I'm thinking about writing an extensive book about bullying. After being bullied all of my life, at work, school, online, I'm getting really sick of it. I try not to play the victim because in the end they don't matter to me, but perhaps I think my book could help someone else who is having similar troubles trying to tell them that it's not worth it to end their lives over people who bully you. I know some people don't have the strength that I do and I've heard of some people who took that other way out and I was sad for them that they chose that route. I sucked it up and waited everything out and still think things will get better. Have you ever read any bully books? Were they well executed? If anyone else would like to share their experiences with me, I could add your experiences with your credit, too in my book.
Like so many questions here, it depends. Write some of your story, and when you've reached the minimum requirements, post a piece of your story, and we'll take a look.
Are you planning to write this as fiction, a kind of biography or a help book? I think your attitude/outlook is really admirable and even from a purely personal point of putting your own experiences into writing is worth while. The only book that springs to mind is This Perfect World by Suzanne Bugler (I think). It's actually told from the point of the view of the bully, many years later, when she's forced to face the girl she tormented and the consequences of what she did while her own privileged life is falling apart. It does look at the irrational cruelty of children, which is something I experienced in school and I imagine most people have in some form or another. It also depicts a group of women and a kind of mentality with 'the queen bee' and the same pettiness that can exist in adults.
It can be non-fiction and fiction as well. My other book that's coming out is science fiction but autobiographical. Hmm, that does sound like an interesting book. I do want to download it. The worst part of my experiences is, I've been bullied by adults who are twenty years older than me when they should know better how to act. They are from online and think just because I will never see their faces they can say the things they do and do the things they do to me. That's one example that I want to put in my book. I want to focus on cyber bullying but also in person bullying, too.
This is one of the few projects I would recommend doing an outline for. Get the ducks in a row. Are they fiction, or are they non-fiction. Unless you're planning on doing a YA novel, I would suggest nonfiction, especially if you are focusing on the science behind it. Do not fluctuate between the genres. Stephen Fry did that with Million Little Pieces and bookstore folk, among whom I number, still haven't heard the end of it. You need to determine your target audience and the tone. Walk through a bookstore, a library. Look at the categories of nonfiction. Subjects include: Self Improvement, Psychology, Parenting, Biography. Where among them would such a project fit. Are you seeking to inform parents? Are you creating a guide of teens and young adults? Are you trying explain the psychology behind bullying, and its affects on the human psyche? Or are you just telling your story? But the first thing you need to do is decide fiction or nonfiction. Checkout Queen Bees and Wannabes. It is a decent read on the topic of bullies. The title, however, is a little older so not as much of the cyberbullying would apply.
If it's non-fiction, you really need to have a thesis or central idea, and preferably some level of expertise. Just being bullied isn't going to be enough, unless you go for an autobiography. And those are a pretty hard sell - everyone thinks their own life is interesting, but in order to want to read someone else's story there usually has to be something really extraordinary about them. In other words... What do you have to say about bullying that's unique, and that's complex enough to fill an entire book? And what is there about you that will make people want to read your opinion on it? If you go with fiction, be careful that your book is about characters and a plot - bullying may be a theme, but if it's what your story is about you'll almost certainly end up writing something didactic. Do be aware that a novel can have autobiographical elements without actually being an autobiography - I expect that's what you mean when you say your science fiction book is autobiographical. It's still a novel - still fiction - even if there are elements of reality in it. In terms of the general idea? If this is something that's personally meaningful to you, give it a go. But if you're thinking in terms of jumping on the anti-bullying trend, I'd say you're a bit late. I'm seeing a backlash against anti-bullying, not because people think that bullying itself isn't a problem but because the term has been stretched out to cover far too much ground, and lately every aspect of natural interpersonal conflict is being labelled bullying (by some). My perception is that people are getting tired of hearing the word. (I don't mean to diminish the problem of bullying, or to say that we shouldn't still be thinking about it. But buying a book is almost always a discretionary decision, and I think there are fewer people now who will seek out a book on the topic than there would have been a few years ago).
I went with the first person non-fiction route. My other book is in the third person so I thought I'd switch it up a bit.
