Frey http://www.writinghood.com/tags/Frey New posts about Frey Blurring the Lines Between Fact and Fiction http://www.writinghood.com/Writing/Blurring-the-Lines-Between-Fact-and-Fiction.74388 When James Frey published his memoir, A Million Little Pieces, it became the second best selling book of 2005. Many people were shocked, however, later that year when it was revealed that many of the accounts in the “non-fiction” work were fabricated. When asked what she thought of the controversy, Joyce Johnson, an editor and writing teacher told a reporter from the Chicago Tribune “In a good literary memoir, you're basically rendering the essence of the experience. Whether someone is called Jane or Susan, who cares?” (Freedman 51). As an aspiring writer, this raises a question for me. When it comes to being a successful writer, which is more important: telling a great story? Or telling the truth?

Suppose that after months of toiling away at my laptop I finally complete my first novel. It is a great story, a classic tale of innocence lost in American youth. My heroine is a young girl who spends most of her teenage years addicted to drugs and working as a prostitute. After a close friend dies of a heroin overdose she decides to pull her life together and eventually, after overcoming several major obstacles, she graduates at the top of her class from Harvard. I send the manuscript off to a publisher and a few months later I receive a phone call. They love the story; there is only one problem. They don't think it will draw interest as a work of fiction. Memoirs are what are hot in publishing right now. Audiences want to read true tales of heartache. Now they want to publish and market the book as a true story, with me playing the part of the reformed prostitute. Now, I have a dilemma. Do I sacrifice my integrity in order to put out what I am told will be a best-seller that will bring me fame and fortune, only to potentially lose my credibility if or when I am discovered?

Should I decide to risk my integrity, follow my publisher's advice, and turn my story into a “memoir”, it could be a big hit. My days as a struggling writer could be over. The publisher is promising me sales, and with those sales my rent is being paid, my needs are being met, and I get more work as a writer. However, if I am discovered as a fraud, not only is my reputation ruined, but I may lose my audience and I risk not getting work due to the controversy.

On the hand, I could tell the publisher no, take my book, and walk away, integrity intact and pockets empty. After all, there is always the possibility that another publisher will take it as is. Why risk my reputation? However, there is always the chance that by doing so, I will be missing out on my big break. So, what is a writer to do?

In my opinion, a person is nothing without integrity. Were I to choose to publish a fabrication as my own experiences I would not be true to myself. Not only that, but I would be cheapening and capitalizing in on the experiences of those who share commonalities with my characters. It is not fair to those who have actually lived through those experiences.

Even though it would be missing out on a potentially huge possibility, I know that I would not be able to publish a lie with my name on it. When reading a memoir, people feel a certain connection with the author. I could not sleep at night knowing that the person that my readers were sympathizing with was not really me. I had fooled them. It just would not be right, and for me at least, that is a fact.

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