Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir [Paperback]

Sue William Silverman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 082033166X | ISBN-13: 978-0820331669

Everyone has a story to tell. Fearless Confessions is a guidebook for people who want to take possession of their lives by putting their experiences down on paper--or in a Web site or e-book. Enhanced with illustrative examples from many different writers as well as writing exercises, this guide helps writers navigate a range of issues from craft to ethics to marketing and will be useful to both beginners and more accomplished writers.

The rise of interest in memoir recognizes the power of the genre to move and affect not just individual readers but society at large. Sue William Silverman covers traditional writing topics such as metaphor, theme, plot, and voice and also includes chapters on trusting memory and cultivating the courage to tell one's truth in the face of forces--from family members to the media--who would prefer that people with inconvenient pasts and views remain silent.

Silverman, an award-winning memoirist, draws upon her own personal and professional experience to provide an essential resource for transforming life into words that matter. Fearless Confessions is an atlas that contains maps to the remarkable places in each person's life that have yet to be explored.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you are writing a memoir, read Fearless Confessions. There are some things that can't be taught in a book, but Sue Silverman teaches you everything that can be! The author of two stunning memoirs herself, she breaks down the complex weaving of a story into discrete elements, such as detail, voice, and plot, with clear, useful guidance on each aspect. Invaluable! --Ellen Bass, author of The Human Line

Fearless Confessions is such a dynamic guide to memoir writing it has inspired me to completely refine and retool the memoir I m working on. Sue William Silverman, a faculty advisor at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, is an amazing master of the language. Her prose is as enjoyable as it is instructive. This should be an essential textbook of any creative writing course. She gives examples of memoir pieces and analyzes each one, showing how they work, why they're powerful, and even why some fail to impress. --15-Minutes Magazine

I dutifully recommend Lamott's Bird by Bird, Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones and King's On Writing to my students each term, but I find that I'm particularly excited to inform them of Silverman's new book. Her writing has a...tone that's...both accessible to readers and uncompromising in its rigorous investigation of what makes for compelling memoir. --The Writer Magazine

About the Author

Sue William Silverman is a faculty advisor at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and the associate editor of the journal Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction. Her first book, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You (Georgia), received the AWP Award in Creative Nonfiction. She is also the author of Love Sick: One Woman's Journey through Sexual Addiction (made into a Lifetime TV movie) and Hieroglyphics in Neon, a collection of poems.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082033166X
• ISBN-13: 978-0820331669
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sue William Silverman's memoir, "Love Sick: One Woman's Journey through Sexual Addiction," is also a Lifetime Television original movie. Her first memoir, "Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You," won the AWP award series in creative nonfiction. Her poetry collection is "Hieroglyphics in Neon." Sue's most recent book is "Fearless Confessions: A Writers Guide to Memoir," which won Honorable Mention in "ForeWord Review's" book of the year award. The "Tallahassee Democrat" says of Sue's writing: "Beautiful, rocketing prose."

Sue has appeared on such television programs as The View, Anderson Cooper-360, and CNN-Headline News. She teaches in the low-residency MFA in Writing program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her partner is the poet Marc Sheehan, and they have two cats.

For more information, please visit www.suewilliamsilverman.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Resource!, June 18, 2009

By 

Mary Domenico (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir (Paperback)

Sue William Silverman has accomplished the rare feat of offering writers a craft book that won't simply get thumbed through and abandoned. Avoiding the usual rehash of basics, Silverman concentrates on what matters most to a memoirist - How do you identify and effectively contrapose the voice of your younger, less-experienced self with your wiser, reflective voice? How do you devise plot powerful enough to make leaps from mere story to universal meaning? How do you sift through the images sparked by your material to find expressive metaphors? Her provocative theoretical discussions are coupled with practical instruction. Particularly useful are Silverman's exercises, which are not run-of-the-mill prompts but detailed progressions that dig deeply and, even for an experienced writer, yield surprising results.

If you've ever been made to feel your story isn't worth telling or pressured to adapt your reality to the market, in Silverman you will find an intelligent and convincing advocate. No craft book can give you everything needed to embark on a new book, but she goes a long way toward equipping you for the journey. I wish I'd read this book before I wrote my first memoir; I'll welcome it as a companion during my second.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best guide to writing available, June 17, 2009

By 

Michael D. Hemery - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir (Paperback)

I can attest, first hand, that the writing method contained within these pages works. Sue William Silverman offers a grounded approach to both the micro and macro levels of writing. The book offers practical assistance with common writing issues (using more active words, voice, dialogue, and tense) to more nonfiction-specific concerns (voice of innocence/experience and truth/memory). I teach this book to both my creative writing classes and my literature courses--as a way to approach nonfiction.

Prior to utilizing Sue's method I was having little success with publishing, but within one year after heading her advice within this book I landed eight publications. I will now be following her suggestions in this book to find a home for my full collection of essays. There is no other resource that is as comprehensive and helpful for new and experienced writers as this book. A must have for anyone who is even thinking of telling his or her story.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Confessional and proud!, September 25, 2009

By 

Erin Miller - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir (Paperback)

If you have ever thought about writing your story, but thought:
I can't do that
I don't know how to write
What will my mother say?
I have nothing to say anyway

....
then this book was written for you.

This book is the antidote for all of the voices that demand silence, be they literary critics or family members. Sue Silverman not only guides the reader through the thorny issues of telling the "truth" in memoir, but she also provides real, practical guidelines for writing better prose, as well as innovative ways to market your work. The result is an inspiring, funny, and incredibly insightful book. I particularly loved her writing exercises and the example essays that she chose to illustrate her various points.

Silverman also has first-hand experience in writing about "confessional" subject matter--she's the author of two memoirs, one about growing up in an incestuous family, and one about sex addiction. Her gentle prodding--"Write anyway! Whatever the roadblock. Write anyway!" is backed up by solid information and great advice. Her critique of literary and pop cultural denigration of memoir is sharp and to the point, and among the best I've ever read.

Sue's book is a gift to us all. I'm grateful that she wrote it, and that I had the opportunity to read it--and now I've got to get back to work on my memoir.