Extended metaphors in prose resonate with the reader, even if she isn't sure what it is the author has done to trigger that resonance. In Part One of this series I explained that making use of a recurring metaphor advances both plot and character development. We looked at how to identify a key theme that needs …
Continue reading Using Extended Metaphors in Your Writing — Part Two
So it's starting to become real. Committed: A Memoir of the Artist's Road is now available for pre-order. Even better, my publisher is offering a 10% discount to Artist's Road readers; they just need to enter the promo code PREORDER2014 at checkout. You'll be shipped the book on the day of the "soft-launch" publication, October …
Continue reading Road to Publication: Committed Now Available for Pre-Order (at Discount!)
It is the height of hubris to edit an award-winning creative nonfiction author who also happens to be your mentor. But I decided the brilliant proposed title of Sue William Silverman's guest post--"E Pluribus Unum: Out of Many (essays) One (book)"--wouldn't translate well in a tweet. So I've imposed a more utilitarian title on this …
Continue reading How One Author Combined Personal Essays Into a Coherent Memoir
Readers are embracing creative nonfiction like never before, even if they may not know that what they are reading is defined as such. That is forgivable, as writers, editors and instructors in the creative nonfiction space are still struggling with defining creative nonfiction, or CNF. Perhaps more accurately, they are struggling to define its boundaries …
Continue reading Rebecca Skloot on Producing Creative Nonfiction
MONTPELIER, VT: "In a creative writing project, voice is everything." So said Sue William Silverman at a lecture here at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing summer residency. Sue, an accomplished memoirist and longtime VCFA instructor, was joined in the lecture--titled "Containing Multitudes: Shifting Voices in Fiction and Creative Nonfiction"--by fellow VCFA …
Continue reading MFA Nugget: Finding Your Creative Writing Voice(s)
No matter what type of creative writing you pursue--fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry--a compelling scene can deepen the reader's immersion in your words. In two weeks I'll be giving a lecture at my final Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing residency titled Imagining History: Creating True Scenes You've Never Seen. I've provided a teaser of …
Continue reading Imagining History, or Creating True Scenes You’ve Never Seen
His story is simultaneously inspiring and horrifying. After ten years in the rat-race of London, James Rhodes returned to his true passion, the piano. He dedicated himself to achieving the mastery he had dreamed of as a youth. And now, after years of dedication and hard work, James is a concert pianist. In his essay …
"Did that really happen?" It's a question every memoirist and personal essayist faces. Ideally the writer will answer "Yes." It gets awkward when you have to say, "Yes, but..." In the October 2005 debut episode of his influential TV show, Stephen Colbert gave the world the word truthiness. He said truthiness is when you're talking …
Continue reading Avoiding ‘Truthiness’ When Writing Your Life
I'm grateful to The Washington Post for publishing on Saturday my letter to the editor. My beef was with the paper's nonfiction book reviews. With novels, the reviewers break down both the story and the writing. But far too often, for nonfiction books The Post recruits an expert in the field, who then critiques the …
Continue reading What Leads You to Choose the Next Book You’ll Read?
MONTPELIER, VERMONT -- Do you write with your eyes or with your ears? I write with my fingers--it's a lot easier to type or grip a pen--but sarcasm aside, I learned a good insight on creative writing in my workshop here at my MFA in Writing residency at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. It …
Continue reading MFA Nugget: Are You an ‘Ear’ or an ‘Eye’ Writer?
The Artist's Road 