| Moral Dilemma
Posted: 6/9/2009 5:32:29 AM | Writing a book using your own personal experiences as a basis for a fictional story is fine ... actually writing my own autobiography for public consumption is not. Some things are just meant to be kept personal and I can choose who to share these things with when its right.
However, my sister has already had her story published in a magazine (it concerned our childhood so of course I was mentioned, including photographs). I got a phone call from a friend telling me to go buy it, I was horrified quite honestly. I'm a private person and it was plastered all over a magazine. I didn't speak to her for months after that.
She phoned me last night .... now she wants to write a book on the whole thing. I told her if that's what she wanted to do, then go ahead and do it but she picked up on my tone and asked if I was annoyed with her .. I wouldn't say annoyed as disappointed. But it's her story too so who am I to say she can't do it. She doesn't need my permission but I will want to read it before it gets to any publication stage. | |
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| Moral Dilemma
Posted: 6/9/2009 7:40:31 AM | Would you select colour film, or rather go with the simplicity of classic black and white?
I’d go with colour, on the off chance that you find his body several days later and can compare his pallor, how his skin had sagged and if there was signs of any maggots.
My (step) nephew committed suicide several years ago. One of his friends wrote a book a couple of years later about growing up in a middle class area, turning to drugs before finally nearly killing himself and changing his life around. My nephew was mentioned on several occasions in the book, which was fair enough, but he mentioned my sister in law whom he didn’t know very well and could only go on hearsay. My sister in law acted at all times in the best interest of her son but was depicted as some hard nosed cow who was more interested in her house and her reputation. His ‘memories’ were a lie. | |
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| Moral Dilemma
Posted: 6/9/2009 9:35:03 AM | His ‘memories’ were a lie.
This is my biggest concern, when the article about our family appeared in the magazine there were some pretty big errors in the story. Now I know my sister would not have got those facts wrong so it makes me think the magazine added certain embellishments. Now would a publication house do the same? or encourage a person to make it a bit more dramatic than it was? | |
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| Moral Dilemma
Posted: 6/9/2009 10:43:23 AM | ^^^^^^^^ I imagine there may well be the potential for a bit of that.
It's just life really though, take a group of people who all experienced the same event however insignificant and they'll all have different takes on it. They even made that into a film, Vantage Point deals with the perceptions of others of a given situation and shows how easy it is for people to make a judgement on something they see without seeing what is really going on at all.
I guess there could be a disclaimer for any offence caused due to perceptions or dusty powers of recall but doubt that would be acceptable.
I think I'd steer clear I reckon it would be a mine field. Of course if you want to do it for your children or as something to leave behind after you've gone that won't be published, then that's a different matter. | |
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