FANTASTIC. Thank you for this delightful, thoughtful, well-crafted peek into the similarities between F and NF writing.
The Things They Carried is one of the best fictionalized autobiographies I've read. I owned it for 10 years before I finally read it - in one day - last year.
This line you wrote - "They were not happy with who they were and so they blamed it on where they were" - reminds me of a book I'm reading now, The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick. Her meta-storytelling (hopefully that's a word. I mean it as telling a story about a story) mirrors what you did here, in this essay. I've thought about her concept of a writer's persona, how the inner work we do to change ourselves really can mature our creative work, and vice versa.
I grew up in northern Indiana, a conservative mid-sized city. As a child, I imagined (planned) becoming a fiction author of middle grade series books. But I abandoned that dream in favor of a more secure (?) career as a high school counselor.
Which lasted one year.
I never believed I could revisit the idea of becoming an author, but after Sarah's birth, writing helped me clarify and understand what i was feeling was grief. I discovered that raw, gripping truth-telling in NF essays became a means by which I could stretch and challenge myself to grow (I only write about what I myself need to learn, or am learning). NF writing keeps me accountable to live by what I write. If it's published, it's public, and I try to maintain a level of integrity that honors my writing as a testament of who I've been and who I'm becoming.
"The personal essay lives in the light of our human weaknesses, the fears we wear around like a second skin, the dreams and desires we’re too afraid to describe to anyone because then they might come true."
Such a gorgeous quote. I imagine so many of us reading this essay can relate to the difficulty inherent in exposing ourselves, even in truly seeing ourselves in order to create an honest representation. Fiction or non-fiction.
Grateful to have been with you for part of this writing journey.
Realizing the fictions you were telling yourself by writing nonfiction. Bravo!
Paul,
FANTASTIC. Thank you for this delightful, thoughtful, well-crafted peek into the similarities between F and NF writing.
The Things They Carried is one of the best fictionalized autobiographies I've read. I owned it for 10 years before I finally read it - in one day - last year.
This line you wrote - "They were not happy with who they were and so they blamed it on where they were" - reminds me of a book I'm reading now, The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick. Her meta-storytelling (hopefully that's a word. I mean it as telling a story about a story) mirrors what you did here, in this essay. I've thought about her concept of a writer's persona, how the inner work we do to change ourselves really can mature our creative work, and vice versa.
I grew up in northern Indiana, a conservative mid-sized city. As a child, I imagined (planned) becoming a fiction author of middle grade series books. But I abandoned that dream in favor of a more secure (?) career as a high school counselor.
Which lasted one year.
I never believed I could revisit the idea of becoming an author, but after Sarah's birth, writing helped me clarify and understand what i was feeling was grief. I discovered that raw, gripping truth-telling in NF essays became a means by which I could stretch and challenge myself to grow (I only write about what I myself need to learn, or am learning). NF writing keeps me accountable to live by what I write. If it's published, it's public, and I try to maintain a level of integrity that honors my writing as a testament of who I've been and who I'm becoming.
"The personal essay lives in the light of our human weaknesses, the fears we wear around like a second skin, the dreams and desires we’re too afraid to describe to anyone because then they might come true."
Such a gorgeous quote. I imagine so many of us reading this essay can relate to the difficulty inherent in exposing ourselves, even in truly seeing ourselves in order to create an honest representation. Fiction or non-fiction.