Every book is a confession

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Susan Coffin

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I'd like to suggest that there is a reason for why we think a certain story, told a certain way, would be "good." And think about it. We do not tell just any good story. We tell certain kinds of good stories.
We do tell stories for a reason, but I don't believe it has anything to do with confessions. Perhaps it's the things that we don't have in our lives, or those things we would never really do, are what we choose to write about. Perhaps we are writing from an old pain where we knew someone who was a victim, or we read an article one day and based a story upon it. We often take painful events from our own lives and embellish them into great stories.

A writer I know mentioned, about critiquing, that the way she visualizes an author could take the story is NEVER the way the author decides to take it.
I'm not following you here. Can you please elaborate?
 

timewaster

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I saw a movie today and a line in it got my attention. Every book is a confession.
The book in question was fiction and the implication was that authors reveal themselves through or in their fiction; either consciously or subliminally. I believe I do, For example I detest violence of any kind. Having been very young during one war and a soldier in another, I am a child of my time, and so my characters reflect this.
Thoughts anyone? Every book is a confession.
C

All stories reveal something about the author but I wouldn't go much further than that. I detest violence and write about it all the time albeit in a slightly conflicted way. I think these kinds of statements make more sense in the context of contemporary lit writing but get a bit harder to justify if you write genre fiction.
 

Jamesaritchie

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We do reveal much of ourselves in many stories, but certainly not all, and "confession" is certainly the wrong word for most of what I write. It simply isn't at all accurate for me. I have nothing to confess, and when I put my personal beliefs in fiction, it's intentional, and no more of a confession than the way I live my life, talk to my friends, vote, or anything else.

And in a fair number of stories I write, no character expresses anything I believe at all. Neither does the story. My job as a writer is to express what the characters believe, not what I do. If I use a character who happens to believe the same way I do, fine. I may be that character, and that character may be me, but there's still no confession.

And as I said, quite often no character has anything at all to do with me, and the story may tell a tale wherein nothing is as I believe, think, or feel.

At the same time, I don't think there's anything at all wrong with working your own beliefs into your fiction, as long as you don't preach, don't turn a perfectly good story into a manifesto of your personal beliefs and opinions. Do this, and it stops being fiction, stops being a story.

Violence may be a good example. I've experienced some serious violence first hand, and while I believe violence should always be the last resort, experience has taught me that, quite often, it's the only workable resort, and those who say "violence never solves anything" are so woefully ignorant that nothing they believe about anything can be trusted.

In real life, violence often solves everything, is the only thing that stands a chance of working, and when violence doesn't solve a some problems, it's most likely because you didn't use enough violence. I know you can't talk the violent, the murderous, the psychopaths, the dictators, the greedy, or anyone else prone to violence from using violence against you unless you are willing and able to use even more violence in return.

Sometimes I intentionally use this in fiction, but just as often I use main characters who believe and practice the exact opposite. I've always believe a writer's job is, as someone once said, to hold up a mirror that society can look in and see its true reflection. If readers look into that mirror and see the writer's reflection each time, why would anyone want to read it?
 

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Or rather, the viewpoint character's moral opinion.
Exactly. The characters in the story have their own thoughts. Sometimes the author will channel their own opinions, feelings, what have you on the subject at hand, but even those aren't confessions. And as others have said on here, they may write one thing but believe in something else. The only real involvement of the author's psychology is drawing upon their own experiences to add to the writing.
 

Chris P

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My books are getting less confessional as I write. My novella was basically me in a situation, the next book was me with improvements in a situation, but the WIP is not much me at all. I take this as progress that I'm able to write beyond myself.
 

jennontheisland

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I've been accused of writing my own fantasies and desires into my work; true to some extent, but no, I've never had a threesome with a Viking and an elf.

I think this kind of analysis is a cheap and easy way for professors and lit critics to claim some kind of insight into the author's mind.
 

Eddyz Aquila

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The main characters in my books have at least a small part of "me" inside their own personality. So, yes, I agree with the OP, every book is a confession, at least in part.
 

