The inevitable James Frey-inspired discussion

personally, I wouldn't change anything that could be verified with a little research.

I can't claim to be born in Montreal when I was born in Vancouver.
I can't claim to have a Ph.D. when I don't even have a B.A.
I can't claim to have spent ten years in a prison on a murder charge when I spent two weeks in juvenile detention for spraypainting graffiti on a subway car.

but then... that's just me.

I understand that some memoir authors might combine people and change events around a bit--maybe even condense the time line. But essentially, everything is true, to the best of their conscious ability.

That, to me, very different than fabricating and exaggerating whole, significant sections of a book. Not to mention plagiarism.

There are remarkable personal stories out there, and it's a shame that now every remarkable story will be viewed with skepticism.

So what does that leave us with, unless our lives are documented down to the minute details? What kind of paper trail are we going to need to back up our stories?

What do you mean, Amityville Horror was fiction?!

(I thought it was all true, and it started with someone bringing a Ouiji board into the house.)

Mac, do you think it AH would have sold as well as fiction, at least, initially? As fiction, I'd have called it a "dime a dozen."

Aconite said:

I've been thinking about that in a different way: do any of us not have paper trails for any event of note these days?

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True--that's what caught Frey.

MacAllister said:

Hmm--How about I play devil's advocate?

Why one earth are we falling apart over a novelization of the guy's life? Because the publisher called it a memoir? But aren't we all pretty much convinced that the word on the spine is really just to tell clerks where to shelve it?

Consider The Amityville Horror--is it less effective as a novel? A less seminal work of horror? It was originally published as nonfiction, too.

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I think the problem people have is that non-fiction says "this is real -- that life is stranger than fiction!" People (however naive they are) tend to be drawn to true-life stories that are bizarre and twisted -- we are all reality TV/news/true story junkies. On top of it, there's an idea that someone cuts in line by calling fiction non-fiction. Out of 175,000 books published every year, only less than 5000 are fiction. The odds are stacked against novelists. So for a "novelist" to fake it and call his novel "non-fiction," he increases his odds of getting published. Not to mention, the quality "requirements" of non-fiction is less restricted than fiction. Non-fiction are more likely to be judged on content than on the quality of writing.

It has happened before and it will happen again (e.g. Amityville Horror). The question really is: is it ethical? Or does it fall in the category of "if it sells books, who cares?"

There's also the concept of crediblity. If someone could deliberately fabricate stories and call it real, how will we ever trust anyone who writes non-fiction? The answer probably is: You shouldn't trust everything you read anyway. But in this cynical world, I think something like what Frey did could only worsen this cynicism. Liars become winners, and nobody wants to play by the rules anymore.

So, I think the argument isn't whether a book is just as good or better as a novel than as "non-fiction." I think the issue is much bigger than that. Is publishing following the paths of TV and movies, where "truths" doesn't really that much compared to "entertainment value"?

Well, I can't begin to know "The MIND of OPRAH," but I could venture a guess as to why she initially defended him.

It seems that a lot of poor people gained inspiration from Frey's story--enough so that some folks made life-changing decisions as a result of reading that book. I'd bet that Oprah didn't want them to think they'd wasted their time on following a false prophet, so to speak.

I haven't read his book, either. I might, but it won't be because I bought it, though. I refuse to let that lying so-and-so to have any of my money.

I seriously doubt if his book would have been much of a blip if it had been marketed as fiction.

I do have an expectation regarding books classified as non-fiction.

BTW, did you know Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Prairie" books were classified as historical fiction?

*scratches head*

hmm...

I think the problem is that when *I* pick up a memoir I expect to be told the truth - if I'm reading about a kid going through drug rehab or a pup going through basic training and then landing in the Gulf I expect there to be at least *some* connection to reality. If he's overcome tough odds to get to where he is I want to believe that others can do the same and that it *is* possible to move forward in life.

Frey basically fell back into the same routine that a lot of addicts (not just drug) get into - you lie and work your way around the truth. It's not an addiction, just a habit. It's not taking up all your money and time, it's just a hobby. It's not stealing from your family and friends for a fix, it's just getting a loan. When he sat there on Oprah and stated that he thought it was better to write that his girlfriend hung herself instead of slashing her wrists (in reality) I just couldn't believe it. That along with placing himself in the middle of the car crash that happened in his high school when he wasn't even friends with the kids killed. That's just... way beyond having a bad memory.

because we all like underdog stories. We all like hearing about the winners who pull it through; hit the puck into the net at the last minute of overtime, bash the homerun in game 7 of the World Series and all that.

but if we know the goalie wasn't there or that the other team had already left the field, then it cheapens the experience entirely. And makes us that much more suspicious of the next "great" story that comes along.

oh, look... hot coco-moo with marshmallows!

*wanders off*

I remember why they were classified that way--I was about ten or so, and I was looking in my school library for them. When I was told they were in the fiction section, well, obviously I still remember my shock.

I still think they would have been classified just as well as memoir.