Memoirs: A New Trend

Twenty-five memoirs made the New York Times bestseller list the week  ending August 17, of this year (2013), (http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/list.html , with many of these memoirs having led the market as bestsellers for many weeks in a row. This count does not include the many self-published memoirists who have had success with child abuse memoirs such as Why Me by Sarah Burleton and Empty Chairs by Stacey Danson. The reading public is discovering that the stories of ordinary people who have lived extraordinary lives, or who have survived unusual experiences, provide the material for memorable memoirs, that is, when they are well written. The big publishing houses are beginning to see the light as they accept more memoirs into their elite collection of promoted authors, such as Brain On Fire by Susannah Cahalan, a story of a woman whose diagnoses of a rare brain disease mesmerized the medical profession. The landscape of the publishing industry has really changed, and so has the image of the simple memoir, since the early days of book publishing.

When I was young (never mind my age), only memoirs about mega stars like Elizabeth Taylor would gain enough interest to win a place on the New York Times bestseller list; and then many celebrities began to write memoirs about the mundane aspects of their daily lives, bringing their huge following of admirers into the book market. The publishing houses could get a two for one deal when they signed a big name star who came prepackaged for instant success, and the unknown memoirist did not stand a chance at that time…then the technological advances of our new cyber age, catapulted us into a raging eBook revolution in which many indie authors became overnight successes, and being an ‘unknown’ author no longer mattered. What did this mean for the memoir author?

Perhaps it was about that time,  the idea began to grow in the minds of those less well known, or even totally unknown, that their own lives of tragedy and chaos, disaster and suspense, might actually hold some value in the trained eye of the reading public. There are countless stories in life that are truly stranger than fiction, and some of these stories began to be told by talented authors, many of whom were unknowns, that is, until their lives were plastered all over the world in multiple languages.

So what is it that makes a memoir an appealing read?

The age old literary advice given by most writing instructors, is to “write what you know”, and the second piece of advice is to write it well. When the elements of a good story occur naturally in life, and the conflict, plot and timing is just right, you have more than a personal narrative, you have a ‘memoir’.  A well written memoir concentrates an entire life, with all of its obstacles, secret heartaches and successes into a literary capsule, gift-wrapped in a neat cover, and ready to open and read.

Sara Niles Author of Torn From the Inside Out (A Memoir)

Suicide: Societal Taboo by Sara Niles

Society operates as a group, and as a result, stigmas and social taboos are generated when things happen that are out of the control of society: like suicide. During the days of religious control and dominance by the Catholic Church, everything that could not be explained or controlled was 'demonized' and usually burned at the stake. Today, society uses silence, which is usually a sign of discomfort when in a group of people and an embarrassing subject com

es up.

Fact: Suicide takes more lives in America than homicides, yet little is said about it. Perhaps if the blanket of societal denial was whisked away by the open discussion of the presence of suicide in the societal room, then suicide may begin to lose its hold on American culture.

I will go first: My daughter courted the idea of suicide for over half of her life. When my daughter was in her late teens, I found her perusing suicide websites that offered ‘encouragement’ to commit suicide and glorified the ugly act. I was shocked to find that there were many similar sites out there in the cyber sphere, with voyeurs full of bloodlust and predators lurking on the sidelines.

The negative thinking that fuels suicide, has usually taken root long before a suicide occurs, and lies dormant until something goes wrong in the person’s life, which will invariably happen in every life, and in one stupid, and impulsive instant, a life is gone forever.

Robert Galbraith’s The Cuckoos Calling …by J.K. Rowling

By Sara Niles

So the secret is out: J.K. Rowling hid her identity behind the pen name Robert Galbraith in order to pen her second adult book since the Potter series (http://www.hypable.com/2013/08/16/jk-rowling-new-book-plans/). Of course, when you are as big and internationally famous as Rowling, there is no use trying to hide. We know who you are, and we will find you, no matter what pseudonym you use.

It seems obvious why Rowling would not want her name to get in the way of her writing-she wanted to be known for her writing and not her name. Either way, the results will be the same: readers read because they want to. There is no way to make a reader love your writing simply because of a name.

So what is the verdict so far, from the true judges, the readers?  Good and exceptional.

 If you go to Amazon and check the thousands of reviews, they are all overwhelmingly five stars, and I agree:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Cuckoos-Calling-Robert-Galbraith/dp/0316206849/    

I did not really like her first book: The Casual Vacancy, but this one is much better; she is definitely getting her adult writer’s pen in shape and her adult plots in form. I look forward to more from Rowling, under whatever name she chooses next.

