Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tokyo Vice: The Author's POV


After yesterday's post, I received quite a bit of deep comments from you all. Thank you so much for all the feedback; everyone knows we bloggers thrive on comments. The general rule of thumb, I found most fellow writer's going by, was don't write something you'd be ashamed of, but be true to your characters or your information. I'd have to say it's descent advice and I can agree with it, but what about guys like Jake Adelstein? He dropped by here yeseterday and posted a comment about my article (Moral & Ethical Writing) stating that in his circumstances, being an investigative journalist, he was faced with difficult decisions on what he'd be able to share in his book without burning his sources or worse, himself. It's a completely different scene, writing non-fiction vs. fiction. As I mentioned back to him, I realize that in my own case, if I expose a character, there won't be much retaliation simply because they aren't real. In his case, the people he wrote about were/are very real and could potentially make a mess of his life or family/friends' lives. Nevertheless, he followed through and shared the facts and enlightened those of us who decided to read his book Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan.

I'm about halfway finished with it at the moment, but it won't take long for me to finish it. I am loving it. Yes, it has some dark themes and yes, it takes some of us readers to places we'd never want to see or know about, but it is part of the real world that many of us are blind to. I don't have to finish this to recommend you all check it out, but only with this warning. There are some explicit sexual and violent elements in this book. It is provocative, informative, entertaining and full of witty humor. I can only hope that when my own works get published (yes I said when, not if) that they bring my readers on a journey equally as impressive as Tokyo Vice.

I'll be sure to follow up and let you all know when I'm finished.

9 comments:

Stephanie Thornton said...

I'll be interested to see your review. I'm glad I don't have to deal with those problems- everyone I write about has been dead for 3,500 years!

Voidwalker said...

Haha, yeah, they may be rolling in their graves, but I think you'll be safe from lashbacks of any kind.

Charles Gramlich said...

Since I do write nonfic I've dealt with some of this. I have a book now that I just don't think I can publish as long as certain folks are still around. I could cause too much pain.

Unknown said...

I look forward to reading the review. There's a lot that I couldn't put in the book or spell out directly. I think you'll figure some of it out--just don't ask me to clarify. :)

Joshua McCune said...

Yeah, I couldn't imagine the difficulty involved trying to weave a non-fic story w/o revealing crucial sources/details. I'm always impressed by those who can and do.

Diana Paz said...

How intriguing. I agree with Bane; writing non-fiction without exposing the people in the story would be incredibly difficult. Nice topic!

(And that's three comments while I'm supposedly unplugged. *Diana puts the ninja mask back in place and slides back into the darkness from which she came*)

Anonymous said...

Thankfully, I write fiction. No need to worry about exposing anyone...except maybe myself and how I feel about the world!

JournoMich said...

He stopped by? Jealous! I saw him on The Daily Show and have his book on my TBR list. You reminded me of it when you posted on my blog the other day.

Looking forward to your review...

Michele
SouthernCityMysteries

Dana Elmendorf said...

Very cool he stopped by. Your comment back to him was full of self reflection/ association and lots of praise. I might have to check this book out.