Tell a Real Story

Creative Nonfiction

By Mary Rosenblum

 

 

            Creative nonfiction.  You’ve probably heard the word…or paid attention to the news stories of famous writers whose ‘memoirs’ turned out to be bogus, getting them into serious hot water?  So what is it, why should you write it, and where do you sell it? 

            Creative nonfiction is the art of crafting  real events into a story.  You take that family story of the day Granny faced down the cougar with Grandpa’s old shotgun and you tell it in an entertaining and humorous fashion, using the techniques you’d use to tell a good fiction story, including dramatic arc, vivid description, and strong characterization.  Your readers are engaged, they are entertained.  Granny will linger on in their memories as a tough old gal with spunk.  And best of all…they will know that the story was real.  Granny exists.  It really happened. 

 

A Hunger For the Real

            Currently, we’re seeing a rising interest in creative nonfiction.  Whether it’s the memoir of a celebrity or the humor of a writer regaling us with her sister in law’s ‘tomato war’ with the man next door, nonfiction narratives show up in magazines about gardening, hunting, fishing, home decorating, and pets.  The fact that this story really happened seems to add a layer of value to the entertaining piece.  It’s not made up.  It’s not a lie.  It’s fun to read, but  it really happened. 

 

It Really Did Happen

          And of course, that’s the hard part of this genre.  You cannot make it up.  It must have happened.  That means that you, the author, must take events and facts and you must use your fiction writing skills to make those events and facts entertaining.  You must put them together in the form of a dramatic arc, something that will have meaning to the reader, will make those readers laugh, or sigh, or think.  But you cannot make them up.  You can describe Granny facing down that cougar, and while you can embroider the details of setting and even her exact words, a real Granny has to have faced down a real cougar sometime in the past.  You cannot use a compilation of several tough old ladies you have known to ‘create’ Granny, and you cannot ‘create’ that cougar encounter from various encounters with dogs, surly neighbors, or other threats.  This is where some writers have gotten into trouble lately.  They didn’t merely embroider events in order to make them more interesting.  They created those events.  That make them fiction. 

 

Getting Started

            So how do you get started?  Well, let’s cast about for some interesting event.  Let’s see.  A neighbor, a very proper old lady with an elegant garden, had a problem with the kid next door, who sometimes sneaked into her garden.  When he batted a baseball through her window, she made him weed for her all summer to pay for it.  Pretty mundane, huh?  But in fact, that kid was you, the author, and you remained friends with her for years.  This would make a great piece. 

 

Visualize the High Point

            Visualize the high point.  What’s the natural dramatic arc here?  Where is the high point?  It could be when our kid bats the ball through the window…that is certainly a dramatic peak.  But what are we saying here?  What is our point?  Isn’t it that in spite of a rocky start, our kid found connections with a woman many years his senior?  Friendship can break down the barriers of age, among others.  So the high point is really the moment when we realize they are friends.  That is the peak of the dramatic arc. 

            So now, the path of the story is clear.  We begin with the ball through the window, the angry neighbor, the POV’s fury that his summer will be spent weeding rather than playing ball.  He tells us about the bugs, the stern overseer who made him grub out every tiny weed in the huge garden, how much he hated slugs by the end of the rainy spring.  And then he goes on to tell readers about their moments together…they day they sneaked up on a robin nest to watch the tiny babies, the day they both played hooky and went down to the creek and she caught more fish than he did…   The story rises to the moment when our narrator’s servitude is done, they shake hands, and their friendship is suddenly real to both of them, and to us the readers. We might find out that our narrator stayed in touch until she died, but that’s the resolution. 

            What makes this story work for readers are the fictional techniques of vivid details, strong action, and excellent characterization.  But most importantly, it is real.   That is what matters most to readers .

 

Making It Happen

            You contain a vast archive of these cool stories…right there in your memory.  They may not seem exciting right now, but that’s because you haven’t applied your fiction writing tools to them yet.  Think about the incidents that come easily to mind.  Think of moments that might convey a strong message to your readers, about growing up, accepting responsibility, accepting another’s faults, perhaps.  Start with the high point.   What happened here?  What was learned?  How did a character change?  Turn those people from your past into real characters.  Use your characterization skills to reveal strong, compelling personalities.  Use strong verbs, vivid description to increase the dramatic value of the episode.  Bring your story to a dramatic peak.  It doesn’t have to be a life or death moment.  It might be nothing more than a young son realizing that his father was wrong and forgiving him for it.  But it is the high point of the story. 

 

Markets

            So where do you sell these gems?  Well, you can find publications both in paper and online that present these personal narratives exclusively.  But think about your topic.  What topical magazines might be interested?  Our narrative about the old woman and the kid might sell to a garden magazine as well as to a magazine read by seniors.  A narrative about that first hunting trip with Dad might sell to any of the hunting/outdoor magazines.  Go browse the bookstore magazine racks and see what connections you can find.  Check the guidelines.  Do they accept personal narrative or creative nonfiction?  You’re in!  Send it off!