Inspired to write a book, but how to deal with person's identities


faithful_father
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi all,

So some context then the question.

I have been inspired that I need to write a book about my life which is intended to be faith prompting. My life experience is one that everyone says "you should write a book about your life." So, I felt like I should. Although I'm in my early thirties this book would be intended to help younger LDS youth and adults understand that there is always hope and a choice to be made when it comes to having and nurturing a testimony. Just because you get sent home from your mission and then disfellowshipped doesn't give you license to go inactive or give up. You know, a tale of that sorts.

Because in my book I would be discussing my own life and some of the sinful aspect of my past, I was wondering how I should deal with this issue. For example, when I saw 17 years old myself and my LDS girlfriend had LoC challenges. Since I would not be anonymous in my book many people could figure out who she was. To be clear, my aim in this text is not to "get even" or "out" anyone, only to discuss how you can turn your life completely around and achieve all levels of success even after being a "sinner." It is a uplifting book but I don't want to shy away from how far of the path I went.

Any insight into these matters would be appreciated. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest LiterateParakeet

First step, just write the book.  There is a wonderful book called The War of Art where the author would tell you that what you are experiencing right now is called "resistance".  Pondering details like this keeps you from the actual work of WRITING.  Just get your "butt in the chair" and write the story.  You can hash out how to deal with those details later.  But generally speaking, you change the details enough so that her identity will not be readily recognizable, maybe change your age when it happened so to obscure her identity even more.  Trust me, working out this detail is not the hard part....the hard part is doing the actual writing.  A great place to get advice about writing and publishing is a writer's forum.  My favorite is Absolute Write Water Cooler.  Here's the link:

https://absolutewrite.com/forums/forum.php

I also highly recommend the book, The War of Art.   Best of luck with your project! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, LiterateParakeet said:

First step, just write the book.  There is a wonderful book called The War of Art where the author would tell you that what you are experiencing right now is called "resistance".  Pondering details like this keeps you from the actual work of WRITING.  Just get your "butt in the chair" and write the story.  You can hash out how to deal with those details later.  But generally speaking, you change the details enough so that her identity will not be readily recognizable, maybe change your age when it happened so to obscure her identity even more.  Trust me, working out this detail is not the hard part....the hard part is doing the actual writing.  A great place to get advice about writing and publishing is a writer's forum.  My favorite is Absolute Write Water Cooler.  Here's the link:

https://absolutewrite.com/forums/forum.php

I also highly recommend the book, The War of Art.   Best of luck with your project! 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share