Choosing the right genre

JeriDaniels said:

I need advice!! My first novel is a first person narrative of my life, more specifically an event in my life. It is a true story. I changed all the names, including my own and write under a pen name. But a select group of individuals have told me that agents will not touch a non fiction narrative because they don't want to deal with the legality that it might bring. So I am currently proposing my book in my query letter as women's fiction. But it just doesn't feel right. If I was going to compare my work I would equate my writing to Elizabeth Gilbert or Jenny Lawson. They obviously were successful in their narratives. What is the right decision? What do agents prefer?

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Is this a novel loosely based on events in your life? If so, I'm not sure I understand the question. Or is it a memoir of your life? The latter is a well-established form of narrative non-fiction, and I'm not sure why anyone would advise you an agent won't touch it. A memoir should be queried as such.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

If you're telling it in 3rd person, then it's an autobiographical novel.

If you're telling it in first person, then it's a memoir.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

If it is a novel, it is a novel. Don't hide that it is inspired by real life--but let the agents decide of they want it rather than prejudging that

Siri Kirpal said:

If you're telling it in 3rd person, then it's an autobiographical novel.

If you're telling it in first person, then it's a memoir.

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Not necessarily correct. Lots of autobiographical novels are narrated in first person. If you are using your own name, and relating the events in a purely factual manner, then you are writing a memoir. If you alter character names and tweak events, you have veered into fiction, however autobiographically-based it may be.

The agent is going to be interested in the story and the writing, not in your explanation of it.

caw

JeriDaniels said:

I need advice!! My first novel is a first person narrative of my life, more specifically an event in my life. It is a true story. I changed all the names, including my own and write under a pen name. But a select group of individuals have told me that agents will not touch a non fiction narrative because they don't want to deal with the legality that it might bring.

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That select group of individuals is wrong.

The memoirs of non-famous people can be very difficult to place, [auto]biographies even more so. But it's not usually the legal problems involved in publishing the books which make them so: it's that the books are often just not commercially valid. The great reading public won't buy books about people they don't know unless those people have lived through or done something extraordinary, and then written about it very well indeed.

We have all lived extraordinary lives, but that doesn't make all our lives interesting enough to be written about.

If people are going to get passionate enough about the book to threaten legal action that might be seen as a positive, not a negative: because readers might also feel that passion.

So I am currently proposing my book in my query letter as women's fiction. But it just doesn't feel right.

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If it's not fiction, don't query it as fiction.

If you've written it to read like a novel, then you might have to query it as a novel: but it might be a truer, better book if you're clear about it being a memoir or autobiography. (Make sure you know the difference before you go any futher.)

If I was going to compare my work I would equate my writing to Elizabeth Gilbert or Jenny Lawson. They obviously were successful in their narratives. What is the right decision? What do agents prefer?

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Agents prefer great books, honestly written.

If your book makes a wonderful novel then query it as a novel.

If it's a memoir or autobiography disguised as a novel it's going to sit uncomfortably in a genre which doesn't exist.

If it's a memoir or autobiography then query it as one of those.

Just make sure it's good, that's all.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

blacbird said:

Not necessarily correct. Lots of autobiographical novels are narrated in first person. [True enough for this part.] If you are using your own name, and relating the events in a purely factual manner, then you are writing a memoir. [Ditto] If you alter character names and tweak events, you have veered into fiction, however autobiographically-based it may be [However, lots of otherwise factual memoirs alter names and some identifying features for legal safety.]

The agent is going to be interested in the story and the writing, not in your explanation of it.

caw

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Blessings,

Siri Kirpal