When Memorists Deceive

Woman Reading with Tea, Henri Matisse

If a story were ever to be written truthfully 

from start to finish, it would amaze everyone.

                                                                          Henri Matisse

We all know the stories--"memoirs" that are partially or completely fabricated. Some manuscripts initially submitted for publication as fiction got no bites, so the writers labeled them nonfiction and publishers bit. For decades news journalists have been exposed and censured for inventing "facts" and events of all sorts. Although misrepresentation of the self in various degrees is fairly common among humans, committing it to print is irreversible. 
     Why? Why write fiction and call it nonfiction? One answer is that it's easier to get nonfiction published and sold than fiction. Dishonest writers who don't have the skills to make facts appealing on their own can embellish easily. Or the cause is laziness and the motivation simple self-aggrandizement, hope for high sales or notoriety. 
     So part of the challenge for the memoirist is to keep the line between nonfiction and fiction distinct, to respect life experience and write honorably. It's said that God doesn't write good drama. So, because our lives often seem a series of random events, memoir writers have to craft personal experience into something God might have written (had she been so thoughtfully inclined) while still maintaining the integrity of actual experience. 

Woman Reading with Peaches by Henri Matisse

     So much has to do with the implicit contract of trust between writer and reader. So much depends on the writer's intent. Readers need to recognize and depend on a narrator's sincere purpose. Matisse also said, "Creativity takes courage," a quality that's in short supply in our world nowadays. 


Please share your thoughts on this sticky subject. my ideas here are preliminary musings, but I need more perspective--so fire away. In other words, go ahead and COMMENT herein.


Next week: Techniques for keeping nonfiction, not fiction--respectfully and honorably

Note: 
I'm in Italy this week teaching memoir writing at 
The Heart of Memoir Writing Workshop in 
Santo Stefano di Sessanio in Abruzzo. 
This week I'll be posting photos of our work and play on 
Facebook at Eat, Travel, Write Italy & France.