tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post3563247482091695010..comments2024-03-18T09:09:59.625-04:00Comments on Janet Reid, Literary Agent: memoir vs novelJanet Reidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00615380335938685231noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-57178238029194908442020-04-06T11:40:35.876-04:002020-04-06T11:40:35.876-04:00That makes sense, Allison. I have a lot of empathy...That makes sense, Allison. I have a lot of empathy for your friend's position. Might I suggest a pseudonym for their memoir?Brigidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13768090206152536761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-83559157217311146552020-04-06T00:12:01.139-04:002020-04-06T00:12:01.139-04:00Thanks, all! OP here and as a longtime reader I sh...Thanks, all! OP here and as a longtime reader I should have realized that "has written" sounds an awful lot like "has written a first draft." <br /><br />This memoir has been multiply-drafted, workshopped, writers'-group'ed, workshopped some more, and undergone a professional developmental edit and professional line edit. The author is indeed ready to query, and is wondering if they should in fact *rewrite* the entire book as a novel, in order to query it as a novel. <br /><br />I've read plenty of memoir manuscripts that don't pass the so-what test and this isn't one of them :) My worry is that some of the power invested in memoir by virtue of its truth must be manufactured by a novelist in service of creating a truth as strong as a good memoir - that a story that works as a memoir might feel thin as a novel. Allison K Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00307389802956417297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-1599096413464571832020-04-05T10:50:28.998-04:002020-04-05T10:50:28.998-04:00For the OP: When I was trying to write my memoir, ...For the OP: When I was trying to write my memoir, I received what I still consider excellent advice from a writer whose memoir made it to the bestseller list. The first rule of successful memoir is it must tell a story that, as Janet puts it so well, is universal. Think of someone going into a bookstore and picking up your book from the shelf. The prospective buyer opens the book to page one and begins to read...does that first paragraph grab her interest? Does it compel her to keep reading? Is there a story there or just a series of events and emotions? It's not enough to have experienced something unusual, traumatic or interesting. The writing must make up a compelling story. Memoir is non-fiction, but it must read almost as fiction -- meaning it must be powerful enough to hold the reader's attention. The second piece of advice: it takes great courage and honesty to write effective memoir. It requires the writer to dig deep and to be courageous enough to share raw and sometimes troubling emotion. I suspect some stop writing because they cannot or will not be that honest. Irene Troyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839666907158210573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-54321089580390414932020-04-05T07:21:48.959-04:002020-04-05T07:21:48.959-04:00MA, done! MA, done! Brigidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13768090206152536761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-53264284347486627652020-04-05T07:16:32.005-04:002020-04-05T07:16:32.005-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Brigidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13768090206152536761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-23716836875865108162020-04-04T20:43:46.256-04:002020-04-04T20:43:46.256-04:00Brigid, that's heartwarming news.
I just trie...Brigid, that's heartwarming news. <br />I just tried clicking through to your website - maybe if you put a link to the GoFundMe page, you never know, you might pick up some extra contributions.... ;)MA Hudsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11055543285024785889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-77137626118850133732020-04-04T20:27:02.792-04:002020-04-04T20:27:02.792-04:00That's wonderful, Brigid! All the best to your...That's wonderful, <b>Brigid</b>! All the best to your mum (mom)!NLiuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00184714542401822508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-82943919232113102642020-04-04T19:03:34.259-04:002020-04-04T19:03:34.259-04:00Wow, Brigid, that's fantastic and heartwarming...Wow, <b>Brigid</b>, that's fantastic and heartwarming news!!Katjahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06709262852565003059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-69484370937145470762020-04-04T17:47:52.184-04:002020-04-04T17:47:52.184-04:00Brigid Holy smokes.
That is beyond words.<b>Brigid</b> Holy smokes.<br />That is beyond words.<br />Janet Reidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00615380335938685231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-73261319686819520722020-04-04T16:38:06.498-04:002020-04-04T16:38:06.498-04:00Brigid that is AMAZING!<b>Brigid</b> that is AMAZING! Jennifer R. Donohuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00363886899308588391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-11814457613296089462020-04-04T13:48:18.680-04:002020-04-04T13:48:18.680-04:00Brigid, that is awesome news.
