THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction

 

Other Resources

Here are various resources we hope will be helpful you as writers of nonfiction, including interviews with some of the authors you'll find in The Truth of the Matter and craft essays from the journal BREVITY.

If you think of features you would like to see added, please use the e-mail link on the main page to let us know.

 


 

Interviews with Authors featured in The Truth of the Matter


Laurie Drummond, "Alive"

Lori Jakiela, "You'll Love the Way We Fly"

Patricia McNair, "Drink It"

Sonja Livingston, "Thumb-sucking Girl"

Lee Martin, "Dumber Than"

Philip Gerard, "What They Don't Tell You About Hurricanes"

Mimi Schwartz, "Memoir? Fiction? Where's the Line?"


 

Craft Essays: More on the Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction

 

FRELECTION: The Transformative Power of Reflection in Nonfiction By Rebecca McClanahan
In discussions about writing, we usually speak of reflection in rhetorical terms, as a mode of thought or a tone of voice. But what interests me more is the notion of reflection as a turning, convoluting, sometimes distorting but always transforming power.


On the “Speedy Narrative”
By Jeff Gundy
The main risk of summary is that it can go dull through too much abstraction and generalization. Inversely, a main risk of scene is that it can go dull through too many specifics and get bogged down in too many non-essential details. The speedy narrative, then, may be a way of navigating between those risks by constantly pushing against them on both sides.


Copyediting. Vital. Do It or Have It Done. By Diana Hume George
Maybe most apprentice writers don’t think that copyediting and proofreading manuscripts are issues of craft, but if they don’t, they’re wrong. These are the most basic craft matters in the book, in any book. Professional writing must be 100% clean. It must be free of errors in punctuation, usage, mechanics, and spelling. No typos. Period.


 

Suggestions for Further Reading on Creative Nonfiction

 


Links to Nonfiction Journals