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The Disclaimer

It has long been my belief that every scrap of writing deserves a good disclaimer. That is especially true of the longer works, especially ones that mess with minds while tickling the truth. Real lives and reputations might be involved.

The anonymity for everyone that wishes to remain private is important. The use of full names except for famous, public personas needs to be avoided. Changing first names or creating composite characters is also a viable alternative.

Since I do not personally know any of the famous people that I might mention in a book, anything that I say about them is just as inaccurate as an article in a supermarket tabloid. That may even be where I have gotten my impressions about public people.

In the case of my family, sometimes I have presented them in a written caricature that is a distortion or exaggeration of what they are or how they seem to be in my version of reality. I would never impugn the dignity of anyone, especially those closest to me. However, my family can take a joke – well, usually - and for the most part the joke is funny only because it plays on some foible that is well known within the family.

Note that there is a clear distinction between reality and what I write. That may or may not come as a surprise.

As close as it might come to capturing moments in life, fiction is intended to deceive. How else could a relatively normal guy like Brent in A Game of Hangman be sitting atop a ladder with a noose around his neck all the while talking to the ghost of a dead brother? Rest assured that the more warped and unreal that life becomes it still does not approach what fiction can attain.

Pseudonyms may protect the author and allow for writing about things that would otherwise be uncomfortable to discuss. Whenever I use a fake name it is for any entirely different reason. I like to play hide and seek. Unlike some of the characters in my books I like riddles, puzzles and games.

Putting a fresh coat of paint on anything changes its appearance but not what it is beneath. Perception of the underlying truth, anyone else’s recollection and collectively held beliefs as to what were the facts can be completely different things. This gives a writer a good deal of wiggle room to approach truth and even salute it from time to time without ever completely embracing it.

I am not a hero. Not in my estimation, anyway. I may have done some interesting things and at times I have been brave enough to take responsibility for this or that. There may have even been moments when others looked at whatever I did and thought my efforts were heroic. I was there. I assure you I am no hero. I would rather sit back and watch, then later on write about it. A writer needs to maintain an even hand with the controversies of life.

In a fantasy world I would be a poor imitation of Marvel Comic’s Superman. I would talk with a lisp, and be a bumbling, clumsy sort of cape-less crusader. The cleaners lost my cape, by the way.

There is a difference in approach between fiction and non-fiction writers. Whenever there is a chance the facts need to be embellished to make the tedium of the truth a more bearable read. A non-fiction writer would be as accurate to the facts and history as he or she dares to be. A fiction writer has more latitude.

There is a lot of boredom in reality. Maybe you have noticed. Boredom is probably the major component of the real world. Boredom could even be the mysterious glue that binds everything in the universe together. It is the reason you are reading this, for example. It is also the reason you watch TV, listen to music, go to movies, and go out for dinner once in a while to break the monotony of eating in. It is why you read the cereal box every morning even though you read the same things for the past few days.

Boredom is also why you cheated on your wife or husband. It may be why you go to church or don’t go to church. It is why you played footsy under the table with your roommate’s fiancée. It is why the Internet and chatting is popular. It is why your kids and mine play video games. It is why sex sells even though almost ‘no one’ ever admits to buying for that reason alone.

In almost every lifetime there is a climax or triumph over some barrier or difficulty. Such events are the exception to boredom. If boredom is ‘ying’, then excitement is ‘yang’. Some writers write about misery and overcoming the station and conditions of life. Some writers record heroic accomplishment to inspire others.

By definition a writer writes. Most of what writers write ends up in journals. A writer that does not write everyday is not really a professional. That is not to say that those writers that do not write everyday are not writers. It is simply that to be a professional, writing must be a regular if not almost continuous process. There must be a time each and every day set aside when a professional writes. It almost has to be the same time everyday.

A good portion of what I write in a journal could be viewed as an autobiographical sketch. A lot of the truth is stretched, warped, contorted, and twisted. The more two dimensional parts have been bent, folded, spindled and mutilated to create the illusion of greater depth. If I ever go back and read the journal, it needs to be coerced and cajoled into something universally readable. As the writer, I can usually figure out what I was trying to say even if I have forgotten when I wrote something. Reading from my journal is akin to frittered and frolicked with my memories. To produce something from such raw written material would be producing a second-handed, but hopefully first-rate exposé on what exactly it was like to be a writer.

A professional writer writes daily until the writing spirit has moved on. At some point the writing spirit might never return. That is a sad realization for a writer, much like waking up in the morning and discovering all thought processes have reverted to normal operation. Life without the writer’s perceptivity for the odd or ironic is hardly life at all.

The length of any piece of writing should be determined by the writer, perhaps after a careful and constructive debate with a good editor. It is next to impossible to confine writing into a predetermined space. When I was in school I always felt that it was silly to have a writing assignment by the number of pages or the number of words. As much as I try to be succinct, ‘short’ and ‘detailed’ are antonyms to me. I’d write until I am either exhausted from the effort, collapsed on my desk and snoring, or have run out of things to say about the subject. The later is usually how I determine that a book has ended, for example.

The point is that you cannot restrict a creative process. To do so diminishes the quality of the creation.

I venture this as a universal disclaimer for all writers:

You might not always like what I have to say and that is fine. As some of this is about my life’s experience, I haven’t always liked living it either. Life has been what it has been for me and lately it has seemed just enough for me and mine to get by. As life is full of surprises never go into reading with any expectations or preconceptions.

There comes a time in every disclaimer when you have to just say accept it as it is. If you can’t take a joke then why be one?

E

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posted by Unknown @ 1:55 PM