Sex Sells, and it Sells Best in Fantasy Form

By Sara Niles Author of Torn From the Inside Out

The remarkably successful Fifty Shades of Grey by Erica James, or E.L. James, was so successful that it reportedly sold one paperback book per second during the summer of 2012, according to Barbara Walters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzRbcL-a6M8), to become the fastest selling paperback of all time. The subject matter of Fifty Shades of Grey revolved around sex, but not just regular sex, all forms of sex: bondage and masochism are included, or should we say it is highlighted.

In USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2012/12/19/james-interview-fifty-shades/1767497/, James says in an interview that women all want romance and fantasy, or in other words, most women want to escape into a world of romantic fantasy and forget the chores and the mundane day to day pressures of life; whereas men prefer to escape into a world in which power, action and adventure predominates. The most noticeable gender difference between book buyers is reflected in books sales data. Women are the overall biggest book buyers. In a 2010 news article it was stated that women make up over 60 percent of book buyers and the average age of those women is over 40 (http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2012801171_litlife06.html).

So to recap the idea of break through novels in the book world, women evidently control the market. To test that theory out: Amanda Hocking sold over a million eBooks in which romance and the paranormal made up the plot, Danielle Steele (never forget the mega romance author), who has become her own brand, has sold from 600 to 800 million copies (depending of the source of the count) of her romance novels, which is getting close to the one billion sales mark. The subject matter of Steele’s books deals primarily with romance in every possible setting, and the majority of the buyers are women.

Most recently, Colleen Hoover penned romance novels that appeared to be aimed at the young adult audience, although the numbers of her sales suggest older buyers. The subject? Yes, it is romance and sexy romance (http://bloodybookaholic.blogspot.com/2013/05/review-hopeless-by-colleen-hoover-must.html). I could go on and on, but the finalize the point: if you want to attract the most eager buying crowd , it may be a good idea to write steamy romance aimed at the young adult crowd, while knowing the 42 year-old female buying power will back it up.

I don ‘ write romance novels,and even if I did, there would be no guarantee that I would be able to ‘break into’ the crowded market. When you read the success stories of the authors who have made it big, you find a common denominator in many of the success formulas: luck and timing.

So keep writing and hope for luck, and be ready when the timing is just right.

Writing and Authors: We Bring Life into our Books

Sara Niles

Into every book written by an author, there is a little bit of the author’s life and personality, whether the author writes fiction of nonfiction. Within each story there is some nuance of the voice behind the page, the man or woman who tirelessly toiled to create a story.

In the case of Stephen King the mega-author

(see King’s Mega-list:  

http://bookshopblog.com/2011/03/10/stephen-king-books-chronological-order/ ),

who wrote thousands upon thousands of pages of books that became best sellers, including many that were made into movies, King admits that his own life experience colored his writings:

“1988: “I have a sense of injustice that came; I think … My mother was a single parent. Her husband deserted her when I was 2, and she went through a lot of menial jobs. We were the little people. We were dragged from pillar to post…” Quoted from:http://www.horrorking.com/biography.html

King goes on to add:

“A lot of that sense of injustice stayed. It stuck with me, and it’s still in the books today.”

Agatha Christi, one of the world’s most prolific authors, traveled the world and spent 

many years in the orient, accompanying her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan. From Christie’s life experience came the book:  ’Murder on the Orient Express’ , written in 1934, and still a best seller today: 

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Express-Hercule-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B000FC12Z0/

The much repeated advice to write what you know, is a best practice for good authors, because what we know best, comes from life.

 Sara Niles

Author of Torn From the Inside Out

http://www.amazon.com/Torn-From-Inside-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00DLY9TW2/

A Most Unusual Life Wish: A Bucket List to Remember

A Most Unusual Life Wish:

A Bucket List to Remember

July 12, 2013

By Sara Niles (A.K.A. Josephine Thompson)

The term ‘bucket list’ is a term that was made more popular by the 2007 movie by the same title: The Bucket List and it means to list things that you want to do before you die. Most people list things that they never got around to, or special achievements that may have been lifetime dreams.

