Story, or author, here?

[Vin_Lamb]

Inquiry withdrawn due to idea being ill-advised. Story in question will be shared in time and with better preparation. Thanks again.

 

[Hypoxia]

Write what you want. If this story demands to be told, tell it. We all have stories. Some have beginnings, proceedings, and endings. Some just wander, lacking some of those components. Almost any story will appeal so at least *some* readers here. So, tell your tale.

 

[blin18]

You're right, there's no plot there, so it really comes down to the authors style and the vehicle they used to tell the story. Plenty of people write a successful aurobiography, or have it ghost written, or write a biography for someone else.

Unlike fiction, the success of these books is not the extraordinary plot, it is that they are simply interesting, true, and engagingly written.

I would consider how you might convince a reader that your story is real. Presuming you cannot offer evidence, you would need to use style. This could be done by you writing a forward to a ghost written autobiography. The forward would say in your words and your style that what follows is your true account of how you came to commit brother sister incest.

The autobiography itself would cover more of your life than just the incest. Read a good autobiography of a famous person to get an idea. Sure, you get to read their version of the stories that made them famous, but you also read about their history and other turning points in their life. This makes the story more personal. A good author will find the right pace for these anecdotes and thread them into the main narrative.

It should go without saying that an autobiography is written in the first person. A biography is in the third person, but I believe that would work poorly for you, so definitely first person ghost written autobiography.

I responded to a similar request on the forum here to write a fictionalised account of a pretty unremarkable lesbian awakening. I tried to make it more interesting through tension and style, using the vehicle of diary entries that are written by a narrator who tells the story day by day, not knowing how the story will end as they tell it. A diary could also work for you, however true incest is more remarkable, so I still recommend the autobiography format.

I have a lot of writing projects in my backlog right now, but I enjoy experiments in style and form. I'd be happy to add you to my ideas folder and revisit it at a later date. Maybe mid this year. No promises.

Things to think about:
1. How might you convince me that your story is real? I'm not interested in getting involved and finding out its just your fantasy
2. You would need to provide a LOT of detail to a ghost writer. You might as write it yourself and get an editor. Without live interviews, how might you get all of that detail to an author? Voice diary?
3. I presume you are the guy. I've only written a small amount of work from a male perspective and have limited experience with it. If you're interested, click on my signature below and find my story Best On Board - it's the only thing on Lit that has a male POV, though I have some more off site. If you like the male voice, send me some feedback from the bottom of the story link. (I have PM's blocked in the forum)

 

[Vin_Lamb]

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[blin18]

Thanks for your thoughts.

Got your original post before editing. It's cool if you're not interested - I take no offence.

I do think that style and voice are the key to presenting a memoir. Finding a folksy, friendly tone, and setting it in the first person is critical I think. Diary or memoir would both work.

Pappillon, by Henri Charrière is a really good example. He told a simple memoir that is outside the experience of the average person (convict colony escape) with such fine detail and in such a genuine voice that it sucked the reader in. There are better plotted prison escape stories (Pappillon is rambling) that have done worse, because they just weren't convincing

The irony of course is that most of Pappillon was either false or happened to someone else. So the need for absolute honesty is not strictly true. But it should purport to be honest, and contain no internal contradictions or provably false statements.

Good luck with your story.

 

[Hypoxia]

The irony of course is that most of Pappillon was either false or happened to someone else. So the need for absolute honesty is not strictly true. But it should purport to be honest, and contain no internal contradictions or provably false statements.

No matter its veracity quotient, a vital story factor is consistency. If I write something that's all lies I'll call it "alternate reality" but the lies must be coherent. Many of my stories are based on real people and situations but with elaborations, speculations, and extrapolations. The background is reality; the action is hot fantasy.

About plots: Journal-type narratives don't need any. Stuff just happens. The narrator or protagonist wanders the world and gets fucked. Next week, another fuck, and then another. Road trips are great for this, as are series set in some institution (school, office, whatever). Nice thing about writing a journal series based on your own or somebody else's life is that you know what happens next. We need never bother with devising an ending.

 

[Vin_Lamb]

Well said gentlemen. A paucity of Coherent Lies ruins just about all fantasy for me, and inumerable, multifarious details are key.

While I do remain interested that doesn't extend to open exchange or analysis at this point, unfortunately.

And I do receive your expressed response as a solid basis for improvement, thanks for that.