another memoir has turned out to be fiction

Another published memoir–Love and Consequences by Margaret B. Jones–has turned out to in fact be a work of fiction, but passed off as truth.

I’m a bit late in posting about this; I’ve been mulling over what I want to say. I find it disturbing when authors lie about their work. I know how hard it is to get published–how long it takes. I have been actively trying to get published for about ten years. YA author Justine Larbalestier said that it took her close to twenty years to get published (and look at her success, now). It takes a long time, it’s wearing, can eat at your hope and nerves, bring depression, feel isolating, never mind hard monetarily. But to lie in order to get published? To say that something is true when it’s not? It grates against me. It goes against my values. It just seems so wrong. And I wince at people thinking that that’s what writers do. Some writers.

And it gets worse. There are so many lies here. It’s not just the author who lied. Apparently, her agent was in on it, too. The supposed non-profit organization that the author wrote about in her book is fake–and her agent was the one who registered the website. Come on! This is just disgusting. A book shouldn’t be promoted on lies. And what about the people who believed in the nonexistent non-profit organization? Or how it takes away from the real ones that are out there?

This is just one in a number of memoirs lately that have been exposed as lies–or fiction–parading as the truth. Which brings an interesting question–why is this happening? It’s like a trend. To me, there’s something wrong, somewhere. In the culture that wants things hyped up. In the publishing world, that makes it so hard for good writing to get published–though yes, I know it’s a business. But quality writing should matter, not just money–though perhaps that’s my idealism talking.

What do you think?

Various people have blogged about this. I first saw Read Roger’s post, then a few posts from Bookshelves of Doom, as well as Chicken Spaghetti’s.

March 9th, 2008