Posted on 02/21/2008 3:44:09 AM PST by 60Gunner
You can publish the book as nonfiction and avoid some of the legal hassles if you change the names of your victims. ;)
Simply transforming your experiences into fiction isn’t enough to protect you from liability IF one of your “victims” recognizes her- or himself.
Good luck with your project!
Ben Franklin says:
“If you would not be forgotten
As soon as you are dead and rotten,
Either write things worthy reading,
Or do things worth the writing.”
Sounds like you do BOTH!
Be willing to spend loooong hours promoting your book ~
public appearances, book talks, discussion groups ~
no matter who publishes the actual book.
YOU will be its best promoter.
Your willingness to do so (and good ideas) may help attract a better publisher, and may persuade them to invest in you.
I'm sure you can get lots of good advice on what you need to do to avoid legal liability. I've read a number of good books by doctors that discussed experiences with patients and your stories certainly compare very favorably with any of these. It sounds like you have an interesting personal background as well.
For my two cents, I might add that writing fiction is a whole lot different than writing non-fiction.
In writing fiction, you have to pretend to be someone else and plots, etc or write from a different perspective.
In writing non-fiction, you base your story on your own experiences, and I suspect that is your strong suit! It is something that comes natural with you.
The other posters above made good points and I won’t add more.
I wish I had your natural writing ability!
Jack
I’ve done two thrillers, (the first one is the one that was sold twice) one mystery, and one political non-fiction (exact subject matter is top secret :))
You’ve got FReepmail.
Regarding possible legal hassles, IMHO, if you wrote first person and changed the names and possibly the location, you’d be okay.
As precedent, see the books by William A Nolan, MD:
The Making of A Surgeon - His residency at Bellevue Hospital in NYC
Surgeon Under The Knife - First person account of his bypass surgery
Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle
The First Appendectomy
and others
Go to NebraskaWritersWorkshop.org and check out the links to get started. Find a local writer’s group that sponsors your type of writing and join/attend; more valuable than I can say.
Fiction is harder to get published unless you are known or your story is VERY GRIPPING. Something not likely unless you’ve spent alot of time writing fiction. Not impossible, just not likely.
Don’t give up!
Where have you been? He's published many stories here on FR, we've been begging him for a book!
If you haven't read his vignettes, you are in for a real treat!
I echo the sentiments of those who are calling for you to get an agent or a publisher.
And I would go non-fiction too. But I would make sure there are no legal ramifications involved.
I’d be somewaht worried that a former patient (or their family) would recognize themselves in your book and sue you for breaching doctor/patient confidentiality.
I see a book of short stories comprised of both fiction
, non-fiction and maybe some general “life in the ER” stories.
Although there is a good case for writing the book as non-fiction, I would consider a different approach.
This book should be written as fiction, where you develop a lead character based on yourself, and take the reader on a journey, the journey you took to become a male emergency room nurse, and then, of course all of the wonderful stories that you already have shared. People like fiction, and that will open up your audience a bit. You also avoid most of the hassles of being too specific and having people recognizing themselves in the story.
Your character then is not limited to you, per se, but can represent a point of view to the reader of the person you are. It gives you the latitude to develop sidebar stories that could be based on your life, but not occurring in the ER which nonetheless developed you or your outlook on life.
Give some thought to developing the book as the first in an anthology, where successive books can contain additional stories. If your first effort is successful, there will be a market for more tomes by you.
Also, consider using a non-de-plume, so you can remain anonymous. This allows you to continue your career, gathering more material for successive books, without compromising your career. If successful in writing the first book under your own name, you may become too famous to do your life’s work, which you still enjoy doing.
It will be hard to resist the limelight and fame if successful, but you will be cultivating and creating a continuing market for your work. When your success is assured, then you can be revealed and your success will be even greater. But by then, you will have come to grips with the decision that you can no longer work anonymously at your job and would by then, be willing to give it up, or write from a non-fiction perspective.
You have the opportunity to create a heroic character, doing heroic work, under difficult and emotionally wrenching conditions. You can do a great service for your profession, as well as giving readers a medical education.
You have the writing skill that allows you to translate your keen observation of technical and human conditions to the reader in a fascinating, thrilling way. However you choose to do it, please write the book, and give the world a chance to experience your God-given writing talent.
Best wishes to you.
Little Miss Adventure: Bachelorette Gone Wild
The Benefits of being an ER Nurse
Behold, the Awesome Power of Human Stupidity
Reflections on an Encounter with a Dying Elderly Woman
Having Chest Pain? Short of Breath? Don't Drive!
The Dream of Flight Nursing Continues
Belly stud 'almost killed teen'
Why Pregnant Women Frighten Me
That's Just So WRONG! -Then Again, It Makes Sense...
I might have missed one. I was getting blurry eyed again re-reading some of these...
Love it! The title is short and it sells the sizzle.
The bedlam one is confusing and currently there is interest in insane asylums history, architecture and stuff.
I want to buy your book when it's published.
Thanks for posting this thread. I bet a lot of us are interested in what it takes.
Just my two cents: package them just as you’ve written them here. Short stories are easier to put together, edit and even perhaps illustrate.
The way you write them here leaves me hanging on the edge of my seat.
Get an agent, perhaps. There are a number of places that will print your book to your specs, the marketing would be up to you but then you’ve a ready market right here at FR.
Agreed! The stories are exciting precisely because they're TRUE.
So much better than "House" type fiction.
Fiction. Ugh.
A compilation of your articles would be awesome.
No matter what format you publish I want to reserve my signed copy right now!
Love it! The title is short and it sells the sizzle.
That sounds...er...do I really need to say it?
HA! My book’s so secret I haven’t written it yet.
And ping me when the book is ready... I want a copy or three...
I’d suggest going the non-fiction route with a disclaimer that “names and details have been changed to protect patient confidentiality” AND publish under a pseudonym, preferably using professional assistance to ensure that your real identity is never connected with the pseudonym.
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