Does this book prove real-life is stranger than fiction?
- Jgideon
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Re: Does this book prove real-life is stranger than fiction?
- Job Njoroge
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I like your painting example. It does explain why it would be very hard to build a stranger fictional world than real-life can be.jenjayfromSA wrote: ↑25 Jun 2018, 03:38 It's a bit like looking at a painting of a magnificent sunset and thinking the artist has added a few extra colours, because it's too unreal to be true, then looking outside and seeing a sunset that is even more spectacular. The story of the museum fire was one of them. Who would have made that up, even to making a barbeque of the exhibit? For some, life could be like this, but I don't want to try it.
- Britty01
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That sounds like a reasonable assessment to me. It was things like this, as well as the bad language, drugs that put me off finishing the story.kfwilson6 wrote: ↑11 May 2018, 10:57I thought about this a little more and I think if someone is going to label their fiction as "based on true events" the only fictional aspect of it should be limited, as much as possible, to the dialogue. No one is going to remember conversations they had or overheard word for word, so of course their needs to be some creative license there. But I think the events should be as representative as possible of the real-life events they are based on. Once you start getting into changing key aspects of a story or the characters' personalities, I think "inspired by" would be more appropriate.bwill93 wrote: ↑10 May 2018, 19:05 I haven't read the book but I did read the review and I found it to be a pretty amazing story. Sword swallowing in itself is a crazy thing to be real, but yet it is. I agree with kfwilson6 when she asks how much of a story needs to be true in order to be labeled "based on true events?"
I feel the same way about movies that are "based on true events," such as A Beautiful Mind. It is a great film, but the scene where the main character, John, almost drowns his baby in the bath tub and his wife comes home at the perfect time to save the baby is either real-life divine timing or an exaggeration. Many "based on true events" films include incredible climaxes, heightened drama, and suspense that is magically influenced by perfect timing. How much is real and how much is creative writing? The same can be asked of this book.
- kfwilson6
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I don't blame you. I think I should have just read Duke's story in the first third and stopped there. It was the only portion I really enjoyed. I didn't care for the vulgar jokes he made about sword swallowing, but I understood how they would be true to character.Britty01 wrote: ↑05 Jul 2018, 09:56That sounds like a reasonable assessment to me. It was things like this, as well as the bad language, drugs that put me off finishing the story.kfwilson6 wrote: ↑11 May 2018, 10:57I thought about this a little more and I think if someone is going to label their fiction as "based on true events" the only fictional aspect of it should be limited, as much as possible, to the dialogue. No one is going to remember conversations they had or overheard word for word, so of course their needs to be some creative license there. But I think the events should be as representative as possible of the real-life events they are based on. Once you start getting into changing key aspects of a story or the characters' personalities, I think "inspired by" would be more appropriate.bwill93 wrote: ↑10 May 2018, 19:05 I haven't read the book but I did read the review and I found it to be a pretty amazing story. Sword swallowing in itself is a crazy thing to be real, but yet it is. I agree with kfwilson6 when she asks how much of a story needs to be true in order to be labeled "based on true events?"
I feel the same way about movies that are "based on true events," such as A Beautiful Mind. It is a great film, but the scene where the main character, John, almost drowns his baby in the bath tub and his wife comes home at the perfect time to save the baby is either real-life divine timing or an exaggeration. Many "based on true events" films include incredible climaxes, heightened drama, and suspense that is magically influenced by perfect timing. How much is real and how much is creative writing? The same can be asked of this book.
- Gary Robinson
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It disheartens me that a few folks found my views of the disabled people as offensive. It was never my intent. That is how they interacted with each other. They treated each other like family and teased each other as if they were siblings. They were entertainers, happy, and thriving. You can look at it through your perspective but i appeal to those who are upset, to rethink that view. I found it interesting to read on the lack of female character development. Duly noted, but if you look at the entire book, only two characters are truly developed. Only Duke and myself. Every chapter was treated as if an adventure was to ensue as people passed from their lives from one scene to the next.
Also, Duke had a sailor's mouth. We were using illicit drugs and dealing with horrible addictions. This book is a fraud without the prevailing the use of profanity because that is how we communicated with each other. We thought we were being comical or "tough guys". It was how we communicated privately.
I purposely wrote my character, and have mentioned this in other parts of this web site, as if you just wanted to sit him down and teach him to be a better man. The prevailing truths of me are the following:
Addiction
Overdose
Alcoholism
Duke saving my life
Tattoing
All the characters that I interacted with
Unable to pay rent
Working with developmentally disabled people
The cliff climbing
boy beaver contest
the sheep
and other stuff
The real Ink Johnson who I have not disclosed his name, phoned me after he read my book and confirmed the work as well done and spot on. Starlight, also phoned me to share the same convictions. So yes, life can be stranger than fiction.
- Gary Robinson
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The truth is you never really know and it all comes down to choice. Do you believe or don't you?
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Real-life often feels stranger than fiction because even with the best imagination, books and movies don't always feel quite real. When something odd happens in daily life, it takes strange to a new level.