![]() An existential fable with magical elementsįor me, the fourth technique interests me the most. The storyline is set in the real world, but infused with non-real aspects. The writer creates an alternate reality or dreamscape ( Alice in Wonderland), one that takes up the largest part of the book. Stephanie Meyer spends pages and pages in the Twilight series justifying how it is that vampires and wolf shape-shifters can exist in the “real world,” attempting to convince readers to go along with her on the journey. Everything is seen through the non-real lens, so the reader trusts the writer to stay-with-it. Be ConvincingĪ writer can help his audience “suspend disbelief” by going into the fantasy entirely. (Perhaps I didn’t do this enough, hence the “But is it really true?” question.) 2. Without breaking out of the bipolar experience that the main character was entering, I subtly hinted that I the writer knew that all of this was crazy talk. Writers can let the reader know they, too, are “in on it,” which was what I tried to do when describing the delusion. Kathy’s responses make me think there are a couple options (actually I’m sure there are plenty more, but this is just a blog post, not a book!) for getting the reader to “go with it.” 1. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Like I said in my review, your memoir read like a psychological thriller. Therefore, I was able to celebrate in your recovery and gain a fuller understanding of the impact your illness had not only on you but on your family. Having been drawn into your experience also made me appreciate and admire how hard you had to work to recover. The intensity and drama pulled me in and gave me a sense of the terror you must have felt. I have worked in psychiatric units as a nurse, so I fully understand how real the events were to you from your psychotic break. I asked, Was it inappropriate for me to try to pass off my delusions as true, within the memoir genre? Here’s an excerpt from her response: I asked memoirist Kathy Pooler to give some insight. The most frequently asked question is: Is it really true? When I wrote about a bipolar delusion in which the main character believed that she was a bionic spy for the Illuminati who had inadvertently perpetrated 9/11, it was a memoir, called Adopted Reality.* I’ve started by asking two intelligent writers their thoughts one is a memoirist, the other a novelist. And, I’m considering infusing my novel with a healthy dose of fantasy. The plot follows the run-up to the 1999 Nato bombing, but I take fictional liberties to help explain why I think Serbia got attacked. These questions have been on my mind a lot now that I’m deep into writing a spy thriller, set in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. How does one create a balance between realistic cities and settings verses making up a new and interesting world? Between believable and likeable characters verses amazing, heroic personas? You can also follow her on Twitter Thanks Laura!Ĭan contemporary, realistic fiction mix with fantasy? The quick answer is: Of course! But the more difficult question may be: How? Laura is the author of Adopted Reality, a memoir* and the creator of the blog Expat Mommy.
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