Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Blog 5
In my opinion, it needs to atleast be based off of your life or somebody that you know and the events need to atleast be somewhat true. I see no harm in stretching the truth a little because if you haven't already noticed, people lie and stretch the truth all the time! As long as the writer sticks the the events and what happened next, I can view that as being a non-fiction piece.
Half truths do make a good story because they usually pull the reader in more and give the reader what they want, but to call that a memoir is like saying that you are the next big star. Frey's and Mortenson's books are great examples of half truths and they do create a story that the reader wants to keep on reading, but the fact that they call them memoirs is not the greatest plan of action. They decieve the reader into thinking that what they are telling is true with exception of some small amounts of exaggeration, but to know that they either stretched most of the story or made up a good portion of it would make the book seem less attractive to the reader.
Shields is right by needing to add labels and how it affects the outcome of the book. If you write a story and call it a memoir but most of it is barely true, then you would be considered fiction and you should have just labeled the story as that. But if you give a true story about your life and events that have brought you to where you are today, then that would be a non-fiction piece and can happily call it a memoir.
Half truths do make a good story because they usually pull the reader in more and give the reader what they want, but to call that a memoir is like saying that you are the next big star. Frey's and Mortenson's books are great examples of half truths and they do create a story that the reader wants to keep on reading, but the fact that they call them memoirs is not the greatest plan of action. They decieve the reader into thinking that what they are telling is true with exception of some small amounts of exaggeration, but to know that they either stretched most of the story or made up a good portion of it would make the book seem less attractive to the reader.
Shields is right by needing to add labels and how it affects the outcome of the book. If you write a story and call it a memoir but most of it is barely true, then you would be considered fiction and you should have just labeled the story as that. But if you give a true story about your life and events that have brought you to where you are today, then that would be a non-fiction piece and can happily call it a memoir.
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