How to write 70k more words

cornflake

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Personally, none of those. I'm not taking secondhand advice from random people on anything, nor am I likely to be interested in long conversations between people I don't know that don't drive the plot, though I don't know how you mean long narrative and conversations, so the latter is less set in stone I suppose.

Do you have permission from all of these people to write about them in this manner?
 

Loverofwords

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I'm not sure I would look to this for advice, but it could be an interesting/inspiring read if done right. Long conversations could potentially be boring and so could dull settings. Take a look at other well-liked memoirs to see how they managed to make it interesting while talking about their life.

P.S. Like cornflake said, you gotta have those guys' permission.
 

vonsina

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Names, occupations, location and other identifying factors are changed or generic. I'm also going to release this under a pen name. I'm sure there are a few other black girls in the world that might have a similar story.

I cant get in contact with all of them because its been some years, I've moved or changed phones, etc. The ones I'm close with says its fine but I'm still changing their details for a work of "creative non fiction." Some of them don't speak English well and some of them are married so the less likely they can be identified, the better. Even if they did want to come at me though, their wives would know they are cheaters. Splitting their fortune with permanently spousal maintenance sounds is a lot worse than whatever they'd win from me in a litigation battle. Maybe they won't even find my book because Memoirs aren't best sellers yeah? On a side note, authors like Tucker Max seems to be doing alright putting people on blast. Was permission obtained before?
 

cornflake

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Names, occupations, location and other identifying factors are changed or generic. I'm also going to release this under a pen name. I'm sure there are a few other black girls in the world that might have a similar story.

I cant get in contact with all of them because its been some years, I've moved or changed phones, etc. The ones I'm close with says its fine but I'm still changing their details for a work of "creative non fiction." Some of them don't speak English well and some of them are married so the less likely they can be identified, the better. Even if they did want to come at me though, their wives would know they are cheaters. Splitting their fortune with permanently spousal maintenance sounds is a lot worse than whatever they'd win from me in a litigation battle. Maybe they won't even find my book because Memoirs aren't best sellers yeah? On a side note, authors like Tucker Max seems to be doing alright putting people on blast. Was permission obtained before?

Changing names and such does nothing as long as the people are still identifiable to a reasonable person.

Tucker Max has been sued more than once -- he's hardly the bar I'd want to set in a number of senses, but he's likely spent a shitload on legal fees.
 

Old Hack

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Changing names, using a pen name, and declaring the work is a piece of creative non-fiction, or is a fiction, do not provide adequate protection from prosecution.

Moreover, your description of the work--long conversations, etc--does not make it sound enticing.

If I were you I'd reconsider how you're going to approach this work.
 

vonsina

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Conversations aren't my focus at all. I guess I was asking if I should include conversations since I haven't read many memoirs (which I'll do now). It's more action and drama, except told in first person. I was curious what readers would be interested in, so it seems I'm at least on the right path to not focus on conversations.
 
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