Privacy issues

[Nohoarii]

Ask the editor of the News of the World...oh, I forgot...

[wolfsinger]

No writer should ever take offense at the question - why write the book? That should be the first question every writer asks themselves.

Based on your responses - I do suspect revenge is part of your motivation. If your primary motivation was to help others, there would be no reason to NOT write the book as historical fiction (the names are changed to protect the guilty - as my friend frequently says) - You could always put in an introduction that says the events in the story are loosely based on something that really did happen, but to protect yourself and others - characters and places have been changed. You can further say that you wrote this fictionalized account in the hope that others would find value, hope, inspiration and also learn something so they are better able to protect themselves from predators such as is portrayed here.

People who are intimately familiar with the situation will probably still figure out the who, what, when and wheres, but they will have a harder time going after you.

Writing it this may - might even open they book up to being picked up by a major publisher and getting a lot more attention draw to it. Heck with what you're talking about this is something even Oprah might be interested in. But you need to look at your motivations a bit more - Like I said, your attitude and responses  indicate to me that revenge seems to be your primary motivation - and that is not a good reason to write something like this as you will make it easier for you to write something that could cost you dearly.

[Nohoarii]

If the motivation is revenge it won't work, anyway. It's a bit like losing your temper in a boxing match; you hand points to the other side.

[kevinlomas]

"Why write the book in the first place?  I could ask that question about a LOT of books!  But in my case,....well, because it's a hard-to-believe true account of romantic deception that resulted in crime and tremendous loss to many.  In only 2 years a highly educated well-respected career woman goes from flying on private planes to losing her job, her home, her valuables, her children, and her reputation all at the hands of a pathological liar who happens to be her new husband.  While the events that take place over the course of these 2 years are horrendous, they are also examples of what CAN happen to women when they trust in the name of love.  So in a nutshell, the book is not only intriguing and compelling, it intends to serve a worthy purpose by providing insight into the minds of a pathological liar and the victims of romantic deception."

Having re-read that, the Why is obvious is it not? the "... highly educated well-respected career woman ... " is the writer ... this is revenge ...

[mspatti01]

If it was I, and I have done some reporting in my day, I would sell it to a mag. or a scandal sheet newspaper first in installments, and THeir Lawyers and Editors, etc. would help with the tab, maybe even all of it., Then come back here to Lulu and put the full book together.....with more pics or additional evidence, and go for the gold!

[kevinlomas]

Yes, good point Patti! Although it may be too 'local' for major papers to bother with. Local papers usualy only have 'reporters' on the staff and not investigative journalists, or even lawyers!

[pinkamy]

Why not try to publish commercially through an agent, so that the publishing company and their lawyers can vet the book and deal with potential legalities.. If they won't touch the book that should be a pretty good indication that your book either isn't as compelling as you think it is, or that it's not as well written as you think it is, or that you don't have the evidence to go up against a libel suit.

[pinkamy]

Why not try to publish commercially through an agent, so that the publishing company and their lawyers can vet the book and deal with potential legalities. Maybe you don't have enough emotional distance from the topic to be the best judge of the viability of your book.

If nobody will touch your book that could be an indication that your book either isn't as compelling as you think it is, or isn't as well written as you think it is, or that you don't have the evidence to go up against a libel suit. 

[Paul670Tapp]

Libel and defamation issues freally should be avoided.You can identify people even if you use a fictional name, to those as you say, would identify you with them. I wrote a book which had legal privelege as all doceumentation where I used names were taken in as evidence. In this  case you have no problems. But to identify somebody outside legal or parliamentary privilege leaves you and the publisher in a spot of bother. Particularly in the case where a big Corporation or an influential agency, eg police, have the dollars to silence you. Memoirs can be scary in this regard. Best to as I have done, publish one to yourself only, so you can have the satisfaction of seeing it between covers. Then you can 'sit on it' and do some hard thinking. To the best of my knowledge, one book to yourself is not deemed to have been published...but that might only apply to Australia. I'm at present completing a book on the murder of a girl 4 decades ago. A man came forward to confess (I'm a retired investigative journalist, and people would rather contact 'trusted' journalists, than go to the wider media where they may lose control of their confession.) The alleged murderer is now dead and cannot be libeled and the public have right to know the end of the mystery. But tread warily and perhaps get a legal opinion of your work, as I have done. Otherwise totally fictionalise your jaw-dropper, as I was advised by a publisher of my first book. That way you can even make it more jaw-dropping. Best of luck.