that happens off-screen, as it were, that doesn't need to be included but forms the bricks and mortar upon which your plot and characters are built). For instance, it's very tempting to chuck in everything you know about a subject, but you will need to trim all of that unnecessary stuff down to the bare bones or cut it out. All this happens later.
This kind of novel works best with spare prose, and will probably have a mostly male readership. Write with your ears - sounds ludicrous, but it's probably the best advice I can give you. Read it aloud - even read the typed version back to your dictaphone and listen to it. You'll see things differently when you hear the words!
Each writer is different, so there's no norm.
Incidentally - not everyone finds editing a chore - it's the bit I love best in the writing process.
I'd avise you not to do too much editing before you have the entire first draft written. It's not uncommon for writers to decide they need a different opening or to write from a different POV, or make other substantial changes.