Blurry Lines Between Fact and Fiction

Awhile back I was browsing at the library and I looked down on the shelf in the middle of the historical (nonfiction)section, and saw (dramatic music) A NOVEL!!!

What was it doing there?

Well, actually, it happened to be a novel I'd read a few months before (how often does that happen?), and I totally know why the lovely librarian got confused and mis-shelved it.

The premise of the story was that a lawyer whose father passed away unexpectedly discovers the manuscript written by his father to explain his actions during World War II as an American soldier.

If you've read The Shack or What Dreams May Come, you've seen this tactic before. Beginning the story with an explanation from the narrator saying, "hey, this isn't my story, I heard about it from the guy it happened to and here's how I found out, and now I'm gonna turn it over to him to tell us all about it," gives the story more credibility. It kind of separates us from the "novel" part of the experience and draws us in so we feel like we're hearing the testimony of a witness. Shelley's Frankenstein employs much the same tactic.

It's a powerful and fascinating technique. But it's not the only way authors steep their stories in credibility. Using the format of a journal is another way. Remember the story about the girl in the 70s who wrestled with drug addiction? Go Ask Alice has been referred to as one of the definitive YA works on teen addiction.... but what many people (including myself, until recently) do not realize is that it is fiction. (Yeah, I mentioned this in my young adult book review blog.)

So yup. Gotta watch those writers. Sneaky stuff. You never know what they'll do to get you to buy in to the story.