Gerard - Creative nonfiction: researching and crafting stories of real life

FACULTY PRAISE FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION Philip Gerard is the best kind of writing coach-he doesn't ask students to do anything he hasn't done. And when it comes to writing, he's done it all. In Creative Nonfiction he takes students through each step in the writing process, from initial concept to a polished, publishable piece. He arms writers with all the tools necessary for getting the facts and telling a good story. His book is the first one to demystify this "hot" new genre. -Catherine Houser University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth Creative Nonfiction presents a practical balance of fictional and journalistic techniques, approaches to style and subject, and discussion of professional ethics.

As a textbook, it's that rarity teachers hope for: concise, while managing an engagingly informal style. It's a confidence builder for students or novices at the form and a handy reference and review for the working writer. -Art Homer University of Nebraska-Omaha I can speak of Creative Nonfiction only in superlatives. It is by far the best text I've ever used for any class. Specific, human, clear, it illustrates on every page the principles Gerard articulates. I'm impressed, even moved, by its profound moral core.

How he enunciates such clear and sincere concern for ethics without sounding in the least preachy is in itself a minor miracle. -Sally Buckner Peace College Philip Gerard takes writers on a lively journey through the newest frontier in creative writing. Combining practical advice with real-life stories, journalistic truth with creative art, this important book conveys both the theory and practice of creative nonfiction. -Diane Dreher Santa Clara University Creative Nonfiction is highly practical. It gives students a real sense of what it would be like to try to earn a living as a nonfiction writer. Gerard draws on an astonishing breadth of experience, from his own work and from the wide variety of writers he's interviewed for the book.

His suggestions about short radio commentaries have opened up a new genre for my students. -Virginia A. Chappell Marquette University This is a wonderful book for classroom use. It is practical and it is passionate. Students learn the basics of good writing and receive an infusion of inspiration. -Paul Wilkes University of North Carolina-Wilmington Creative Nonfiction is an indispensable tool for anyone who wants to learn the craft of writing nonfiction.

Philip Gerard utilizes real-life practical advice in every chapter with creative craftmanship. Students and professionals alike will find treasures within these pages. -Jade Quang Huynh Appalachian State University Philip Gerard does an excellent job of combining personal narrative and experience with solid instructional techniques for writing creative nonfiction. It's the best text on the subject I have found in thirty years. -Michael K Simmons Penn State-Erie, The Behrend College Philip Gerard combines the practical help that writers need with a clear, elegant writing style. That is enough to make it a valuable book.

But he also gives us nuggets you'll want to file away and bring out every time you sit down to write. Creative Nonfiction is a keeper. -Janet G. House Idaho State University Creative Nonfiction covers the technical basics well, but it does far more, addressing issues of integrity, vision, and depth-suggesting the true pathways to significance in the genre. Gerard's wide-ranging citations, examples, and interviews provide the kind of "cultural literacy" students typically need. -Rod Kessler Salem State College Creative Nonfiction is a handbook with a soul.

It's a living thing, a guide. Students respond to the author's personal touch. This book contains everything a teacher wants to tell students, if only there were time. -Catherine Rankovic Washington University in St. Louis Nothing gimmicky or glib here. Gerard actually tells you what this slippery genre is-or should be.

Furthermore, he tells you not only what you need to do but also how you need to think if you're going to write something first-rate. -Leslie Lawrence Radcliffe College CREATIVE NONFICTION Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life Philip Gerard University of North CaroLina at Wilmington WAVElAND PRESS, INC. Long Grove, Dlinois For information about this book, contact: Waveland Press, Inc. 4180 IL Route 83, Suite 101 Long Grove, IL 60047-9580 (847) 634-0081 info@waveland.com www.waveland.com Copyright 1996 by Philip Gerard Reissued 2004 by Waveland Press, Inc. lO-digit ISBN 1-57766-339-X 13-digit ISBN 978-1-57766-339-3 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America for Tom Mikolyzk, who is true blue. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author gratefully acknowledges the following writers, editors, interpreters, translators, producers and organizations for their assistance in preparing this book: Bill Atwill, David Haward Bain, Lisa Bain, Jerry Bledsoe, David Bristol, Dr. Robert H. Byington, Kevin Canty, Nancy Colbert, Stanley Colbert, Ted Conover, Lawrence Criner, Jan DeBlieu, Annie Dillard, Lee Gutkind, Katherine Hatton, Robert Houston, William Howarth, Pam Hurley, Kathleen Ann Johnson, Judy Logan, Paul Mariani, Anne Matthews, William Matthews, Thomas A. Mikolyzk, David Nasaw, Michael Pearson, Daniel Pinkwater, Jim Polson, Ron Powers, Bob Reiss, Michael Rozek, Norman Sims, Margaret Low Smith, Terry Tempest Williams The Associated Writing Programs The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference The World & I, National Public Radio The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Special thanks to Lois Rosenthal and Jack Heffron for their sound advice and imagination, and to Robin Hemley and Jim Trupin. The author is grateful to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington for a research reassignment that helped to make this book possible.

CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE What Is Creative Nonfiction Anyhow? 1 CHAPTER TWO Finding an Original Subject 13 CHAPTER THREE Researching 31 CHAPTER FOUR The Art of the Interview 53 CHAPTER FIVE On Assignment 76 CHAPTER SIX What Form Will It Take? 89 CHAPTER SEVEN Telling a True Story 112 CHAPTER EIGHT Putting Yourself on the Line 136 CHAPTER NINE Mystery and Structure, Style and Attitude 155 CHAPTER TEN Revising-With and Without an Editor 179 CHAPTER ELEVEN Law and Ethics 193 BIBLIOGRAPHY A Selected Reading List for Writers 209 Index 213 A NOTE ON SOURCES ... In preparing this manuscript, I interviewed many writers and editors, some of them famous, some not, all of them passionate and working. I also attended panel discussions at writers' conferences, sometimes including people I also interviewed directly. Because of the awkwardness of continually having to explain the context of a spoken comment, usually I have chosen not to do so. Whenever a writer or editor is quoted without other citation, his or her words were spoken out loud. If I am quoting from a book or other published or unpublished written source, I have so indicated.

In certain passages, I have made points about the working process of certain writers in specific books, essays or articles. I have tried to limit my suppositions to those that can be reasonably inferred from the finished piece-what the writer actually wrote. Where such insight was provided by direct interview, I have so indicated. P.G. CHAPTER ONE VVHA T IS CREATIVE NONFICTION ANYHOVV? IWriters' Conference in Vermont, when Bob Reiss approached the t was late lectern of afternoon, the Little the day Theatre before to give the the close final of the reading Bread of an Loaf elevenday marathon of readings. A warm, breezy day, with just a hint of fall in the lengthening mountain shadows.