The Perils of Writing Who You Know

by

Kathryn Page Camp

 

www.kathrynpagecamp.com



We've all heard the old adage: Write what you know. But have you ever had someone tell you to write who you know? Probably not.

 

Still, many of us do write who we know. Are you working on a memoir? Or writing one of those personal experience articles that keep Reader's Digest and Guideposts in business?

 

That's fine as long as you keep it truthful. But telling the literal truth isn't good enough. "Uncle Charlie sleeps around" may be true if he travels a lot, but that won't be how readers interpret the statement. So unless you are looking for a defamation lawsuit or an excuse to avoid family gatherings, watch your words.

 

Even fiction writers tend to write who they know. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you are a defamation lawyer), most of us create characters who are amalgams of different people rather than one recognizable person. But that isn't always the case.

 

Imagine yourself living in the glow that follows your first published book. Then the sheriff knocks on the door and hands you a summons. Your brother has sued you for defamation.

 

Oh, you say, that won't happen to me. I only write fiction, and everybody knows fiction isn't true. Besides, I'll have a disclaimer at the beginning of my book saying that any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

 

That may have been what Andrew Fetler thought when he published The Travelers. If so, he soon discovered that he was wrong.

 

The novel revolved around a family very much like Andrew's family and an older brother with many of the same characteristics as Andrew's older brother, Daniel. But the fictional parts portrayed the older brother as a cold-hearted traitor. So Daniel sued for defamation, and the entire family took sides.

 

A federal appeals court held that Daniel had the right to try the case. The similarities were strong enough to let a jury decide whether readers would identify the fictional brother with the real one.*

 

I don't know how the story ended. Jury verdicts and settled cases rarely result in written decisions, and I couldn't find any newspaper articles about the outcome. But even if Andrew ultimately won the case, he had to bear the expense and stress of a lawsuit and live with the knowledge that his novel had divided the family.

 

So if you want to write about real people and situations in your fiction, change enough facts to disguise the characters. This requires time and creativity, but it could avoid hard feelings and a lawsuit. And your writing will be better for the effort.

 

__________

* Fetler v. Houghton Mifflin Co., 364 F.2d 650 (2nd Cir. 1966).





October is Closer Than You Think

Save the date of October 10, 2013 for Indiana Writers' Consortium's Fifth Annual Banquet, which will be held at Avalon Manor in Merrillville, Indiana. Karen Kovacik, Indiana's current Poet Laureate, will be the keynote speaker. She will enlighten and entertain you regardless of your genre.

Karen Kovacik was born in East Chicago and grew up in Highland, in Lake County. She's the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Metropolis Burning, and her work has received numerous honors, including the Charity Randall Citation from the International Poetry Forum, the Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Prize, and a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis. In 2004, she was awarded a Fulbright Research Grant to Poland, and her translations of contemporary Polish poetry have appeared in many anthologies and journals, such as American Poetry Review, Crazyhorse and Southern Review. She's professor of English at IUPUI, where she directs the creative writing program. In 2010, her poem "Invisible Movements" won the Moving Forward contest and will be installed along the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

More banquet information will be available as the date approaches.

All I Want for Christmas Is . . .

Books, books, and more books.

Here are some books that make good Christmas presents for writers. Most are craft books. Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life provides encouragement, A Moveable Feast gives us a glimpse into the life of an American writer living in Paris in the 1920s, and Book Proposals That Sell is the best guide to writing non-fiction book proposals that I have found (and I've read a few). The publication dates are from the editions in my own library, so they may not be the most recent versions.

• Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life, edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz (Writer's Digest Books, 2002)
• Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose (Harper Perennial, 2007)
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (Anchor Books, 1994)
• Ernest Hemingway on Writing, edited by Larry W. Phillips (Scribner, 2004)
• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (Scribner, 2003)
• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (Shambhala, 1986)
• On Writing Well by William Zinsser (Quill, 2001)
• How Fiction Works by Oakley Hall (Story Press, 2003)
• Stein on Writing by Sol Stein (St. Martin's Griffin, 1995)
• Writing for Story by Jon Franklin (Plume, 1994)
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (Pocket Books, 2001)
• Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing by David Morrell (Writer's Digest Books, 2003)
• Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell (Writer's Digest Books, 2004)
• Dialogue by Gloria Kempton (Writer's Digest Books, 2004)
• Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress (Writer's Digest Books, 2005)
• Description & Setting by Ron Rozelle (Writer's Digest Books, 2005)
• Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell (Writer's Digest Books, 2008)
• Book Proposals That Sell: 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success by W. Terry Whalin (Write Now Publications, 2005)

There are many other good writing books out there, so comment on this post to add your favorites to the list.