I can't even fo...<b>Brigid</b>, that is awesome news.<br /><br />I can't even follow it with my lame comment. Good luck to your mom.John Davis Frainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18020019400599228492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-73937178681831444132020-04-04T12:40:11.951-04:002020-04-04T12:40:11.951-04:00Y'all, I have a STORY. You know my mother is n...Y'all, I have a STORY. You know my mother is navigating cancer. You know that she can't get surgery due to the pandemic. You may not have known she couldn't afford the auxiliary treatments her doctor recommended to help see her through the next few months. So, we did the American thing and started a GoFundMe.<br /><br />Yesterday an acquaintance gave $2,525, enough for her to begin treatment NOW. This may be a lifesaving difference. <br /><br />Now that's an interesting number, $2,525. In fact, $2525. Instead of $25. It was a typo, an accident.<br />They aren't wealthy--far from it, they live simply in a dodgy area of town--and this is more than they ever spend. They have needs of their own. We're in a pandemic, staring down an economic depression!<br /><br /><i>They told her to keep it.</i>Brigidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13768090206152536761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-70186614383476850382020-04-04T12:35:16.716-04:002020-04-04T12:35:16.716-04:00Is selling your memoir as a novel likely to produc...Is selling your memoir as a novel likely to produce a similar response to what James Frey's MILLION LITTLE PIECES got when the truth came out? Because that was. Something.<br /><br />I can undeerstand wanting to fictionalize things that have happened to you, situations that're recognizable to the people who know you, diluting it enough that they don't think your writing is <i>you</i>, forever and ever amen. And I feel like it isn't necessary for most of us to write our memoirs. But. Writing one's memoir and then having it published also seem like two different things to me. Like yes, write, but are you then also prepared for the potential bread and circus if it gets popular and you become dissectible by every once-a-month book club that chooses it? By Oprah? By those incisive people at Kirkus with their pens-as-knives?Jennifer R. Donohuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00363886899308588391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-69840057538045832342020-04-04T11:36:11.388-04:002020-04-04T11:36:11.388-04:00My favourite memoir is George Burns' GRACIE: A...My favourite memoir is George Burns' GRACIE: A LOVE STORY. Generally, it's about a flawed man who falls in love with the perfect woman, and the relationship works. It's also about people navigating new technologies, changing, adapting, succeeding. It's about friendships and loyalty. And it's about happiness and regrets. Trials and mistakes. And through it all is a fascination that this perfect angel actually loves him. <br /><br />It's told in George Burns' own unmistakable voice.<br /><br />The fact that this couple and their friends are famous, even household names, and are navigating the entertainment business in the early days of radio and television, doesn't take away from the resonance.BJ Muntainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12977414826388000094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-59037758917708045042020-04-04T09:31:19.391-04:002020-04-04T09:31:19.391-04:00Oh how interesting this post is!
Before I even st...Oh how interesting this post is!<br /><br />Before I even started writing One Of Us Has To Go, I knew I wanted to make it 'different'. Great, ha ha.<br />I had never planned on NOT using two characters for the same person. And I thought it was different for... well... a memoir. But then I thought it can't count as a memoir given how I've constructed it. Plus, I used two extra voices (devil and angel) arguing with Finja to represent her conscience as well as her difficulties/insecurities of making decisions. So I thought it must be a novel even though it's all based on true events. <br /><br />I did tweak things slightly, like the order of very few events to make it better for the story. So, I thought my book is fiction/a novel even though it's not fiction. :/ I still don't know what it really is.<br /><br />And when I read the reviews on Goodreads, I see people saying "This reads like a memoir" and "This really is an autobiography" (since it says on the cover "Based on a true story").<br /><br />Maybe it's none of these things, lol.<br /><br />I don't regret having (tried to) put it together as a novel. An agent might well say it's not, but I meant to. Also, I wanted to give it a satisfying ending (as OP mentioned this...), and my ending (as much as the entire present timeline) is fictitious. It didn't happen like that. Katjahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06709262852565003059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-76420159241284386782020-04-04T09:27:05.716-04:002020-04-04T09:27:05.716-04:00Btw, Janet, I watched Unorthodox yesterday and lov...Btw, <b>Janet</b>, I watched <i>Unorthodox</i> yesterday and loved it. Wrapping everything in foil was a new one for me. I had Jewish friends in high school, but still, most everything I know about their practices I learned watching <i>Radio Days</i>. Except the mikvah. My step-daughter converted and gave us a detailed description of the mikvah. Kittyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09868642232827730189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-46925859679479189962020-04-04T08:35:49.614-04:002020-04-04T08:35:49.614-04:00Real life resonates, but only if it's more tha...Real life resonates, but only if it's more than just me me me.<br /><br />What is the takeaway for the reader? How will their life improve by reading yours?<br /><br />CynthiaMchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12175917641033760408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-48383564173271429962020-04-04T08:08:55.100-04:002020-04-04T08:08:55.100-04:00I've sent this line to my writing buddies as o...I've sent this line to my writing buddies as our Writerly Quote for the Day: "It's when you think you're done that the real work starts."<br /><br />Yep!<br /><br />True, true, and truer.Carolyn Haleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12439194025687389191noreply@blogger.com