Should You Fictionalize Your Memoir?
A key question for every memoir writer
Hi Everyone,
This is a MidWeek Special drawn from the Write-on Roundup! archives. I’m re-publishing it as a separate post because it lacked a clear title and got lost in the stack. For that reason, you may well have missed it the first time around.
If you’re wrestling with the thorny memoir v. fiction issue, I hope this second look is helpful!
Write on!
Aimee
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To fictionalize, or not to fictionalize
Many, if not most, memoir writers at some point wonder whether they should write their personal story instead as a novel, perhaps in third-person. Those changes entice us because they make it so easy to disguise inconvenient identities, maybe fudge embarrassing or lost details, and avoid unwanted criticism from those whose memories of the Past clash with our own.
What difference would it make to the underlying story, after all?
The answer is: a lot.
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