I want to write a book, either a collection of short stories or a narrative of my experiences this summer or a combination of both. Should I change the names to protect the guilty? What if I tell a story that is to my recollection true but a character or person decides it didn't happen that way? Additionally, even if I change all the names... there will be characters that everyone will know who he or she is and will therefore be incriminated?.

9/21/2006 6:16:49 PM

I would change the names.

And, if people figure out who a character is based on, so be it.

9/21/2006 6:22:59 PM

What's the protocol (sp) on pictures? Get the subjects written permission annd credit the photographer?

^As far as "so be it," would the characters have a legal basis to deny my account? I could always say it was based on so and so, but there are some stories where ppl in the know WILL know for a fact who and what and when...

My best friend said he didn't want his name changed. He said "I want it to be real man. I have no links to this world." Could a story I write be basis for a criminal investigation of evidence in prosecution.

What is "hearsay" in the eyes of the law?


[Edited on September 21, 2006 at 7:39 PM. Reason : so be it]

9/21/2006 7:35:22 PM

write it under a pseudonym, like Beardawg62

9/21/2006 7:37:36 PM

include an author's note stating just that. a memoir is the jist of the story how you saw it...not neccessarily the absolute truth. authors sometimes compress time, combine characters, etc. see:

david sedaris
josh kilmer-purcell
augusten burroughs

9/21/2006 7:40:35 PM

just call it fiction

problem solved!

9/21/2006 7:48:22 PM

Change the names but no so much the original parties won't realize it's them. Like, give them nicknames.

9/21/2006 7:49:14 PM

Quote :

"write it under a pseudonym, like Beardawg62"

LOL like many of the other things I've asked about ppl WILL know it's me. Can I incriminate myself and possibly be put under investigation???

Quote :

"just call it fiction problem solved!"

I actually heard a story today on NPR about "Fiction Checkers." It was about ppl who are hired if you are writing a story about "Dr. Bill in Williamsburg," to go and actually make sure there's not actually a Dr. Bill there.

And truthfully that's not the kind of book I want to write, I want to talk about my experiences not base a bunch of characters on real ppl and then disclaim "These Characters are not to resemble anybody living or dead... that's bullshit.

Quote :

"Change the names but no so much the original parties won't realize it's them. Like, give them nicknames"

Most of them ARE nicknames, I know almost none of their real or last names.

[Edited on September 21, 2006 at 8:17 PM. Reason : post]

[Edited on September 21, 2006 at 8:26 PM. Reason : FICTION]

9/21/2006 8:16:27 PM

Why would you attempt to change the names and then use real pictures?

9/21/2006 8:21:26 PM

^Well, those are the exact issues I'm trying to resolve.

9/21/2006 8:27:37 PM

your best bet is to avoid the photos. Publishers don't really like to do photos.

9/21/2006 8:33:32 PM

Not to be mean but do you really think people are going to want to buy a book about YOU? Just a thought before you go putting things to a publisher. I'm sorry but you're probably not going to sell non-fiction about daily life unless you're a super-high-profile person or trashing one.

I think you'd be better off taking the stories and exaggerating them into some kind of fiction ... two examples of the angle you might want to go for are Tom Sawyer and Last Days of Summer. Maybe you can corroborate your story(ies) with the people in it, and over-exaggerate various angles. You can fudge details like combining what two people did into one person if there's nothing especially great to one of them and it adds to the other. Maybe you have the two characters reminiscing and arguing about how things really happened. I don't know ... anything imaginitive really. Very few people have diaries worth reading.

9/21/2006 10:25:12 PM

they're called "memoirs", and there are a lot of them and quite a few are very good reads.

9/21/2006 11:27:39 PM

The idea behind my book is the fascinating sub-culture that existed for 23 years under my nose on the river... the stories, the characters, the culture, the customs... shit, we even have our own language!!!

Once I was "in" (and many summer college rich kids never get there, to be "cool" as in Goodfellas) I thought "this is unbelievable! Every time I came home I had a jaw-dropping story. This has to be written down.

9/21/2006 11:31:44 PM

Honestly I would write it just as you remember it, and get it written just as you want it.

AFTER that, go back and just do a "find and replace" for names and/or places. That way you change the things that could incriminate people yet the story remains the exact same.

9/22/2006 12:00:48 AM

DWIGT

9/22/2006 12:06:25 AM

^do what?

9/22/2006 2:00:57 AM

D-W-I-G-H-T

9/22/2006 4:19:54 AM

your life CANNOT Possibly be that exciting... i say this cause i wanna hear/read a story... give us a good one

9/22/2006 7:09:45 AM

If it involves sex, deception, and drinking, then it will be groundbreaking. Nobody would ever possibly conceive that young people would be into that.

This story is going to be astonishing.

9/22/2006 10:21:34 AM

precisely.. my interest is peaked... can beardawg really provide an interesting true story, that would make me want to buy the book?

9/22/2006 11:40:46 AM

WWTMD?

9/22/2006 11:44:36 AM