The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality (Wiley Books for Writers Series) [Paperback]

Lee Gutkind (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471113565 | ISBN-13: 978-0471113560 | Publication Date: January 14, 1997 | Edition: 1

A complete guide to the art and craft of creative nonfiction--from one of its pioneer practitioners

The challenge of creative nonfiction is to write the truth in a style that is as accurate and informative as reportage, yet as personal, provocative, and dramatic as fiction. In this one-of-a-kind guide, award-winning author, essayist, teacher, and editor Lee Gutkind gives you concise, pointed advice on every aspect of writing and selling your work, including:
* Guidelines for choosing provocative--and salable--topics
* Smart research techniques--including advice on conducting penetrating interviews and using electronic research tools
* Tips for focusing and structuring a piece for maximum effectiveness
* Advice on working successfully with editors and literary agents

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book is for the beginning creative nonfiction writer--one who needs to be told that writers are an eccentric lot; one who has never heard of the Yaddo artists' colony. Still, Lee Gutkind, the author of several books of creative nonfiction and the founder/editor of the journal Creative Nonfiction, has some interesting things to tell us about this genre of writing, which strives to communicate real-life stories dramatically. The most important quality that a creative nonfiction writer can have, writes Gutkind, is passion: "A passion for the written word; a passion for the search and discovery of knowledge; and a passion for ... understand[ing] intimately how things in this world work." Gutkind offers instruction on finding story ideas, focusing one's work, keeping story files, fact checking, and interviewing; he tells us what to expect from editors and agents; and he teaches us how to know when we're ready to start writing (when you can "think of nothing more to ask or to learn"). Perhaps the best tidbit here is Gutkind's emphasis on delving deeply into one's subject matter without inserting oneself into the situation. "While immersing myself in a writing project," he says, "I routinely like to compare myself to a rather undistinguished and utilitarian end table in a living room or office. It is a fixture. You walk in and out of your living room dozens of times a day. You see the table, you expect to see the table, but you do not say, 'Well, there is the table, hello table.'" Appendices include a sample book proposal and readings.

From the Publisher

A pioneer in the writing and teaching of nonfiction presents a practical guide to composing creative nonfiction that covers the entire process--from initial psychological preparation to marketing a finished piece. Written in an engaging style, the book provides pertinent information on conducting research, using interviews, "immersion journalism," cinematic writing, the ethical and moral concerns of writing subjective truth and more. Features examples culled from the author's journal, Creative Nonfiction, to illustrate writing techniques.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471113565
• ISBN-13: 978-0471113560
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lee Gutkind is the founding editor of Creative Nonfiction and prize-winning author or editor of more than a dozen books, the most recent of which, Almost Human: Making Robots Think, was featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. As founder of the creative nonfiction movement, according to Harper's Magazine, and the "godfather behind creative nonfiction" (Vanity Fair), Gutkind travels widely throughout the world giving workshops and readings, explaining the craft and the mission of the genre.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shallow, July 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality (Wiley Books for Writers Series) (Paperback)

This book reads like an outline of a book on Creative Nonfiction. A beginner might find some chapters useful or inspiring, but anyone with writing experience is likely to find it too shallow. The chapter on Immersion--one of the key methods of reporting a highly detailed, creative story--is only 8 pages long, gives a few anecdotes, but provides next to no useful information to a writer contemplating this technique. The following chapter, on interviewing, is 10 pages long and more than half of it is composed of long excerpts from other stories. You might see the _results_ of doing a good interview, but not much beyond the obvious in actually carrying out a good interview.

This book doesn't stand out for me among the large number of mediocre books aimed at beginning to intermediate nonfiction writers.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If your passion is to create & sell nonfiction, read this., July 11, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality (Wiley Books for Writers Series) (Paperback)

Gutkind's advice covers aspects of writing others neglect. He tells how to access your strengths, lists grant funding sources, and provides detailed illustrations of how to organize for a productive career. Learn vital tips for keeping current with your market, for assessing your competition, for deciding what voice your article or book requires, as well as, how truth figures into nonfiction writing. Gutkind includes a sample book proposal to guide your efforts, discusses pros and cons of getting a M.F.A. degree, and nuts and bolts like interviewing, researching, specializing, and focusing your writing. This book is less about selling and more about writing something that will sell

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for All Nonfiction Writers, June 8, 2000

By 

wendelstedt (pittsburgh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality (Wiley Books for Writers Series) (Paperback)

How often has a piece of nonfiction writing left you bored to tears with its rambling of fact after fact, a completely limp, motionless piece? Well, Gutkind has developed a structured teaching method for this genre: frame, focus and scene. Once you understand his "yellow test," your writing will vastly improve, bursting with energy and radiating the essence of life, that is, the truth with a capital "T." He lifts your head, redirecting you from gazing into your own belly button, and unveils the techniques of capturing and presenting universal themes--a focus that touches us all. This book not only shows you how to write, more importantly, it show you how to think. Buy it today--he's the godfather of the genre, creative nonfiction, and the editor and founder of the only journal devoted exclusively to the genre.