Tonya Blythe Beaty SWP Summer Scholar

 Other names: creative nonfiction, factual fiction, documentary narrative, and even the literature of actuality.  Recognizes both the natural power of the real and the deep quality of the literary.  Invites the writer to narrate facts and to search for truth.  Blends the practical eye of the reporter with the techniques of fiction used by the novelist.

 Literary nonfiction takes shape in many forms: memoir, personal essay, biography, nature writing, travel writing, science writing, interviews, and even the true crime novel.  Writers in the genre attempt to write about everything from bird watching to prison riots, from 8th grade ELA classes to earthquakes, from sky diving to the right amount of bran to include in your diet.

 1. Research thoroughly.  2. Cultivate relationships with your subjects over a period of time to create trust, absorb information, note change, and know individuals so you can describe their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes correctly.  3. Never invent or change facts or events.  4. Aim for a clear style with rhythm, "texture," color, and a dramatic pace.  5. Write for real people to enrich their lives.  6. Write about real events and people to make them come alive and record them.  7. "Have faith in the value and importance of human beings and human events...“ (from Barbara Lounsberry, The Literature of Reality, G. Talese & B. Lounsberry, eds. HarperCollins, 1996, p. 30)

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 The Year of Magical Thinking~ Joan Didion  Boy with the Loaded Gun~ Lewis Nordan  I Remember Nothing~ Nora Ephron

All you have to do is:  tell a story (entertain the readers)  present factual information (expand the readers' knowledge of the subject)  share your passion for the topic The trick is to balance these three elements to make the text work for the readers.Too much or not enough of either one can weaken the piece. You can do it. Good luck. I believe in you!