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100 pages

English

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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
THE CREATIVE PART.

For Writers, Thinkers, Silent Observers (and Other People with Stories to Tell).

A Definition of the Genre--The Boundaries of the Profession.

The Devices of Creative Nonfiction.

Scenes: The Building Blocks of Creative Nonfiction.

Framing.

Main Point of Focus.

THE NONFICTION PART.

Information Transfer and the Personal Point of View.

Think Globally--Act Locally.

Getting Started.

Immersion.

Interviewing.

The Elusive Truth.

In Conclusion.

Appendices.

Sujets

Writting

Disciplines

Language Arts

Lee Gutkind

Nonfiction

Informations

Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	24 août 2007
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780470255315
Langue	English

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The Art of Creative Nonfiction
Wiley Books for Writers Series
Book Editors Talk to Writers, by Judy Mandell
Magazine Editors Talk to Writers, by Judy Mandell
Networking at Writers Conferences: From Contacts to Contracts , by Steven D. Spratt and Lee G. Spratt
The Elements of Storytelling: How to Write Compelling Fiction, by Peter Rubie
The Complete Guide to Writers Groups, Conferences, and Workshops , by Eileen Malone
The Art of Creative Nonfiction
Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality
Lee Gutkind
This text is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 1997 by Lee Gutkind.
All rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada.
Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gutkind, Lee.
The art of creative nonfiction : writing and selling the literature of reality / Lee Gutkind.
p. cm.-(Wiley books for writers series) ISBN 0-471-11356-5 1.
Authorship. I. Title. II. Series. PN145.G86 1997
808 .02-dc20 96-28002 CIP
Printed in the United States of America
10 11 12 13 14 15
Contents
Introduction
Part 1 The Creative Part
1 For Writers, Thinkers, Silent Observers (and Other People with Stories to Tell)
1.1 Crossing Genres
1.2 Thinkers and Scholars - Reaching Out from. Academia
1.3 And People with Stories to Tell
1.4 Flies on the Wall
1.5 Terminology
1.6 A Passion for People
2 A Definition of the Genre-The Boundaries of the Profession
2.1 The Truth in Fiction
2.2 A Different Level of Truth in Creative Nonfiction
2.3 Objectivity and Subjectivity
2.4 Reorienting the Writer s Eye
3 The Devices of Creative Nonfiction
3.1 Description
3.2 Dialogue: Characters Who Communicate
3.3 Inner Point of View
4 Scenes: The Building Blocks of Creative Nonfiction
4.1 The Yellow Test
4.2 Integrating Scenes
4.3 Leads Thrust the Reader into the Essay
4.4 Reading with a Double Perspective
4.5 The Elements of a Scene
4.6 Intimate Detail
4.7 The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction
5 Framing
5.1 The Convoluted Story
5.2 The Chronological Story
5.3 Manipulating Time
5.4 Circular Construction
5.5 Finding a Frame
5.6 Classic Frames and Essential Schedules
5.7 The Eccentricities of the Writing Life
6 Main Point of Focus
6.1 Organization by Theme
6.2 Focus Also Dictates What Not to Write About
6.3 How to Sound Objective While Being Subjective
6.4 Having an Impact on-and Persuading-the Reader
Part 2 The Nonfiction Part
7 Information Transfer and the Personal Point of View
7.1 This Is Not an Ego Trip
7.2 The Teaching Element
7.3 Where the Narrator Fits
7.4 To Be (The First Person Form) or Not to Be The Third Person). . .in the Narrative?
7.5 Writing the Personal Essay
7.6 Start a Writer s Journal
8 Think Globally-Act Locally
8.1 What to Write About-I Think
8.2 Assessing Your Informational Strengths
8.3 The Ideal Story Idea
8.4 Amassing Clippings
8.5 literary Journals
8.6 Coping with Rejection
8.7 Agents and Editors
9 Getting Started
9.1 Where to Look for a Topic
9.2 The Dual Objective: Writing for Yourself-and Others
9.3 Keeping Current
9.4 Reading The New York Times
9.5 Research Before Writing
9.6 Assessing the Competition
9.7 Thinking Is an Integral Part of Writing
9.8 The Trend Toward Specialization
9.9 Managing the Research Librarian
10 Immersion
10.1 Access to the Inside
10.2 The Writer as the Interloper
10.3 Hanging In
10.4 Qood Immersion Writers Are Neither Seen nor Heard
10.5 Opening the Access Door
10.6 Qoing Through the Back Door
10.7 How Long Do Immersions Take?
11 Interviewing
11.1 The Art of Listening
11.2 Speaking in Scenes
11.3 Interviewing Paraphernalia
11.4 The Bumbling Approach to Reporting
11.5 Fact Checking
12 The Elusive Truth
12.1 Permission to Lie?
12.2 The Literal Accuracy of Quotations
12.3 Doctoring Quotations
12.4 Compression
12.5 Who Knows the Real Truth?
12.6 Who is the Final Arbiter?
13 In Conclusion
13.1 Following the Frame
13.2 Abolish Title-Mania
13.3 Be Happy Your Reader Survived to the End
Appendix 1 A Sample Book Proposal
Appendix 2 On the Road to an M.F.A.
Appendix 3 Writers Colonies and Conferences
Appendix 4 Helpful Information
