Let's Say P was real . . .

Q: In your novel ALL OR NOTHING, Let's say P was real. How would his family feel about his nearly confessional novel being published? How do writers and people associated with them cope with the truth in novels? Do the living's feelings and dignity indirectly censor some of the things the author planned to write?

Thanks,

Alexander

A: Good question.

First, go read John Dufresne's excellent creative writing text called THE LIE THAT TELLS A TRUTH, or just sit there and ponder the meaning of that title.

Second, maybe I need to stick my motto on my door and on my bumper sticker so that people will know who I am: "My name is writer. I am the most honest liar you will ever meet."

Third, I would hate it if my family wrote a novel with me in it because they don't know how to lie; therefore, they would depend too much on the truth and end up hurting my feelings and my dignity with their blunt, clumsy, insincere, dishonest honesty.

On the other hand, big fat liar that I am, I write about THEM all the time, and they don't even notice.

One of my great private joys is that the cousin about whom I based "IS RANDY ROBERTS THERE?" (found in CHURCHBOYS AND OTHER SINNERS, Carolina Wren Press, 2003) is a great fan of the story and has no idea it's based on her. Tehehe.

I come from a very close-knit family, even though sometimes we hate each other, and thus there are some books that I cannot (and will not) write until certain people are dead or until I find a lie big enough to conceal their identities while at the same time revealing the truth the work aims to explore.

Fourth, it is indeed a long list of writers who have created works of fiction that have offended the friends and family members who read it and, shock of shocks, who found themselves unfavorably portrayed in it.

Fifth, before my mother passed, she read the manuscript of my forthcoming novel, JESUS BOY, which she enjoyed--I never saw her laugh so much in my life. But she did ask over and over, "Who is Sister Morrisohn in real life? Is it Sister Slade? Sister Bynes? Boy, did Sister Bynes seduce you? I cannot believe that that grown woman make a move on my child!"

And I'm like, "No, ma. I did not sleep with Sister Bynes, OR Sister Slade. This is a fiction, ma. Hahaha."

But you could see in her eyes she didn't believe me. My mother went to her grave wondering which respected sister at our church seduced me when I was 15 or 16.

Sixth, I will tell you again that my novel BOUNCE is autobiographical--just as autobiographical as JESUS BOY and ALL OR NOTHING. The protagonist of BOUNCE is a short, sexy Domincan woman named Cindique. Go figure.

Seventh, I am a gambler and P is a gambler. Thus, I know gambling. It makes me the ideal person to tell P's story, whoever he is. Is P me? Yes, in many ways, but in many ways not.

I was a church boy and Elwyn (from JESUS BOY) is a church boy. Thus, I know church boys. It makes me the ideal person to tell Elwyn's story. Is Elwyn me? Yes, in many ways, but in many ways not.

Eighth, in my next novel, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ALEXANDER, I am going to tell the story of my former student Alexander Cherin . . .

Is Alexander me? In that book. he will be.

Thanks,

Preston