I have one primary thing in my life that has achieved a ‘do or die’, sacred mission status to me:  it is the one thing I want to do, no matter what happens in my life.  It is the thing that is of greatest importance to me, besides the most obvious and universal goal  that most of us who are human share, that of putting family and loved ones first; but in order to clearly articulate why this one thing is so important to me, I have to tell a short version of my long life.  The life altering, and consuming mission that I have been propelled into, was aroused by my own personal life experiences and cultivated by unfortunate circumstances along my journey.  

In order to tell the story of my mission, I have to tell a snippet version of my life:

I was born to a country prostitute during a time when race relations in the southern United States were less than ideal and as a result, as a child of mixed race in the 1950’s, I was given away to my great-great uncle and aunt to raise, both of whom were in their eighties when I was barely past my toddling years. My relatives died while I was still a child and I married a man who was both abusive and mentally unstable, and about fifteen years and five children later, I found myself on a run for my life with five small children. After a traumatic upheaval, my children and I found an oasis of sorts in a small community in another state and life appeared to be grand.

To make a long story short and without telling the details, life was far from grand, as I discovered over the years. My five children had been damaged psychologically in ways that were not readily apparent, and it would take years before I fully understood the triple impact of domestic violence and abuse upon impressionable young children, or how childhood abuse affects them as adults. The impact of prolonged and extreme dysfunction is often triple and generational, successive generations are affected. I call this triple effect that predisposes victims toward drug addiction, trauma reactions and mental health issues, the ‘Three Headed Monster’.

My mission is to keep the Three Headed Monster at bay and my tools are my words: I wrote The Torn Trilogy, a monumental 1200 page work that is a testament of the power of the human spirit under fire, and as a long mission statement against family dysfunction and extreme domestic violence.

 http://www.amazon.com/Torn-From-Inside-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00DLY9TW2/

When my mission is completed, I want to visit one of the greatest mountains in the world:

Mount Kilimanjaro

Power and Jodi Arias

The famous Power and Control Model of Abuse was initially framed to fit the pattern of male abusers who abuse female partners; and as a result, the model tends to be gender skewed. In real life examples, such as the case of Jodi Arias, some of the components have been shifted, but the same power and control dynamic is still obvious. Jodi Arias is addicted to power and control; whether through force or emotional manipulation, the motive remains unchanged. Abusers of both genders must feel like they are in control adn Jodi Arias is no different.

Jodi felt she was able to control Travis via sex and catering his ego; but when she realized he had actually left her, she engaged a killing rage and slaughtered him.

The 'Leaving' stage of a potentially violent relationship is always the most dangerous stage. It is not the first trip of the average of 7 times that an abuse victim 'leaves' that gets the abuser really mad, and if he or she is a killer-ignites the killing rage-it is the last time they leave. The most dangerous time is when the abuser knows for sure that it is absolutely, and finally over for good-that there is nothing he or she can do to stop the abandonment by their former lover--it is that time that is the most dangerous and sometimes, the time that turns deadly.

The actual act of physically leaving, it not the most important dynamic in the pattern of violent abusers, but it is the ‘leaving’ the relationship via whatever form that ‘leaving’ takes, that is the trigger to violence. In the case of Jodi Arias, she 'left' as a warning when she moved away; reflective of Travis’s emotionally threatening to leave her. This was her way of saying, you are about to leave me, see how it feels-I will act as though I am gone and you will panic and want me back. I will make sure I stay connected via sex on the phone- I will drive you crazy with desire...and you will want me back. 

The power was still in Jodi's hands, as long as she called the plays.

At least, so she thought. The realization that her power of Travis Alexander was moot, came when Jodi made the final determining trip to Travis Alexander’s home, only to discover that even after sex and photos; nothing had changed. Travis had left her, abandoned her, leaving her hopes of having control of him forever crushed. The words Travis Alexander spoke to Jodi Arias, before his murder, may never be known, but the weight of his words to Jodi, carried the burden of his death sentence.

The killing rage of Jodi Arias took over, and she annihilated him. In Jodi's mind-the power was still hers. When the jury said they in effect did not believe her lies and the world waited to see if she would receive the death penalty under Arizona law, Jodi once again, was in danger of feeling robbed of her power....unless...unless she called the plays and chose the death penalty for herself.

Last bid for power:

"I want to die" she said within minutes of the verdict; leading a rational person to think that she chose her responses in advance-to stay one step ahead of the world. 

To Jodi Arias, power is more important than justice, or even her own life. The behavior of Jodi Arias fits the distorted illusion of an individual who feels the only way they want to live in the world is if they can control it.