Stranger Than Fiction
I once had a book rejected because an editor didn't "believe" that the people in my main character's life would "put up with her."
Which makes me laugh.
Because every day, just about, something happens to me, or to someone I know, that causes me to say, "If I wrote about this, no one would believe it."
And characters? Try a blind father--WITH a handicapped parking permit dangling from my rearview mirror--stating he is "pretty confident" he "could drive in limited situations." Like what? A straightline to my mailbox from the driveway?
Or the editor who found my character intolerable? I can think of countless toxic people I have met in my lifetime--all of whom had spouses and families who apparently put up with them.
I really do find it funny.
So tell me, what is the strangest real-life situation you know of, that you absolutely, positively know wouldn't be believed if you put it in your fiction. And have you ever had a rejection that cited something like that . . . and made you laugh a little bit?
32 comments:
The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
--Tom Clancy
Real life is usually just too absurd to make a commercially viable story.
Jude;
Awesome quote.
And yeah, I think that's true. I know I have once in a while criticized fiction that I was editing because the villians motives were unclear. Sometimes people are evil "just because"--or they have no real concept of why they do what they do . . . (in real life). But in fiction, we are always looking to have it make sense.
E
I've had people tell me they don't believe my true stories; they assume I'm writing fiction, when in fact I'm not. I think the reason is I look at events through a kind of story filter. I see high drama in mundane events. And I think everyone has extraordinary experiences, and they have them all the time. It's just a question of how they view them.
To answer your specific question, I'm pitching a spy novel, and I've learned not to say anything in the query about personal experiences that inspired it. From now on it's just some story I made up.
stephen:
As I've shared before, too . . . I think there are so many "quiet" heroes and stories. People who do amazing things with no audience. If you aren't the sort of person to think of doing those things, you almost wouldn't believe it. Yet people do. Just as there are people who do all sorts of vicious things, again, with almost no reason to them. Human beings are the ultimate puzzle, which is, I guess, why I like writing about them.
E
Isn't that just amazingly ridiculous? Life is just hilariously ironic like that.
Well, I guess my own life story can be unbelievable at times. I have a husband with diagnosed OCD, I've been diagnosed bi-polar, my oldest son has been diagnosed with Autism, and now, our second oldest is in the process of getting diagnosed as well. The only one missing a label is youngest daughter Carmen. And I already KNOW she's got what I have, without a doubt in my mind. NOBODY would believe this to be true about us, many people will just disregard us as a family who can take any diagnosis handed to them, but if anybody saw how crazy we all actually are, they'd choke on their own words. The stories are an endless bunch round here. I've got enough material to last me a lifetime, be it fiction or non. :D
Stranger Than Fiction was a lovely movie, by the way. Did you ever get to go see it? I love "Harold"!!
There's an expat here that I've decided will be a character in a book once we leave. We just remind ourselves that she has to be surrounded by drama or she's not satisfied. I avoid her as best I can, but when she starts telling me how I should be living my life (she's a kept mistress) I want to throttle her. Instead I'll put her in a book. :)
I guess one of the problems with real life is things don't necessarily happen to us with an obvious beginning, middle, and end, loose ends don't get tied up, there's precious little closure, justice, or even fairness.
People are horribly inconsistent--I'm a prime example, I suppose--and in fiction we seem to want our characters to be consistent. One of the things that drives me crazy these days--and it didn't use to, I just think I'm growing up--is the sort of "pat" psychological backstory in novels, TV and movies. The first example to come to mind is the movie "Twister" where her father is killed in a tornado so she's now obsessed with tornados and tornado research.
That's nice in fiction, I suppose, but you have to wonder about a human being whose most traumatic event in her life somehow caused her to re-live it on a regular basis in her professional life rather than find the place in the world with the least number of tornados and settle into a garden level apartment.
Not so much, exactly. I don't have that much of an interesting life, LOL. I do get some comments on things, like, a character once played the piano, and she practiced the same phrase for an hour because it was so beautiful she couldn't stop playing it. Someone wrote me and told me that just wasn't realistic, told me I had no idea what I was talking about, and that she played piano up through high school and never did that, LOL.
Then I've written some Amish stories, and people will write me and "correct" my facts with stereotypes. It's par for the course, I guess, but it's all kinda funny.
I heard a story last night about a lewd guy spewing crap at beautiful women (I've witnessed it myself) at a party that left people standing there with their mouths hanging open.
