Forty-three years ago whilst being tortured I suffered a mental breakdown and developed a false memory of a traumatic event. I am at the moment receiving treatment for the post traumatic stress disorder I have suffered from as a result of the torture. During my PTSD treatment I have discovered my false memory didn't happen.
This false memory has ruined my life. I am writing a book about my life. Ideally I would like this book to be a factual account of my life, written in the first person but the subject matter could be sensitive to certain parts of the NHS, Catholic church, education system and family.I am just looking for advice as to whether I should write the book with all names changed as a fiction based on fact,or, as I want to write it, as an memoir.
Hi Jeremy,
If you want to protect yourself, or the one you care about, you should alter the names of people. And probably that is not enough, for instance, if you write about Dr Smith in a small town (with unchanged name) all who read it and live near that town know who you wrote about.
OTOH you might want to name-and-shame, though the legal grounds might hinder you in that aspect.
Regarding fact-or-fiction I should recommend to try to stay as realistic as possible.
In the end the reader should ask him self "is this real or not" If you manage to keep the reader wondering after the final page, you have certainly written something far above the average level of many books. But that is quite difficult to achieve.
Hello Jeremy,
I wonder if writing under a pen name might be useful. It would at least give you some degree of anonymity. You are obviously going to be writing about stuff that is immensely sensitive and painful to you. If you also take some steps to anonymise the institutions you mention, then that might further allow you to write more freely about your life. In the end, your publishers will have to decide on the legal aspects and they may well ask you to rewrite sections to satisfy the lawyers.
Putting these obstacles aside, the sort of writing you describe is of immense value to others who have had these experiences and I applaud your courage.
Hi Jeremy,
For what it's worth (but you have asked), the answer is in your last sentence. Write it the way 'you' want to.
:)