Kathryn Page Camp

Advice From a Dog

by

Peggy Archer

 

www.PeggyArcher.com

 

 

For Christmas one year I received a book from my husband called Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life. Snoopy's Guide... is a wonderful tribute to Charles Schultz, author of the Peanuts cartoons, edited by his son, Monte Schulz, and Barnaby Conrad.

 

I have always loved the cartoons about Snoopy as a writer. Like us, he faces the challenges of writing a good story, revision, criticism, and advice. Snoopy listens to suggestions and gives them a try. He imitates the masters in his own way. And he never gives up.

 

I love Snoopy's rejection letters. They make you laugh because, for the most part, no one could top the letters that Snoopy gets from publishers. Like any dedicated writer, Snoopy believes in himself and keeps on going, in spite of rejection.

 

As a children's writer, I think I may relate a little more to Charlie Brown when Lucy challenges him and Linus to look at the cloud formations and use their imaginations to see beyond just clouds. Charlie Brown sees a ducky and a horsie. Linus sees a map of Honduras, a famous artist, and an apostle in the different clouds. When writing for children we should probably aim somewhere in between.

 

What I didn't expect to find in this book were the essays and advice from 32 best-selling authors. Some comments:

 

"...no matter what method you choose, start with something happening!"--Barnaby Conrad

"...characters are what a story is about--they drive the story; plot and theme come from character, not the other way around."--JF Freedman 

"A story's setting is what puts us there, gives us readers a sense of being in the situation with the characters."--John Leggett

"One of the most difficult decisions an unpublished writer makes is when to take advice and when to ignore all your well-meaning critics and do it your way."--Sue Grafton

Anyone who tells you how to write best-sellers is a sham and a liar. .... I write them with fear, excitement, discipline, and a lot of hard work."--Danielle Steel 

This is a great addition to my library, and a great book for writers of all genres and stages of their writing life. It will leave you smiling, nodding your head as you share the feelings that all writers feel, and gaining insight into the craft and business of writing.

SNOOPY'S GUIDE TO THE WRITING LIFE, edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz, Writer's Digest Books 2002, ISBN: 1-58297-194-3.



This Post is Copyrighted

by

Kathryn Page Camp

 

I'm a lawyer, so writers sometimes ask, "How do I copyright my material?"

My answer? "Get it out of your head and onto paper or a computer drive." The minute you put it in tangible form, it's copyrighted.

"But don't I have to register it with the government or something?"

You can. But no, you don't have to. There are advantages to registering, but they are too complex for a blog post. The process can also be time-consuming and expensive, especially if you register multiple copyrights.

Including a copyright notice on the material is enough to keep most people from "borrowing" it. That's because the average person doesn't know the copyright law and doesn't realize that something is copyrighted unless he or she sees a notice on it.

A copyright notice consists of either the symbol © or the word "copyright," the year, and your name. For example, the notice for this post might say © 2012 by Kathryn Page Camp.

If you are worried that someone will steal your idea, registering won't help, anyway. You can't copyright ideas.

If you are worried that someone will steal the words you use to express your idea, then registering can help prove they are your words. But unless you are J.K. Rowling or J.D. Salinger, your words aren't likely to be a prime target for theft.

Still, your book could become the best seller of the century, and you should register it when it gets published. In fact, the publisher will probably do it for you.

Until then, weigh the time and money you would spend on registration against the likelihood that someone will steal your material. Only you can decide whether it's worth it.

For additional information on copyrights, go to www.copyright.gov.

My website includes a longer article on copyrights as well as other legal articles of interest to writers. You can find them under the "Legal Resources" tab at www.kathrynpagecamp.com.

Kate Collins Book Signing

IWC member Kate Collins will be signing books at Books-A-Million at Southlake Westfield Mall in Hobart, Indiana on Saturday, November 17 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Kate is the author of the popular Flower Shop mysteries about florist Abby Knight.

A Midwestern Irish Comedian Explains Humor, Time, and Space: An Interview with Michael Poore

 by

Janine Harrison

 

When you descend the staircase into his "man cave," you'll likely note the collage of cartoons hanging on the wall before his desk first. Cartoons of John Scratch from his debut novel, Up Jumps the Devil. Cartoons of his wife, his step-daughter, his pistol-sporting grandmama sitting upright in bed. Once a cartoonist for the Ohio University Post, Michael Poore has drawn these images himself. On the adjacent wall, you will see unlikely characters who've been demonized--literally, eyes whitened, horns added--figures ranging from Albert Einstein to the Brady family's faithful maid, Alice. His past Twitter profile pictures. On a bookcase shelf on yet a third wall, you'll observe a stack of overdue videos (much to his wife's chagrin and, oh, by the way, I am she) on topics as diverse as the history of the U.S. space program to noodling. You have now entered his writing world.

