Contract an STD

Seven steps to becoming a famous author in the era of James Frey and JT Leroy.

Step #2: Invent your persona.

What kind of fake person do you want to be? A criminal? A victim? Some combination of the two? Anything is possible. The important thing is to throw in implausible details: J.T. Leroy supposedly carried a fax machine with him while he worked the streets, and, after achieving literary fame, never appeared publicly without sunglasses and a wig. James Frey curses a lot. I plan to merge these approaches and giving them my own special twist, by carrying a full-size scanner while working at Starbucks and saying "gee whiz" just *constantly*.