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"Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief. They all kill their inspiration, then sing about the grief." -- Bono, U2, The Fly
 

Kitty27

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Viking and Elf threesomes? I love this place.*wipes tear*

My characters all have an element of me. I believe that we infuse characters with traits we have or wish for.
 

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I saw a movie today and a line in it got my attention. Every book is a confession.
The book in question was fiction and the implication was that authors reveal themselves through or in their fiction; either consciously or subliminally. I believe I do, For example I detest violence of any kind. Having been very young during one war and a soldier in another, I am a child of my time, and so my characters reflect this.
Thoughts anyone? Every book is a confession.
C


No. Sweeping generalizations really pump my...never mind.
 

Mr. Anonymous

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Ferret -

My imagination is a cumulative expression of the books, movies, television I've been exposed to. The only confession that might come through is that I've read too much Edgar Rice Burroughs.

And the books, movies, television etc are all a part of your life, and your world. And of course, in many instances, you choose what you're exposed to. What television shows to watch. What movies to see. My point is simply that there is a reflection of this in your writing. It may not be the kind of reflection we're used to seeing when we look in a mirror, but it is a reflection nonetheless. JMO.

Susan -

We do tell stories for a reason, but I don't believe it has anything to do with confessions. Perhaps it's the things that we don't have in our lives, or those things we would never really do, are what we choose to write about. Perhaps we are writing from an old pain where we knew someone who was a victim, or we read an article one day and based a story upon it. We often take painful events from our own lives and embellish them into great stories.

Here's where I think our misunderstanding lies. I do not think an author needs to confess, in order for the work to be a confession. We don't even have to use the word confession, if people don't like it. My point is simply that a work is a reflection of the creator. Writing is a response to the things we've seen, heard about, done, etc. Take the smartest person in the world. Erase his memory. Ask him to write. He will be unable to, because he does not have anything yet to respond to.


I'm not following you here. Can you please elaborate?

Basically, this writer often looks at WIP short stories that other writers are working on, and gives them advice about how to improve, what direction/s they could take the story, etc.

Her point was that, often times, something about someone else's story will intrigue her, and she will imagine the direction in which she'd take the story if it were hers. But the writer never takes it in the direction that she would have. That's not to say that the writer's story is necessarily inferior to what her story would have turned out to be. But it is to suggest that something in us, leads us to write our stories precisely in the way we do.
 
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MissMacchiato

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I had someone ask if my sex scenes were drawn from life. I had to laugh, since I write paranormal romance with vampires.

No, I've never read someone's thoughts having sunk my fangs into their neck during intercourse.

That being said, there is a lot of me in my characters. They don't have the same thoughts about certain topics that I do, but of course I see myself in them.

I don't know if it's a confession though - aren't writers less the type of people to give quiet confessions and more the type to scream from the rooftops? LOL now THERE'S a peronal confession!
 

CACTUSWENDY

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Hum. Interesting read.

I write about serial killers. I write about demons that enjoy their work. I have never killed anyone, and to my knowledge, am not demon possessed. I like to pretend and enjoy the making up part involved in creating a story. I can also say that to my knowledge I have never met a serial killer in real life. Not so sure about the demons. :evil (Other then the ones I've met in here.)

I think the statement is way too broad.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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And the books, movies, television etc are all a part of your life, and your world. And of course, in many instances, you choose what you're exposed to. What television shows to watch. What movies to see. My point is simply that there is a reflection of this in your writing. It may not be the kind of reflection we're used to seeing when we look in a mirror, but it is a reflection nonetheless. JMO.

I'll agree with reflection. Maybe we're arguing semantics here, but my writing is still not a confession. Its a reflection of my upbringing, socializing, familial history, entertainment choices, and other life experiences -- all these things go into a writer's style, they form his voice.

But a confession? No.