 

My husband's fiction is reputed for its humor. I decided to ask him not only about its use but about other modes that dominate his literary landscape.

 

Q: You have been referred to as a "humorist." Please discuss your use of humor in writing.

 

The Midwestern Irish are a peevish and intemperate lot. We're born smartasses.

 

Then consider our subject matter: Earth in the 21st century. I mean, if you peek out your front door and cast a clear eye on your own neighbors and buses and text messages and cats with Facebook pages and those huge machines that suck up leaves and the way people wear pants and work puzzles, doesn't it make you want to slam the door, pull down the shades, and sit in the corner giggling to yourself, "My God...it's all just a big sick joke."

 

This has been the Irish perspective--an outside-in perspective--for centuries. The world gives us absurdities, and we take that as a challenge. The world gave us priests, we responded with faeries. The world gave us Germans, we answered with Joyce. Computers came along; we exported the wolfhound, a greate and fantastickal beest.

 

I'm serious. A straight approach to anything requires consistency...and I can't seem to find that pulse. I'm a big fan of Pinterest because of the elaborate and inconsistent portrait it paints, re: its many creators. It's a kraken of braids and threads of commercial interest. Baking, books, LOTS of wine and sexual imagery, church stuff, witchcraft, hats, caves and woods and dark stars and cow embryos...if this is what our psychology looks like, what response is more appropriate or searching than comedy? In Tagalog, in fact, the word for "comic" and the word for "underworld" are the same (I made that up, but it's still sort of true).

 

Q: Please discuss your dual fascination with time and space. How do you feel that these elements interact within literary and genre texts?

 

I am most interested in what I'm writing when I'm dealing with time. What fascinates me most is the way time gets away from us in tiny doses...an hour, a day, then ten years. How our lives divide into chapters, and how we become different people, and step into and out of roles and ages.

 

I'm especially drawn to the idea that parts of our past become distant enough that they are like foreign countries, populated by people and situations that have unraveled. I think that's the history teacher in me...I see our lives as histories, with battles and art forms, inventions and treaties, dark ages, a Renaissance if we're lucky, or a long and delicious decay. Our childhood becomes our personal mythology, our memories become a cosmology that collapses on itself.

 

My favorite stories span years and years, and my favorite device, the truest device, I think, is the story-within-a-story. That draws on the literary side of my palette, I suppose. It's character-driven. On the other hand, you can't very well write a fifty-year span of time without having a lot of things happen (a story, to semi-quote Michael Martone, is a bunch of stuff that happens), and that lends itself to plot. Which people like to classify as "genre."

 

The trouble is, with so much time, in that kind of story, you wind up with a lot of...ordinary plot. And that can be tedious. Which is where that Irish comic fascination with the absurd and the grotesque come in. Like the character in Shadow of the Vampire who plays an actor playing Dracula: the character has invited Jonathan Harker to come to Transylvania and sell him property in London so he can move there and drink English blood, and he is distraught over how to provide for his guest. He speaks with sadness and uncertainty about how to go to market and select cheeses or when to have the bedding changed...mundanities which become gripping and exquisitely human because they are being fearfully discussed by a man who hasn't been human for four hundred years. Here's this dark creature, terrified by the prospect of, you know, shopping. And at the end of this speech, you're thinking, "Damn, man...having guests is dangerous!"

 

I think this kind of lens attracts readers, even literary readers, in this day and age. Rather than reading from a "normal" perspective looking out at the grotesque, we identify more personally with monsters. Looking, as monsters must, from the outside in. And I would argue that our racing media culture has made us a world of outsiders. Our screen names and avatars inhabit a dreamworld on the other side of a looking-glass where we can never actually go. That's an absurd and grotesque reality, and it favors grotesque fictions.

 

That's why my characters tend to be people like the Devil, or a man who is always getting struck by lightning, or ghosts or taxi drivers faking their deaths. These are comic situations, and their heroes are outsiders. Horror and eternity are easier to come to grips with than the ordinary absurdity of our real, daily 21st century lives. So that's where we begin as a writer. Start with some kind of Frankenstein...and have him slouch toward Walgreens with his secret hungers and his debit card.