Posts Tagged "ABCs of Creative Nonfiction"
ABCs of Creative Nonfiction: G is for Gravity
Sylvia Plath once wrote in her novel The Bell Jar, “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.” No matter the genre, all writers need to deal with emotions. It’s part of the job. When we find these emotions, we must ask ourselves, “Why?” Even as writers, there are some emotions we can’t explain, at least not confidently. We must dig deeper to find the meaning and gravity that pulls a memory together. Growing up in my house, I experienced the sorta-kinda-an-only-child-but-not-really-since-I-have-half-sisters syndrome. My older sisters are ten and seven years older than myself, and visited every other weekend. In my eyes,...
Read MoreABCs of Creative Nonfiction: D is for Distance
My final MFA manuscript, 136 pages about culture shock, dark years, and things I still can’t believe 19-year-old me experienced, still sits bound on my bookshelf. It hasn’t moved since I put it there after graduation almost three years ago now. Eventually, I imagine it becoming a piece of New Adult memoir. For now, it’s a collection of words that I’m not ready to revise. “You’re too close to it,” I was told while working on that manuscript. “It’s still too fresh.” “Get some distance from it.” This consistent feedback was an indicator that the work was missing the element of reflection needed to give it context and depth. Sometimes, this...
Read MoreABCs of Creative Nonfiction: The Beginning
I’ve decided that the eye of the creative nonfiction writer must be medically enigmatic. It’s at once so purely myopic that it can detect the smallest nuance—a person’s cuticle, the four-leaf clover in a vast field, the subtle upturn of the corner of lips—and so hyperopic it can monitor the infusion of masses into a train station or track the passage of time in footprints on a mother’s heart. And somewhat in the spirit of an orchestra’s conductor or a painter, the creative nonfiction writer is able to make magic of the ordinary. Reading the work of a gifted author in the genre suddenly gives you the feeling of being swept into your closest friend’s...
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