Capote

Fictional Memoir

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com


Apparently Truman Capote was one of the founders of the fictional memoir. What a fabulous idea weaving fiction and fact together, most of us do that everyday anyway and sometimes the fabulous freedom of fiction can help you focus on the facts.

Letting fictional characters reveal truths about yourself and yet leaving the reader wondering about exactly which threads are real is genius.  As for the author talking to a stranger is so much easier, talking to the reader who we cannot even see is so much simpler, thank you!  

When a character knows you enough to take you through all of your trials and tribulations and takes the time to gently reveal a different perspective they become your allies, part of the team. Occasionally the protagonist propels their perceptions with no protection for the author but that’s ok we are just the singer in the band. Thank you Characters.

I believe the writer is in flow when they write from their subconscious not their conscious mind. That is why you cannot edit as you go and also why there are so many mistakes. It’s like a right hander putting the pen in their left hand and finally getting to their truth. Obviously it’s extremely freeing but also confronting and continuously changing.  Thank you subconscious.

Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and On The Road are well known fictional memoirs. I wonder how many or which of Jane Austens novels are fictional memoir?  I’m also sure there are many novels that are still sitting in ‘fiction’ whereby even the author doesn’t realise or are not willing to admit to fact. Thank you authors.

If you would like to find out how to write your own fictional memoir then please get in touch! frankiebanks27@gmail.com

My fictional memoir Sharks and Lovers is available to download here Amazon

Capote Still Has Me By The Balls

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com

‘Be anything but a coward, a pretender, an emotional crook, a whore: I’d rather have cancer than a dishonest heart’

Capote, Balls

Led through the twists and turns of Holly’s tumultuous trists.  Yarns of her internal and external pain that occasionally snag at the stories thread. I start to admire her honesty, her flighty language and her lack of attachment.

A small child with bold abandonment, isn’t that who we all are inside?  Wanting a hand to hold, not hold us back?

Miss Golightly was definitely more likely to flee than stay and fight I knew that. The fuel of an angel is obviously stored in her wings!

Onwards and upwards Holly, I wonder where you are now?  Are you still hiding behind those dark glasses in a cafe? I imagine you chatting to a handsome stranger, occasionally letting the game slip and showing your honesty, unknowingly sucking him in.

My book Sharks & Lovers is available to download here:

Amazon       Kobo       iTunes

Capote

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com / 1 Comment

Capote, Hepburn and Monroe

I start reading the book in the basement of Dymocks on Collins St, Melbourne. Immediately  I am taken back to the apartment with Audrey Hepburn, her dressing gown endowing her narrow frame with fluffy curves. Apparently Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe to play Holly Golightly.  Perhaps a silk kimono would have adorned her more voluptuous figure.  Men knocking on Marilyn’s door would have been slightly different don’t you think?  Lighter not in weight but cynicism.  Surely they would be drenched in wit and charm, oozing fun and filth, whipping Miss Monroe into a frenzy of squeals.  Marilyn would have added a slight (frosting) or icing sugar to the scenes,  whilst Hepburn’s angular frame was exactly what the book portrays, this poking and prodding of every character and their traits.  Marilyn was probably just too soft and fluffy.  I wish I could watch that version alas it will only ever play in my head, not on the big screen.

It hits me immediately as I start to read that Holly was never real, I wonder if Holly is Capote’s anima.  Rusty Trawler; is that his version of himself?  Do we all paint our self portraits with darker colours than necessary?  Perhaps Rusty is someone who betrayed him, or maybe he truly existed.  Sometimes the strangest characters are real, sitting right in front of you or even staring back from the reflection in the mirror.

I think this author is my new obsession. I needed to drift away from my Tolstoy/Steinbeck phase and Capote seems to fit the bill nicely. Not dark like Tolstoy, or black and white like Steinbeck. Capote’s writing is sepia, shades and shadows implied and encouraged.  Secret scenes and sunbeams occasionally floating through the air.

I can’t wait to carry on reading and find more sides of Capote in his work.  In Cold Blood will be my next read, why do writers go looking for dark in others, in ourselves and at the bottom of bottles?

My book Sharks & Lovers is available to download here:

Amazon              Kobo             iTunes