Re: Million Little Pieces -- Unofficial Chris Cornell Forum

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Date Posted: 18:36:22 01/29/06 Sun
Author: chrys
Subject: Re: Million Little Pieces
In reply to: lump 's message, "Million Little Pieces" on 15:15:58 01/27/06 Fri

lots of thoughts on this topic...actually got into a semi-argument with a friend of mine who says it's no big deal if the things he wrote weren't true.

i totally disagreed, because if it's not true, that's fine, and that's fiction. whoever on here pointed out that he could have said "no" to them publishing it as non-fiction, is right on. if you think about it, that's what a lot of fiction is - an embellishment of a real life story, and plenty of fiction books have their impact and can also help people.

the part that bugs me i guess, is the doubt it casts on other writers. i think i have mentioned that i'm part of a memoir writing group here on the island, about six or seven of us (depending on the season and the drama, lol) who are actually looking to put it in print one day. and there are times when you have to fudge a little - for example, you may have to change names and places due to legal issues. an example that comes to mind is alice sebold's Lucky, which is an excellent book. she says to protect friends and family, some of those details hae been changed. or people may publish under a pseudonym (half-considering that myself) or whatever. usually those books (and i know this is true for lucky) are vetted for legal things like that. you would think they would do some fact-checking along the way as well.

i think it's one thing to fill in details that you might remember vaguely, or to use direct quotes in a story, for the sake of storytelling, though in real life you may not know the EXACT words that were once said. was it "pass the peas please," or "please pass the peas?" who cares, as long as you have the basic truth straight. the point is that i think it's important to "not let the facts get in the way of the truth," but also to take extreme caution that what you are saying is the truth as you know it.

for example, and this is where i was going with the group thing, one of us is writing a book about india, and she is going to painstaking lengths to make sure that everything she says, especially when it relates to india's political climate, is researched and fact-checked. and i mean loads and loads of research. i'm starting (as my first rough draft is done) to add in the research aspect myself. i also tend to be anal so like say i'm going to write about a concert as an example, i would go and find the setlist no matter what just to make sure i didn't put anything out of order. the other day i was working on something i wrote about the school of the americas and i spent hours online looking at the old SOA historical site and some of their watch sites. when i made rerence to an essay, i went and found details online. i also made a reference to the movie Contact and so just to make sure i had it right, i d/l'd the entire script, lol. so maybe that is a bit much, but its like, that is part of the job, if you want to write non-fiction. it's part of the drudgework i would say. and it's not the fun part like writing is, but it's important. memory is a shifty thing. a lot of us in the group are also finding people we can have as "first readers," friends who can help keep us honest, or say things like, "wait i thought it happened this way," or "but you told me..."

so it kinda pisses me off what this guy is doing b/c it's lazy, and i do think it's unethical, and disrespectful in a way to people who really have gone through addiction or whatever. just feels really dishonest. also not a good idea to play the publishing game. its yours until you sign it over, and you can always say no, this is fiction, or you can find another publisher. integrity is importnat.

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[> [> Re: Million Little Pieces -- lump, 10:16:22 01/30/06 Mon [1]

I must have hit clear instead of send!

Anyhow, I believe his next book was about the guy he never met in jail.

It kinda makes me sick that it'll probably sell better for the next few weeks than it did before.

And yeah, landing on Oprah's book list is any writers dream. It means instant success. I like her reading list - she really does go to painstaking lengths to pick good quality stuff. I know when she chose this book, some people were shocked because it's blunt and vulgar.

I can understand being a fustrated writer trying to make a living at what you do. I can understand even testing waters to see if your story would sell as non-fiction. But doing it and letting people like Oprah talk you up to billions of people? He's a low life. And yes, Rob - I liked your sentiment about the word. This guy can't live up to that.

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