I've already decided he's going to be the protag (read: victim) in my next short story. Bwahahaha...
I wonder if the "put up with her" remark also has to do with a reader's sympathy for main characters. I like characters that are intriguing, but I don't have to completely sympathize with them, their beliefs, their motives. I know there are readers--and presumably editors--who must, though. I have a main character who's manipulative, controlling, and I know some readers just don't like her--they've told me. Doesn't make her less real. As you've said--along with agreement in the comments--people do far crazier things in real life than in fiction, and people put up with manipulative, controlling people every day.
I've had critiquers not understand why my character would do, say or think something. They didn't see it as real, but those were the things that I really did, said or thought. It's actually very funny to me. My thought patterns are not the norm, I suppose.
Erica, I'm wondering if you sold that book elsewhere.
A critique partner once insisted that an interaction between a doctor and patient in one of my books was wrong -- even though she knew I'd gone through this medical problem twice. But her mother had gone through it, and her mother's experience was different.
Most of real life is too bizarre. That is why it is weird to hear comments like that editor!
And have a wonderful Christmas and a hapy new year with your family!
best,
E
realm:
I think families often have unique stories like yours!
And yes, liked that movie. Also loved (LOVED!) Adaptation.
melanie:
I know someone very much like that, whom I also avoid like the plague.
E
Mark:
I hadn't really thought about that, but yes, I totally agree!!!! Too neat a bow sometimes.
E
spy:
I was sent a review once (online reviewer) who said The Roofer was so "fake" because it was nothing like the Sopranos. I almost fell on the floor laughing.
E
Sex Scenes:
You go get 'em!
I have the evil mother up the street in one of my stories.
E
Chris:
I totally agree. There is a very thin line between intriguing and loathsome sometimes . . . or a character people won't root for . . .
E
Edie:
That book was Spanish Disco--and I did sell it. :-)
E
Hi ello:
I'll have to do a post one of these days on some of the bizarre reasons I have heard of books being rejected--some of which went on to sell big.
E
In my first submission to Bombshell, the senior editor said that my tramp wandering the countryside was unrealistic because tramps were only in the city. I grew up on a farm and we had a regular tramp pass our house with his swag and walking stick. She also said that the backstory of one of the minor characters was unrealistic, but it was the exact backstory of a good friend of mine. I learned that day that reality had no place in fiction.
The only things that were ever questioned by editors in any of my books are the things that really happened!
Erica, LOL @ the Sopranos!
Hi Erica,
Sometimes people are evil "just because"--or they have no real concept of why they do what they do . . . (in real life).
I'm going to disagree here - they almost always have a motive, or a way to excuse themselves. No one ever wants to cast themself as the villain... or at least, very very few people. I think the thing is that in real life we don't take the time to walk in their shoes and see why they're bastards... they just are.
But the phrase I like the most came from my mother - she said, "No one wakes up in the morning thinking, 'I'm gonna be a son of a bitch today'" they usually think they're just.
I'm reading The Roofer now, and I looooooove it. And yes, I agree with you, there are things in life that you know the audience won't believe. In fiction you have to be believable, but you don't have to believe life for it to kick you in the ass.
Merry Christmas, Erica. I hope it's lovely for you and yours.
FF here. Just chiming in to wish you the best for the holidays.
One of the most high profile editors in New York told me my European settings were inauthentic. He assumed I lived in the States and was making stuff up. At the time I'd lived in Europe for 18 years. He didn't have a problem with my American settings, even though I hadn't been to the States in years.
Suzanne:
LOL! I love how people bring their OWN reality and decide what OTHERS' reality must be.
Crazy!
E
Alyson:
That's actually pretty true in my experiences also.
I'm also often questioned about motives--and from where I sit humans lie to themselves too much to ever be sure what their motives are.
E
merry:
I don't know . . . I see your point. But . . . I think very often people do things for motiveless reasons. I.e., the sum total of their back story may mean they are really a bastard, but when they wake up that day, they don't think about motives at all, they simply go through their entire day being a real sh*t to people. I don't know where you fall on a Myers-Briggs, or Jungian personality test. But a "sensor" or reactor will just DO bastardy things, I think, and a "feeler" or "thinker" will have to come up with the motivation for WHY they do the bastardy things. :-)
Glad you are liking the book!
E
Hey FF:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
E
stephen"
There you go . . . that sort of thing happens ALL the time.
E
Post a Comment