{"id":1033,"date":"2017-08-14T20:46:07","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T20:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/?p=1033"},"modified":"2017-08-14T21:10:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T21:10:09","slug":"considering-responsible-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ejohnlovebooks.com\/true-life\/considering-responsible-storytelling\/","title":{"rendered":"Considering Responsible Storytelling…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m an amateur writer of fiction and non-fiction. I’m not a reporter or a journalist. I’m not a researcher, or an academician. I’m not scholarly.<\/p>\n

I like telling a colourful story, and I love evocative imagery, and poetic license.<\/p>\n

In creating my meagre attempts at fiction, there’s wiggle room: I’m not very dependent on historical accuracy or elaborate world-building, IMHO, the reader will likely allow minor inconsistencies if the characters and story are well-formed and worth caring about.<\/p>\n

However with biography, I think it’s different. If your subject is someone else you must contend with, and pay respect to, narratives that have already been developed around your subject – especially other people’s real experiences and research.<\/p>\n

Even if the subject is yourself, you’re not immune from certain factors: the reality of the other people you’ve known, who you are writing about, and what you can or should ethically reveal which may affect others.<\/p>\n

In my case, I think I can almost write anything I want, with the following ideas in mind:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I cannot embarrass or hurt my parents, since they have both passed on, but I could cause embarrassment or discomfort for other family members who may not agree with my stories.<\/li>\n
  2. The things I say about other people, places or events still reflects back on me and my character. All art is a form of self portrait.<\/li>\n
  3. Rule #2 means that if I embarrass someone else, by definition I am embarrassing myself.<\/li>\n
  4. Save your work often kids.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    (I had written two or three more really good, well-written points<\/em> here, but I lost my edits somehow and had to start over. Re-doing, starting a new draft of even a small section,\u00a0 is my creative Kryptonite. I almost become paralyzed with indecision about whether or not to continue at all. Technology can totally kiss my ass.)<\/p>\n

    Anyway, on the topic of responsibly biographies, here are a few articles I’m going to read and books to consider, to see if they help me to think more about\u00a0 ethics and responsibility in biographical writing:<\/p>\n