Writing Behind People's Backs

How should you write about your mom, your ex, and more, without getting into a fight or sued?

This Friday at 1pm ET author Chloé Caldwell and I will talk LIVE about my most-asked question as a memoir/essay writing teacher/author: how do you write about other people???

Here’s a teaser of questions we’ll answer:

• Should you name people by their real names? Or should writers make up names?

• Why, when, and how should you use pseudonyms?

• What are the rules to write about people who are alive and literate?

• What are the best craft practices to write about people so they feel flattered and not mad at you?

• Should you share with others what you write about them? If so, when? And how?

• Should you change your writing if other people demand you change it?

• What can you tell others when they ask why the hell you wrote about them?

• Is it better to ask for permission or for forgiveness?

• Is the song “thanK you aIMee” by Taylor Swift really about Kim Kardashian?

• How can we write songs/books about our own Kim Kardashians like Taylor Swift?

• Do we even like Taylor Swift?

Click “interested” below for a reminder link or subscribe below or subscribe to Chloé Caldwell. If you’re busy at 1pm Friday, you can watch the recording via the recap post coming soon.

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ICYMI: I’m Elissa Bassist, and I teach short humor and satire writing, funny personal essays, tragicomic memoir, good sentences, and that’s it. I wrote the memoir Hysterical, a semifinalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor, and my next book is Inside Jokes: A Comedy and Creativity Guide for All Writers, out October 20th. I am probably my therapist’s favorite.