A Fiction Rant

I don't know why I never thought to add to my repoirtore. I've been sitting here, continuing to work on my novel. I was watching ths special on the E! Channel about the BTK killer and how he wrote stories describing how he killed his victims. His stories were called "fiction" but if they are based on real-life,  THE STORIES ARE NONFICTION. What's irritating for many writers, including myself, is how vague a comparison can be made between the two. I think the safest thing to do to protect not only the artist but the integrity of their work, if you write something, it's just better to call it fiction.

I think that was the mistake James Frey made. While A Million Little Pieces was a brilliant piece of work, by calling it nonfiction, he had to have everything verified as factual. Also, a lot of writers feared a backlash against memoir and nonfiction because of him. Now, with this special on serial killers who write "fictional" stories, I worry about writers being scrutinized. After all, where do they get their ideas from? Relax, it's called imagination. If it works for Stephen King, then why not the rest of us? I think my gripe is a) his "work" were called stories and b) his "stories" were called fiction. Yes, a story can narrate non-fictional events but his work is definitely not fiction. Nor should they even be called stories,  Maybe event writing or grotesque communications but not fiction. Fiction should be praised, not martyred.

Anyway, that's my rant for the month. I got more "old" news to share.  So, enjoy yourselves and take care!

Bye for now,

P.