How to Fact-Check a Scandalous Memoir, Offend Your Friends
In the Guardian, Tom Sykes, author of addiction memoir What Did I Do Last Night?, tells us how his publisher, along with a lawyer, made him fact-check his memoir: by sending the manuscript to everyone mentioned, including his drug dealer! Some of these people, while accurately described, were pissed. Especially Chris Wilson, formerly of Page Six and currently of Maxim!
"Most people were surprisingly sporting about the whole thing. A few objected so violently that I had to change their names. Others took issue with the most unexpected things. Take Chris Wilson, with whom I worked on the New York Post gossip column. I had written in some detail about the freebie overseas holidays we took, and the fact we got smashed almost every night for two years and rarely saw a bill.
He rang me up in a fury.
"I can't believe you have done this to me! You have me using the word 'ridonculous' four times! What the hell? I'll be saying fo-shizzle next!"