Reference Books and Organizations Creative Nonfiction Writers Should Know About
Reading List
Creative Nonfiction Reading List: A Random Recommended Selection of Books and Authors to Sample and Enjoy, from the Editors of the Journal Creative Nonfiction
Anthologies
Appendix 5 Readings
The Incident by Lee Gutkind
Teeth by Lee Qutkind
A Qarden in Winter by Jeanne Marie Laskas
Thou Shalt Not Kill by Margaret Gibson
I Give Up Smiling by Donald Morrill
Introduction
Writing for the Reader
This book, The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality , will introduce the genre of creative nonfiction and explain it with meticulousness-from idea through structure and development to finished product
The organization of The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality respects the order shown in the name of the genre. Part I confronts creative matters: It presents the anatomy of the essay by breaking down the essay, article, and book into their vital components and analyzing the creative structure so that readers understand how to design and build a provocative creative nonfiction effort.
Part II is the nonfiction part, dealing with a writer s search for a salable subject for books, articles, and essays, and the unique challenge of gathering and communicating information from a personal point of view and the intimate process writers often call immersion.
Among other things in this book, you will learn a great deal about the writing life. You will see how long it takes to write a book, essay, or article, how hard a writer must work, how diligently he or she must research, read, and fact check-and the skill involved in revealing a subject with qualities that contain universal appeal, because the true test of a creative nonfiction writer is to attract and capture readers who do not have a built-in fascination or connection to a subject or narrator.
One of the most memorable compliments I ever received through an eight-book, 25-year career as an author, essayist, teacher, and editor is from a woman who began idly leafing through her husband s copy of my book about National League baseball umpires called The Best Seat in Baseball, But You Have to Stand:
I have always hated baseball. It s a boring game. When my husband and son are watching it on TV, I leave the house. But I realized, as I looked through your book, that these were real people with unique problems-not just baseball fanatics-you were writing about. I sat down and read the book cover to cover in two nights.
This is the basic objective of creative nonfiction: Capturing and describing a subject so that the most resistant reader will be interested in learning more about it. The writer establishes a certain humanistic expertise, becoming a reader s filter so that the reader will gain intellectual substance (about baseball, politics, science, or any other subject) while focusing on the drama and intensity of ordinary people living unusual, stressful, and compelling lives.
Part 1
The Creative Part
1
For Writers, Thinkers, Silent Observers (and Other People with Stories to Tell)
1.1 Crossing Genres
Today there are just as many poets, playwrights, and fiction writers writing creative nonfiction as there are journalists-perhaps more.
Novelists John Updike and Louise Erdrich, poets Diane Ackerman and Adrienne Rich have recently published collections of essays and memoirs, a very popular form of creative nonfiction. Essays by poets, novelists, and playwrights are appearing with increasing frequency not only in literary journals, but also in popular magazines and newspapers. Says poet Donald Morrill, All the years I have been working on poetry (learning metaphorical structures, rhythm, imagery) have made me a better prose writer.
1.2 Thinkers and Scholars -Reaching Out from Academia
Creative nonfiction demands spontaneity and an imaginative approach, while remaining true to the validity and integrity of the information it contains. That is why the creative nonfiction form is so appealing to people with new ideas or fresh interpretations of accepted concepts in history, science, or the arts; people with an intellectual curiosity about the world around us or a fresh viewpoint or approach to staid and seemingly inaccessible disciplines.
For example: the Harvard University anthropologist Stephen Jay Gould, whose essays often explain principles of evolution and geology through discussions of the origin of baseball or cable car rides in San Francisco. Or Lewis Thomas or Oliver Sacks, whose perspectives on science in general and neurology in particular have provided a general reading audience with special insight.
Biographies are often considered to be works of creative nonfiction. David McCullough, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, has written accurately and creatively about Harry Truman, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Brooklyn Bridge. An increasing number of historians, including Simon Schama (The Landscapes of My Life), are creative nonfiction writ