Any advice so appreciated

[Jaystarlight]

Hi, I am half way through writing my first book but I’m starting to hit a wall. My book is about my life. The traumas and extreme situations I have encountered. It’s not just a story of sadness but it’s harrowing. My question is does anyone know if I would be better changing it from a self biography to a general fictional book ?
my confidence to write it from a personal perspective has been damaged after reading a thread on mumsnet (not this one) where people were being very negative about someone stating they are writing a personal biography with comments such as. No one will want to read it unless you are a celebrity.
I hope I have made sense. Please feel free to ask me to explain more if necessary. Thank you

That’s complete nonsense! Ignore it. Keep writing. Worry about whether to fictionalise it later, when editing. Remember, Anne Frank wrote “it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl”.

@EffAndEm thank you so much. I love the quote reference. Adore this book. X

Are you writing is as personal therapy or with a view to publication? Only in the case of the latter do you need to worry about marketability.

Is there such a thing as a book genre of part fictional/and part true life story on someone's life then?
(A mix of both)

Congrats on writing your first book! It's a very big deal and you should be proud. Especially getting all the horrible memories down on paper and out of your head.
I am currently writing a book about my experiences too. Turns out the legality of the situation is a lot more intense that I originally thought. If you are writing a biography, or memoir, then you need every person within the books permission to write about them. Or they can sue you. Also, memories are our own perception of an experience, for example, you may have hated your trip to flamingo land, but your cousin had the best day of his life. Its all subject to our own feelings, that's fine. But others WILL argue with what you've wrote and if you want to be published this will set you way back.

There is a genre of book called "roman a clef", which basically means it's a true story, but the author has changed all relevant data in order to protect everyone's privacy. This is what I'm writing. Everything in it is true, but I have changed all the names, city's, dates etc.

In the beginning of the book I have wrote a small paragraph which states along the lines - "All writings are factual according to my own personal experience. Names and personal information have been altered to protect individuals privacy."

You should research roman a clef.
I actually had fun writing a list of everyone who would be in the book and then making up fake names for them all.

I would agree that if you are thinking of publishing it would be better to move it towards fiction

@Jaystarlight
How is your writing coming along?
I adore reading true life books about ordinary people ....just because you aren't a celebrity doesn't mean your book isn't worth reading!
One of my favourite books is
'Zippy' written by Haven Kimmel. She writes about her family life and growing up in a very tiny town.
Also, you never know whose life your story will touch...maybe they've had similar experiences to you and your book will be an encouragement to them