Greetings, WriteByNighters!
This week I want to pick your brain about
a topic many of us have wrestled with: How to write authentically about family matters without stepping on feelings.
In last week's blog
post, "A Midsummer Night's Writing Goals Check-In," I
mentioned that I've abandoned my novel and started a nonfiction project. That project is half reportage, half memoir; and the memoir half covers some touchy stuff.
Stuff like family secrets that my loved ones hold tightly to the chest, and want to keep holding.
When writing about family, many writers struggle most
with allowing themselves permission: Do I have the right to share with the general public things that my loved ones would rather keep private? When is it okay to take private matters public?
These are difficult matters. We've heard stories about relationships ending over published material. We've heard stories about lawsuits. And we've heard equally terrible stories about writers altering the material in order to avoid
discord.
As writers, where do our greater loyalties lie: with the narrative or with our loved ones?
Visit this week's post, "(Family) Secrets Secrets Are No Fun," to let us know your thoughts and experiences... and to help me out, in the section titled "Choose My Own Adventure for Me."
