Member-only story
Do People Not Realize I Write Fiction?
Is tagging not enough? Do I need disclaimers too?
I try to be as transparent as possible with my writing. I separate my writing into different indexes so that interested readers know where to go. I like to think I make it as simple as possible to direct my audience in the right directions.
The struggle seems to come when I write my fiction pieces in the first-person perspective. The “I” and “me” of the narratives seem to trip some readers up. They might finish a story and think, “Wow, this chick really doesn’t seem to observe monogamy in any fashion.” (Or they might think worse.)
Some of the comments I get seem to allude to the idea that I’ve lived these things — and that’s very, very not true (unless you’re reading my nonfiction, particularly about mental health).
No, I don’t have a stepbrother. No, I don’t have a brother whose wife I’m lusting after. No, there are no secretaries or neglectful husbands or illicit affairs.
It’s all fiction. I made it up. I tagged it that way.
But maybe it’s a problem because I don’t (always) use the subtitle to convey that the piece is fiction? I could easily swap “Fiction” for “This Happened to Me” if they were actual accounts of my real life.
