“I more seriously considered publishing it under a pseudonym than I considered publishing it as fiction. I think the decision to write it as nonfiction happened at the very outset of the process, because the overwhelming impetus for writing this book was to understand what the experience meant, and to override my own reductions and rationalizations, whatever story I had that was not true. It didn't sit well with me and I needed to answer that. That's sort of the reason I write everything.” ThinkingWritingWellsBookReasonStoriesProcessMy OwnDecisionAnswersFictionHappenedNeededOverwhelmingNonfictionPublishingReductionImpetusPseudonyms Author:Melissa Febos
“I didn't know enough as a writer to understand why I needed to do this, but I understood in a very gut way that I could not entertain those thoughts of pleasing people and write this book - that it would be a very different book. Without really sort of investigating that instinct, which I'm glad for, I just made a conscious decision to put blinders on and not think about anything and put it all in. And I did. I put everything in. I had to look at the whole picture to see what I needed.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayWritingLooksMadeBookDifferentEnoughWholeWould BeDecisionNeededConsciousUnderstoodInstinctGladGutsInvestigatingBlindersWhole PictureDifferent BooksPleasing People Author:Melissa Febos
“My father was raised by a violent alcoholic. There was alcoholism in my mother's family. I'm half-adopted, and my birth father was a drug addict and alcoholic. So, I think they very consciously made decisions and parented me in a way that was aimed to help save me from that. So, I knew it would be particularly painful and it was, especially for my father.” ThinkingWayMadeHelpingWould BeMotherFatherDecisionHalfBirthDrugRaisedPainfulViolentAddictAdoptedAlcoholismAlcoholicsDrug AddictSave Me Author:Melissa Febos
“I made a conscious decision when I was writing that book to depict in real time how I treated it, and how I thought about it, and how I portrayed it to other people, because I wanted the story to be one of change from that to a more honest appraisal, a more accepting appraisal of myself and other people in that world.” PeopleWorldWritingMadeBookRealStoriesWantedDecisionAcceptingHonestConsciousTreatedAppraisal Author:Melissa Febos
