Writing Creative Nonfiction: Instruction and Insights from Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs

Rating:
Summary: A Journey for Writers and Teachers of Writing
Review: I purchased this book as an inspiration for designing the Advanced Feature Writing class and others I teach at Northwestern University. As I read and did some of the exercises suggested in the book, I began to realize how useful this book is not only for aspiring and senior writers of all kinds, but also for those who teach others to write.

It's a compendium of essays and writing exercises written by various authors from poet to essayist to magazine feature article writer, with some selections of their writings at the end of the book.

Don't let the long titles of mini-chapters steer you away from this book. For example, one chapter is entitled "Saying goodbye to once upon a time or implementing postmodernism in creative nonfiction." It may sound daunting, but the chapter is written clearly, creatively and thoughtfully about how fact, truth and fiction often get tangled when we write. The author of this chapter, Laura Wexler, shows us that the only place we can find cold, hard facts is in fairy tales. Yes, that's right. Fairy tales. Because in a fairy tale we can all say with certainty that Cinderella lost her glass slipper and Prince Charming found it and placed it on her foot, and they got married. But life isn't like that. And neither is nonfiction writing.

Wexler writes, regarding the Rodney King beating: "The Rodney King beating cannot be told as a fairy tale. There is no single true version of What Happened. Because everything about it is up for grabs, everything is unstable: motives, actions, and interpretations. It seems we cannot, despite Rodney King's famous plea, 'all get along' -- because we tell different stories about the same events. We always do." Wexler, however, does not leave us perlexed and discouraged about this "fact." Instead she offers insights and advice on how to write while remembering the nebulous qualitites of truth, fact, and fiction.

Incidentally, references to recent events such as the Rodney King beating pepper the essays throughout the book making it "fresh" and "new."

Not every chapter is as captivating as the one described above, and occasionally, some of the authors of the essays tend to become preocuppied with their knowledge of other authors and writing. And although I enjoyed the chapter on humor writing, I had hoped for much more on this subject. We need not be told that irony, satire and exaggeration are tools in humorous writing; rather we need to be shown how to use them, what works, and what doesn't.

The writing and interviewing exercises in the book are worthwhile, and I would have liked more. One example: Interview separately two people who were involved in the same event. Transcribe the interviews and consider the similarities and differences in the two versions.

This exercise is terrific for journalists as well as creative writers.

As a writer and editor, I found the book to be reaffirming as well as challenging. Many of the writing philosophies I've developed over the years are explained in exemplary fashion in this book. I am eager to work with my students on the exercises, and to share some of the chapters with my writing and editing colleagues.

Sheryl De Vore Assistant Managing Editor, Pioneer Press Senior Lecturer, Northwestern University, Journalism Department [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: From biography and true-life adventure to narrative history
Review: In Writing Creative Nonfiction: Instruction And Insights From The Teachers Of The Associated Writing Programs, the editorial team of Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard present essays by more than thirty contributors focusing on all aspects and elements of the creative writing craft as it applies to nonfiction. This outstanding compendium of presentations ranges from researching ideas and structuring a story to reportage and personal reflection. Along with insightful prompts and exercises, Writing Creative Nonfiction covers every type and category from biography and true-life adventure, to memoir and narrative history. Here is an invaluable reference whose reading will enrich and enable any aspiring writer to significantly advance their skills and expertise at writing nonfiction whatever the extent of their previous experience or training.

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Summary: Does Creative Nonfiction Exist?
Review: Over the past several years there has been quite a controversy as to what exactly is creative nonfiction.
In fact, there are some who even go so far as denying its existence and claim there is no such animal!
If we are from the school that accepts that it is alive and kicking, we must then be able to describe what exactly is creative nonfiction.

Carolyn Fauché and Philip Gerard, editors of Writing Creative Nonficton, perhaps best sum up what it is all about when they state: "creative nonfiction has emerged in the last few years as the province of factual prose that is also literary-infused with the stylistic devices, tropes, and rhetorical flourishes of the best fiction and the most lyrical narrative poetry. It is fact based writing that remains compelling, undiminished by the passage of time, that has at heart an interest in enduring human values: foremost a fidelity to accuracy, to truthfulness."

In order to support their belief in creative nonfiction, Fauché and Gerard have presented more than thirty essays that examine all of above key ingredients inherent in writing creative nonfiction.
Divided into three sections, the reader will receive tips pertaining to such topics as researching ideas and structuring the story, reportage, personal reflection, developing powerful observation techniques, awareness of the filters that put you between yourself and the world, shaping the lyric essay, creating biography, war writing, using humor, and taking yourself out of the story.

What is quite noteworthy about the book is that the reader receives valuable advice from over thirty well- known writers such as: Terry Tempest Williams, Allan Cheuse, Phillip Lopate, Carolyn Forché, and Philip Gerard, all of whom contribute immensely in convincing us that, yes, creative nonfiction does exist.
It may be true that it has undergone many name changes over the years- nonfiction novel, narrative non-fiction, literary journalism, literary non-fiction, and new journalism, however, they all lead us to the conclusion that no matter how confusing it sounds, creative nonfiction is still distinguishable from daily journalism, academic criticism, and critical biography.

The book also offers a primer on the practical business of drafting a business proposal as presented by Stanley Colbert, and a section about what happens after publication.
Finally, as the editors most aptly state: "as a final gift to the reader, we've included the 'Creative Non-Fiction' reader offering the companion pieces and other exemplary essays to inspire, delight, reach, and simply to enjoy."

This review first appeared on the reviewer's own site: Bookpleasures.com

Rating:
Summary: Nicholas Hentoff rules
Review: This book is almost uniformly excellent, but the essay by Nicholas Hentoff alone is worth the purchase price. Hentoff, a semi-legendary Arizona criminal defense lawyer and champion of civil rights, offers invaluable advice to nonfiction writers on avoiding legal landmines, and therefore avoiding the tendency towards self-censorship. Every journalist who cares about doing work that matters should have a copy of this essay.