I have to be prepared to answer this inevitable question. There isn’t a lot of autobiographical fiction out there. Of course, all writing is based on our experiences. Observance is the essence of writing. But most authors either choose memoir or fiction. There are several reasons that I decided to employ both genres. Below, I’ve compiled a list of answers to the looming question: “Why Autobiographical Fiction?”:
1) Memoirs are a turn off to many readers, including myself. No matter how interesting and thought provoking their personal story is, I always find this nagging thought lingering in the back of my mind: Did they write this for me, or for themselves? I decided that I wanted my story to be as much about the reader as it is about myself. Committing to using the fiction genre for “Dandelion” has allowed me to breathe life, color, and detail into memories. Yet readers are still drawn to stories that they know are close to the truth. There’s something that is deeply personal about the experience of reading memoirs. The reader feels connected to the writer through their experiences. Autobiographical fiction allows the reader to walk the delicate line between an engaging story and a personal connection with the author.
2) A story should not be interrupted. The pages should turn almost automatically. Real life doesn’t happen this way, no matter how much you stretch the truth. Specifically, my story hasn’t happened this way. My mother’s illness made for a very confusing and disorienting early childhood. I never knew how old I was. Sometimes I didn’t know what town, or even state we were in. Telling my story through fiction has made it possible for me to cut, paste, and rearrange events. Fiction allows me to turn a jumbled, confusing heap of occurrences into an interesting, linear story.
3) Well developed characters are much more interesting. Childhood memories are faint, and although children are just as complex and sensitive as adults (and should be treated as such), memories lose their luster over time. So the events in the child’s life fade with time, no matter how poignant powerful they were when they were first experienced. I’ve noticed that in certain memoirs based on childhood, many important and central figures have to be overlooked or gleaned over. It’s the nature of writing nonfiction, since it can only be told through the perspective of one person. But this can leave the reader feeling unappreciated (see pt. 1). Writing fiction allows for more detailed characters. It allows the writer to add personal histories, and internal dialogue to all of the characters instead of just one.
4) Nothing beats a good metaphor. F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck both made me fall in love with the art of metaphor. Even if it doesn’t resonate consciously with the reader, it plants a seed in their subconscious. When they walk away from the book they are left with more than a story, they’re left with a mood. Fiction and metaphor go hand in hand.
5) It was good therapy. This is perhaps the most important point that I can make. Writing from the perspective of all of the characters forced me to empathize with each of them. It was my goal to humanize all of the characters as much as I could, and not to villainize them. Writing in this way led me to gain a better understanding of the patterns of abuse and neglect by understanding the motivations of all of the characters. It allowed me to better understand that I wasn’t at fault, but was simply caught in the crossfire of people with broken psyches and deep insecurities. Money can’t buy that kind of therapy.
