Writing Style

[mamagba]

I am writing about my journey through life (at 63), about the people I have met, places I have been and things that have influenced me. In writing about the people I have used their letters to me to introduce them and to show the quality of our relationship. I comment on events and issues that come up in the letters.

I have not seen this done this way anywhere, has anyone?

What do you think of writing an autobiographical work this way?

mamagba

[aka eraser]

I like the idea and can see how it might work quite well. I do think you should get permission from each correspondent to use their letters though and give consideration to changing names etc. where that might be prudent.

Good luck with it.

[MadScientistMatt]

One catch is that the letters are, from a legal standpoint, copyrighted by their original authors. You must get permission to use them.

[sacha_kimber]

I have seen books with orginal letters in them, but the book usually does not have letters from very many people.

I think that your idea is very good and I would be interested to know more. Personally, I believe that our elderly population have some great stories that are soon to be lost. I have not decided what would be the best way to capture these stories since I have heard that anthologies are hard to publish, but I do think that you should tell your story.

Keep me posted.

[Jamesaritchie]

I am writing about my journey through life (at 63), about the people I have met, places I have been and things that have influenced me. In writing about the people I have used their letters to me to introduce them and to show the quality of our relationship. I comment on events and issues that come up in the letters.

I have not seen this done this way anywhere, has anyone?

What do you think of writing an autobiographical work this way?

mamagba

I like the sound of it, but you will need to get permission to use the letters. You own the letters, but the copyright to the writing belongs to whoever wrote them, or to that person's family, should the writer be deceased.

[TashaGoddard]

This sounds very interesting. As others pointed out you will, however, need to check out copyright issues in terms of the letters that you are using, and specific to where you intend to publish the book. (I notice that you are in Nigeria, where copyright law may differ to copyright law in the USA or the UK, for example. I'm not sure whether the copyright might also depend on where the original writers of the letters wrote them. It would definitely be a good idea to find a lawyer who will be able to help you out with the legal issues.)

Your book sounds like it would be a fascinating one to read and I wish you good luck with it.

[alleywaygirl]

Even if you don't get copyright for the letters, it would be interesting to just have your responses as a start off point. It might be really intriguing...

[mamagba]

I appreciate your comments and I thank you for your words of encouragement. I have not only sought permission to use the letters, I have sent my comments to the people concerned for verification and permission. Copyright Laws in Nigeria are similar to those in America and the UK so I may just take Tasha's advice and take the precaution of showing the work to a lawyer familiar with copyright laws.

I wrote my father's (auto)-biography using his letters to me from 1953 to 1990, when he died. The book was well received, except that I did not write much about issues outside of the letters. For instance, I said nothing about people not mentioned in the letters, even family members!