To write a book of my life story? (Triggering)

[MouldyApple]

I have an idea to maybe write the story of my life as a book to be published - only I don't have the ending yet! I thought I'd test the response here & see what you think? The contents can't be written here as they're WAY TOO extreme for MN. But to give the gist, I nearly died as a young child - many times, on account of my parents, both of them. I had to have surgery as a consequence. My neglect carried on outside the home as well as in with some truly extraordinary experiences. Things happened to me that would make you go wtaf you've got to be kidding me.. I'm currently in the process of taking my parents to court. It is quite possible my case may end up in the news.

I 'buried' mentally what had happened to me in order to get on with life but I never forgot. I had it beaten into me that my childhood was normal & that I was lucky. I had a nervous breakdown eventually & it all came tumbling out. When I meet other people at support groups now they're aghast & tell me I'm an inspiration. The only thing is, I'm not fully out the other side yet. I don't have the golden answer on how to recover. That would be my aim - to show others the way through. But maybe it's too much? The world is awash with trauma books. I hunt for people that have lived through what I've lived through & truly come out the other side fully healed, only I don't see anyone. What happened to me is comparable but not the same as the Frizl case. So what do you think? Write it or just leave it?

Write it; it would be of interest, if course it would. You sound like you’ve had a lot of challenges and you sound extraordinarily well adjusted.

I think you should write it. It could be cathartic for you. Even if you don’t publish it- it could help you just putting it down on paper. I’m so sorry what you went through it. I’m hoping you have all the support and love that you need to move on and live a happy and healthy life

I don't have much love or support - I'm on my own, but I'm keeping on, in the hope of a better tomorrow..

It depends I guess. Would writing it help or hinder your ability to cope?

I’d do it. I’ve been thinking of doing the same, as my family history is colourful to say the least! As a result, nothing ever shocks me. I’ve seen it all!

I think for you it would certainly help writing it down, even if you don’t publish it.

I’m so sorry that you have had such an awful childhood and really do hope you get your better tomorrow.
I would say, if it could be a court case, don’t write anything until free that has been concluded. Then, if you still want to, then why not?

I think it could be a book of interest to alot of people especially those who have or are going through similar experiences. Maybe, as well as your own story, you coukd also interview and write about others experiences similar to yours. To begin with write down your story structuring it in a readable way and then approach a publisher about it. Get some advice first from someone who has had a book published

Maybe writing will be an ending in itself? As someone says upthread though, I wouldn’t publish it or share widely if there is an ongoing court case as you don’t want to prejudice a jury. Do approach publishers with a synopsis though.

Don't write it if your only goal is to get it published and earn money from it: very few books are signed up for publication, and even when they are published very few of them make any significant amounts of money.

Expect to have to spend a lot of time writing it, then a lot of time revising it. You'll need a unique story if you want to interest publishers: the days of the misery memoir are long gone, and now readers want something very special and different.

Having said all that, you could of course self publish it, but you'll have to do a lot of work to get it publishable first, and you'll have to promote the socks off it too if you want to find any readers. The upside of self publishing is that you'll earn more per copy than if you get a trade deal; the problem is that you'll probably sell far fewer copies than if you get a deal with a trade publisher, and you'll struggle to reach your readership because there are so many other people trying to sell their books, too.

The best option is probably to just write it because you want to write it, and then see what you can do with it after that. Enjoy the process of writing rather than hoping to do something with the end product.

Good luck.

Or a literary agent

You could either write it yourself or speak to a literary agent about having it ghost-written. That is very, very common with this sort of book. I think the fact there's a court case will be of additional interest - sounds awful but there are so many books like this that you do need something to differentiate it.

Writing it yourself in order to heal is a great thing to do, but that's very different from writing it to sell.

I'm so sorry you had such a traumatic childhood.

I'm definitely NOT interested in writing a 'misery memoir'. I was offered a deal to write that book by a publisher who heard my story through word of mouth nearly 2yrs ago. I walked away because I wasn't ready back then & that wasn't the story I wanted to write.

Write down what you want to write. Whatever happens, you will at least have got it down on paper. If it gets published, that will be a bonus

If you are engaged in legal proceedings you need to be careful about what you say, but start.

What WashingMachine says. Write it down but keep it privare until after any court case, but also be aware of any legal implications of anything that you write that is published. You would probably need to seek legal advice about anything you want published