Writing Creative Nonfiction [Paperback]

Philip Gerard (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1884910505 | ISBN-13: 978-1884910500 | Publication Date: May 10, 2001

Experience the power and the promise of working in today' most exciting literary form: Creative Nonfiction

Writing Creative Nonfiction presents more than thirty essays examining every key element of the craft, from researching ideas and structuring the story, to reportage and personal reflection. You'll learn from some of today's top creative nonfiction writers, including:

Terry Tempest Williams - Analyze your motivation for writing, its value, and its strength.

Alan Cheuse - Discover how interesting, compelling essays can be drawn from every corner of your life and the world in which you live.

Phillip Lopate - Build your narrator–yourself–into a fully fleshed-out character, giving your readers a clearer, more compelling idea of who is speaking and why they should listen.

Robin Hemley - Develop a narrative strategy for structuring your story and making it cohesive.

Carolyn Forche - Master the journalistic ethics of creative nonfiction.

Dinty W. Moore - Use satire, exaggeration, juxtaposition, and other forms of humor in creative nonfiction.

Philip Gerard - Understand the narrative stance–why and how an author should, or should not, enter into the story.

Through insightful prompts and exercises, these contributors help make the challenge of writing creative nonfiction–whether biography, true-life adventure, memoir, or narrative history–a welcome, rewarding endeavor.

You'll also find an exciting, creative nonfiction "reader" comprising the final third of the book, featuring pieces from Barry Lopez, Annie Dillard, Beverly Lowry, Phillip Lopate, and more–selections so extraordinary, they will teach, delight, inspire, and entertain you for years to come!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Like eating a well-conceived meal at an exceptional restaurant, reading this book is a wholly satisfying experience. Less-skilled chefs may have failed to get the book's many disparate elements to cohere, but, in the hands of editors Carolyn Forché and Philip Gerard, those ingredients sing. Brenda Miller compares the shape of a lyric essay with that of a loaf of challah bread; Nicholas S. Hentoff and Harvey A. Silverglate offer a primer on legal land mines. Christopher Merrill ponders the art of war writing, while Dinty W. Moore explores,the use of humor in creative nonfiction. There's an essay about bringing oneself into the story, and another about taking oneself out. Bob Reiss offers hilarious yet salient advice on surviving as a writer overseas. The contributors (Annie Dillard, Phillip Lopate, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, et al.) spend the first half of the book discussing creative nonfiction and the second half demonstrating it. Not only does the format work, but pairing the works of creative nonfiction with the accompanying commentary is educational and entertaining.

Among the book's most interesting sections, perhaps because their subject matter is underrepresented in writing-reference literature, are those about biography. Philip Furia discusses the need both to conduct an unbelievable amount of research and to leave a whole bunch of it out. And Honor Moore focuses on the intensity of biography writing: "I had no idea I was getting into twelve long years during which I would put preoccupation with someone else's life ahead of attention to my own." --Jane Steinberg

From Library Journal

Poet Forch (The Country Between Us) and novelist Gerard (Writing a Book That Makes a Difference) have brought together more than 30 writers and teachers affiliated with the Associated Writing Programs to introduce creative nonfiction as a new literary form. In this new form, which differs in style as well as technique from other nonfiction genres such as journalism, the critical essay, and academic biography, the crucial elements of storytelling are just as important as the accuracy of the text. Each of the contributors, who include Annie Dillard, Grace Paley, Lee Gutkind, and Alex Kotlowitz, presents an aspect of the craft by using examples from his or her own work. Most essays conclude with a few exercises designed to jumpstart the creative process. Although the style of each essay differs, and the writing is somewhat uneven from chapter to chapter, this is a wonderful book for the price. Highly recommend for academic libraries with writing programs and public libraries with a literary clientele. [Writer's Digest Book Club main selection.] Denise S. Sticha, Murrysville Community Lib., P.
- Denise S. Sticha, Murrysville Community Lib., PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Story Press (May 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884910505
• ISBN-13: 978-1884910500
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Arts & Photography > History & Criticism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey for Writers and Teachers of Writing, July 13, 2001

By 

Sheryl L. DeVore "naturalist" (Chicagoland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing Creative Nonfiction (Paperback)

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]

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nicholas Hentoff rules, October 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing Creative Nonfiction (Paperback)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be put off, December 22, 2009

By 

S. G. Fortosis "Amazon author&seeyourselfinpr... (North Port, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing Creative Nonfiction (Paperback)

A reviewer lists one of the chapter titles that sounds daunting indeed. However, don't be put off by such things. Gerard has done an excellent job of gathering a group of writers who clearly know what they are talking about. The book is chock full of helpful advice on almost every level of non-fiction. This is one of the books you don't want to simply check out of the public library. Buy it and place it on your shelf. You will be grabbing it now and then for a refresher on some aspect of successful writing.

There are many books on writing, but this is one of the better titles about non-fiction.