Why not a memoir?
I’ll admit I’ve had an interesting life full of adventure in the modern sense of that word. Not everyone spends over ten years living abroad and immersed in another culture (I came to understand jokes, songs, and dreamed in Spanish—I’ve only read Garcia Marquez in the original Castellano). Not everyone spends a night sleeping in a Sibundoy Indian chief’s house next to two girls (don’t get any lecherous ideas there—it was too cold for hanky-panky, and two anthropologists were in the next room). I’ve traveled enough for business or pleasure that I’m certain human beings’ strengths can be found in celebrating their diversity and culture, yet still work together as a consequence of a shared humanity.
Denise Laidler asked me at the Indie Author Day event (Saturday, October 14, in Montclair, NJ) why I didn’t write a memoir about all this. This charming lady is the author of Journey to the Land of Look Behind, and we chatted about our pasts. We both have interesting and unusual ones. The conversation took off because her book is set for the most part in New Orleans, and I used to be in a Dixieland band in high school (trombone) and maybe rode on that streetcar named Desire at a conference I attended there. (I’m planning on reading her book and subsequently reviewing it.) Here are my reasons for NOT writing a memoir (I discussed some of them with Denise):
First, I’m not a celeb. Readers normally peruse memoirs when they recognize the names of the celebs who wrote them. My life might be unusual, but plenty of people have unusual lives (Ms. Laidler included). Agents and publishers are more interested in publishing a celeb’s memoir, not so much some unknown Jill or Jack. That celeb could be famous or infamous, but having the name recognition already is at least half the author’s and publisher’s battle. HRC had a book signing in a local bookstore in Montclair, for example, and sold 1000 books (OK, the book was only partially a memoir). That number is far greater than the number of attendees at the Indie Author Day in Montclair, counting both readers and writers and visitors just after the free cookies. (I don’t read celeb’s books, so guess which books I’ll read, though.)
Second, I’m a private person. In many ways, I’m the typical introverted author who values his quiet time. I’m active on Facebook and Goodreads more because it’s a safe way to meet people and make friends, “safe” in the sense that I don’t have to hit a nightclub or bar (I might be that lonely man in the bar nursing my Jameson, although I could also be there with my best friend, my wife). Science and technology (both academic and R&D) allowed me that lonely creativity just like writing does.
Third, I’m NOT a narcissist. I write books to entertain my readers, not to become some public figure marketing her or his own image. Some personal experiences make it into my novels, and I suppose many characters are amalgams of many people, including yours truly (maybe where the mantra “write what you know” might actually apply?). The last thing I want to do is pound my chest on the public stage.
Fourth, there are genres that I can’t write in. Rogue Planet was the closest I’ve come to writing fantasy—there are some “Game of Thrones” fantasy elements in this hard sci-fi novel, but it all fits in one particular sci-fi universe I’ve created. Comedy is hard for me too. I do better with some short stories, but not an entire novel, although one Good Reads’ reviewer (there are reviews there that don’t appear anywhere else, by the way—members review for the benefit of other members a lot) mentioned tongue-in-cheek elements in Rembrandt’s Angel—guilty as charged. Memoir and biography (when is a memoir not an autobiography?) have to be added to this list; so does poetry (I apologize to those readers who’ve suffered through a few poems in my stories).
So, good readers and fellow authors, don’t expect a memoir from me. Or pure fantasy, romance, erotica, comedy, or poetry. I read in a lot of genres, even non-fiction, but as a writer I’ll stick to my genres: mysteries, thrillers, and sci-fi.
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Sci-fi book sale: More than Human: The Mensa Contagion and Rogue Planet are now on sale at Smashwords from October 1 through October 31. Their prices are reduced to $1.99—that’s one-third off. In the first novel, an ET virus changes the world, but in a good way, and leads to the colonization of Mars. In the second, there’s a wee bit of “Game of Thrones” fantasy mixed into the hard sci-fi as Prince Kaushal leads his Second Tribe in their fight against the First Tribe’s brutal theocracy. Both books are stand-alone, not part of a series. Use the Smashwords coupon numbers when you check out. Note that the second book is also available in paper format at Amazon. Lots of exciting fall entertainment for a reasonable price!
In libris libertas.
