Are fictional memoirs OK - as long as its made plain (through cover blurbs etc) that the work is a 'novel' - and therefore fictional?
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Fictional Memoirs ?
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Ok, I'm really confused. I was less confused before you edited your OP. Are you asking if you can market your "true story" as fiction? If so, that's a silly question. Of course you can. Who the hell is gonna know the difference? I'm only guessing that that is what you mean with your question.
Well I was thinking about that when I asked ... but then he DIDN'T make it plain from the get-go that it was fictional - did he?
I thought he tried to play-it-off as his own true memoir.
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Yes, there are many novels in the form of memoirs, including Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand, and perhaps the most famous one of all, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
Yes. That's what you shouldn't do.
Other famous fiction that uses the memoir form: the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini; Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
Yes. That's what you shouldn't do.
Other famous fiction that uses the memoir form: the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini; Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
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Apparently you confuse easy?
I have a story idea that has been perocolating for a long while, and it occurred to me last night that the best way to present it, might be as if it were a memoir of the MC .... with clear indications on the book cover etc - that it was a work of fiction.
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Thank you very much! That's exactly the type of thing I meant. I was drawing a blank for examples, though I knew I'd read 'novels' like this, in the past.
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So, maybe in your title you could make it clear that it is a memoir, then simply insert "a novel" at the bottom..... so that Memoir is in the title we know the character is writing their memoir, but that it is clearly a fictional novel. Flies with me. I like it.
Yes - exactly my thoughts too ...
Helps to hear that it works for others also, though ...
Thank you,
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Well the whole 'fictional memoir' idea is very new ...
I'm not sure yet whose POV would work best ... I'm thinking probably the MC's. Or, as I delve into it further - I may find that one of the secondary characters might carry the story better.
And, of course, there is always the possibility that using the 'fictional memoir' format may not work out at all.
I have another WIP that was going great-guns - LOVED waking up in the morning, knowing I could take the story futher ...
But, I've been 'stalled' on that one for quite a while now. Not sure which direction to take next ...
So, while I let that first WIP percolate a bit, I thought I might as well do some preliminary work on this other idea (the fictional memoir), as it has been dogging me for a while.
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Surely it's very, very old. Many early novels were presented as "true accounts" of events the narrator supposedly witnessed or participated in.
1st would be the most obvious choice.
The first one, A Million Little Pieces, he did try to pass it off as his own. It was only after he was found out - and chewed apart by everyone - that he admitted it was largely fabricated. He let a few years pass and is now claiming that as his "specialty," if you will, and is writing additional "fictional memoirs."
"Fictional Memoir" just sounds like a fancy categorization for an otherwise-standard first person, past tense novel. As long as you make it plain this is fiction you've written, go for it.
Good luck!
Good grief. I meant that it was a very new idea TO ME - that I'd been tossing the idea around for a long while, and had been granted an 'ah-ha' moment the night before that the idea might work best in a 'memoir' format - probably from 1st person, from the MC's POV.
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I think you're right in that I've managed to give lots of folks the wrong impression by asking about a 'fictional memoir' - it WOULD be at its most basic, first person, past tense.
I did not know that Jame Frey was now 'specializing' in fictional-memoirs - wonder how well they sell.
Thanks Janna,
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A "fictional memoir"? It sounds like what you're talking about is just a novel, written in the first person, in which the main character/narrator tells you the story of her life (e.g., Memoirs of a Geisha) or the story of some major experience she had in her life (e.g., a fictional equivalent of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, which was about her horrible divorce and how she traveled the world to heal from it).
You can think of it as a "fictional memoir" if you want, but it's really just a novel. What makes it like a memoir is that it's written in the first person and its focus is on the main character (unlike some first-person novels in which the main character is telling you strories about other characters).
I wouldn't call it a "fictional memoir" in your query letters. That could confuse people. Just call it what it is: a novel.
I understand your point - see the post by JannaWrites (above) and my reply to her.
Thanks for the references as well - I appreciate your input
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Little Me by Patrick Dennis is another example. He even went so far to include photographs, like many memoirs by famous people have.
Excellent - thank you all for the the input - and for the other titles to check out as well. Just what I needed. Thank you!
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