Memoir is supposed to be absolutely true, and yet sometimes it is necessary to change details to protect the innocent and guilty alike. The question that often comes up is just how much do we change? When does the blurring move from non-fiction to fiction? If done right, never.
I am conservative by nature. I do not like change in general, and less so when it’s done just because it’s fashionable. Some people insist names, dates, places, physical characteristics, etc. all must be changed so as to become unrecognizable. The goal is to ward off any potential litigation. But if the work becomes unrecognizable then what have you got really? I think it’s a pile of words for self-consumption.
I fought against the notion of changing anything at all during my writing. I didn’t see how I could stay true to the story and still capture the heart of what I was trying to say. I once tried changing Portora Royal to something else and it didn’t sound or feel right. Besides, with only a handful of “Royal” schools in Ireland, I wasn’t accomplishing much. And because there were only a handful of such schools, I’d have to make many more changes to try to “hide” things. What was the point? Who was going to sue me, and for what? I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true, and I didn’t even say anything controversial! I just wanted to spare feelings.
I did use different names for a couple of the players, though, and even that felt like a cheat. And if I did change the names, how would I go about that? There are over a hundred people, some Irish, some American, some Catholic, some Protestant. How to make it even sound close?
“Stand Before Your God – an American Schoolboy in England,” was recommended to me, and I am so glad it was. The story involves two boarding schools, the latter being Eton. Yes, that Eton. While there were obvious differences, there were enough similarities that I wanted to know more. The author uses real places and dates, and I figured surely anyone at the school(s) at those times would know who he was talking about so. So, how did he solve the problem?
I decided to go out on a limb and reach out to the author, Paul Watkins. He most graciously answered me promptly and said he took his publisher’s advice and changed names and certain physical characteristics where he thought necessary. He suggested if I needed to make name changes, I could perhaps use names from Irish or English football rolls of the time for my names.
What could be simpler? Absolutely brilliant idea! Even my nemesis gets a new name that sounds far better than what I’d come up with.
I am eternally grateful.
