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Dan Brown says he used the book The Holy Grail and the Holy Blood as a reference.  So, does that mean that all nonfiction can not be used for writing a FICTIONAL story?  What should writer’s reference?  When I was doing research for a paper about The Da Vinci Code, I came across several books that were nonfiction that read like The Holy Grail and the Holy Blood–so shouldn’t those books be on trial too?  Because,those books, too, are cashing in on The Da Vinci Code.  Here’s an excerpt from The New York Times that I think many writer’s fear–

 Judge Asks Sharp Questions at Close of ‘Da Vinci Code’ Case

Mr. Rayner James insisted that he was not asking the court to establish a precedent. But the case is being closely watched here by copyright and media lawyers, who say that a victory by the plaintiffs could have wide repercussions for novelists, playwrights and others who use nonfiction works as background research.

“The concept that you can infringe copyright by taking what is presented as fact in a nonfiction book and weaving it into a novel could have very serious implications,” said Fiona Crawley, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property and copyright issues in the London office of the international firm Bryan Cave.

“All sorts of people write novels about historical events and go to nonfiction books for research,” Miss Crawley added. She used as an example Jack Higgins’s novel “The Eagle has Landed,” based on the historical conjecture that the Nazis considered trying to capture Prime Minister Winston Churchill from his country estate in Norfolk, England, during World War II.

“If someone had written a nonfiction book about that, are you saying that when Jack Higgins uses it as the basis to write a novel, he can’t do it without infringing the author’s copyright?” she asked.

 

Overall, I just hope the movie is not affected by this trial.  I think many people need to realize The Da Vinci Code is fictional.  Yes, it tells a story that is controversial, but it also is a good read.  To me, fiction is about letting your mind expand to ask “what if” and this book did that as well as what The Historian did.  The Historian story discusses the existence of Dracula.  Do I believe that Dracula exists… no, but it was fun wondering–”what if…”

Register early for The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writer’s Conference of the Southwest. A weekend of lectures, workshops, panel discussions that will explore ”The Art of Narrative Storytelling”.

The conference will be Friday, July 14, 2006, to Sunday, July 16, 2006 in Grapevine at the Hilton DFW Lakes.  Some of the authors that are attending:

• Gay Talese:  A Writer’s Life
• Melissa Fay Greene:  Praying for Sheetrock
• Ron Powers:  Flags for our Fathers
• H.W. Brands:  The First American
• Hampton Sides:  Ghost Soldiers
• and many more

Register Now

Oprah asked the hard questions to James Frey who admitted he fabricated the truth or as Oprah simply said–lied in his book A Million Little Pieces.

As in any good journalism organization, the truth is vital.  What about nonfiction books? Should we hold the same fact checking standards to a genre that claims to speak the truth?  Or are their allowances in memoirs and in author’s memories that we should let go.  I mean it has been proven when a crime happens, witnesses all seem to have their own recollection.  

What should Frey have done?  Frey should have just said, ”This is a novel BASED on my life experiences.”  BASED ON is the key word.  The book should have NEVER been allowed to be sold as a nonfiction book.  Publishers do not have the strict policies as news organizations do, they only go by the word of their authors.  So should we go with truth with a small “t” or Truth with a capital “T” when it comes to nonfiction books?  It’s hard to say because isn’t it all relative?  I mean, take for example a celebrities memoirs?  How many people have refuted their depiction in one of those books?  Frey, I believe did wrong.  He mislead the public into saying, this is the ABSOLUTE Truth with a capital “T”. 

But, how many times do we embellish our own true stories? It makes me wonder how many other nonfiction books that I have read embellished the facts.  I’m sure it probably is not the first time an author of a memoir or nonfiction book has lied.  But, we also have to allow more creative freedoms than the normal New York Times’s article.  Let’s not forget that it’s called “creative” nonfiction for a reason.  Maybe Frey’s book was not ALL fiction, but shouldn’t books be placed in more than one category. I mean, sometimes I think Homer’s Illiad should not only be found in poetry, but also classic fiction and even in philosophy.   

The solution could be that we create a new genre category… “Almost the Truth.” 

Questions for Others in Frey Scandal - New York Times

The questions about how publishers should deal with the truth or falsity of the books they publish are likely to continue to resound through the book business. Yesterday, publishers, literary agents and booksellers said that, in the wake of Ms. Winfrey’s condemnation of Mr. Frey and Doubleday, they expected memoirs and other works of nonfiction to come under increasing scrutiny before and after publication.

Some publishers said they would continue to rely on authors and their literary agents to stand behind their works, even as they occasionally press them for details on some of their claims.