By the way, you need to learn how to multi-quote. As written, your post looks like your quoting me several times, when only the first italicized piece is mine. :)
 

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I saw a movie today and a line in it got my attention. Every book is a confession.
The book in question was fiction and the implication was that authors reveal themselves through or in their fiction; either consciously or subliminally.

I'm guessing the quote was a line of dialogue, from a character who was either intended to sound profound, or thought themselves to be. I don't think authors reveal themselves by default; they reveal however much of themselves they want to, and that amount might be none at all. Unless readers know the author personally, the judgments they make after reading the book (e.g. "They must be a vegetarian"; "Their sympathies lie with the workers in this kind of union action"; "They think sex before marriage is wrong") are just guesses.


My point is simply that a work is a reflection of the creator. Writing is a response to the things we've seen, heard about, done, etc. Take the smartest person in the world. Erase his memory. Ask him to write. He will be unable to, because he does not have anything yet to respond to.

Isn't this stating the obvious? Someone can only write/discuss/imagine something by building on concepts they've become aware of in their life. If that was what the OP's quote was referring to, then it was right. I had the impression though that the quote was rather hinting that some private, emotional truth is always expressed when someone writes a book, which I don't think is the case.


It sounds like you doth protest too much.

No. What the author says is the final word on the subject. If you're essentially going to accuse an author of lying, or of simply being wrong, then I'd want to see your evidence, followed by an apology when you can't provide any.
 

gothicangel

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No. What the author says is the final word on the subject. If you're essentially going to accuse an author of lying, or of simply being wrong, then I'd want to see your evidence, followed by an apology when you can't provide any.

Eh?
 

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My books are getting less confessional as I write. My novella was basically me in a situation, the next book was me with improvements in a situation, but the WIP is not much me at all. I take this as progress that I'm able to write beyond myself.

I'm sure it is progress. I heard an agent speak at a conference who said far too often writers' first novels were too much about themselves and not enough about the story.
 

Maxx

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No. What the author says is the final word on the subject. If you're essentially going to accuse an author of lying, or of simply being wrong, then I'd want to see your evidence, followed by an apology when you can't provide any.

Shakespeare isn't here and I think I'd like to apologize for enjoying all the highly Freudian scenes in Hamlet.
 

Maxx

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My imagination is a cumulative expression of the books, movies, television I've been exposed to. The only confession that might come through is that I've read too much Edgar Rice Burroughs.


I don't recall protesting at all. I simply don't write the kind of stories that would be considered confessional. Unless someone wants to psychoanalyze that I write fantasy because of a certain dissatisfaction with the real world.

Do you write stories where men kill their fathers and sleep with their mothers? Or kill father-figures and sleep with mother-figures? Or kill somebody who's a bit stuffy and sleep with somebody who's a bit matronly?
 

Mr Flibble

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The only confession in my writing is that, um, Mum, you know that time I was three and Big Brother said I'd whacked him with the poker? Um, he wasn't lying. But he did stop bullying me for a bit. :D

I think that's all...oh, wait, you can probably deduce the kind of men I find hot.

There's me in all of it, to a degree. That doesn't make it a confession. I reckon upthread had it right, it's probably a reflection, to a greater or lesser extent.
 

Maxx

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The only confession in my writing is that, um, Mum, you know that time I was three and Big Brother said I'd whacked him with the poker? Um, he wasn't lying. But he did stop bullying me for a bit. :D

I think that's all...oh, wait, you can probably deduce the kind of men I find hot.

There's me in all of it, to a degree. That doesn't make it a confession.

You could keep these things to yourself. It seems to me there is a confessional element in writing. It may not be particularly important, but it seems like it must be there since every writer has the choice of keeping things to themselves, but they tend to reveal when in doubt.
 

citymouse

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I'm guessing the quote was a line of dialogue, from a character who was either intended to sound profound, or thought themselves to be.
Nope. The scene was a love scene. It was quite tender. The reader (a woman) was simply saying that the author (a man) had revealed through his novel a part of himself that he kept private under ordinary circumstances. There was nothing dark or sinister or prideful.
C
 
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