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Mary Rosenblum
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Hello all.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Welcome to our Friday After
Hours Forum.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I hope you've all had a good
week. And the new issue of the new and improved weekly newsletter is out.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I have a nice new paying
market in it, courtesy of speck, thank you very much.
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Mary Rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum , your web editor and we're talking about personal
narrative. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in
November) , more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any
questions you have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on
the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular
'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into
the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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Mary Rosenblum
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I wanted to talk about
personal narrative tonight, because it's a form that works for a lot of
writers, even if you essentially prefer fiction.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It falls into the nonfiction
market, so you have more options than you do with fiction.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Essentially, personal
narrative or creative nonfiction as it is also called
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Mary Rosenblum
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is simply a true story told
with fictional technique.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It often blurs into
humor...Patrick McManus's hunting stories are an example of that.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It doesn't have to be a story
that happened to you. It can be a story about someone you met or know.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Generally, it is told in
narrative form. You, the author ARE telling a story.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So the key to writing saleable
personal narrative is understanding the strengths of narrative and how to
use them.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The difference between selling
personal narrative and non-selling personal narrative is the difference
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Mary Rosenblum
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between a home movie of your
son's birthday party and a well made documentary about kids.
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Mary Rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum , your web editor and we're talking about personal
narrative. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in
November) , more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any
questions you have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on
the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular
'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into
the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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Mary Rosenblum
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What I mean by that, is that
good personal narrative includes some kind of universal...a point that the
author makes, even if it subtle.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So a diversity of readers come
away with a sense that what happened to you, or the person you're talking
about, relates to them.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I recommend, for further
reading, 'Creative Nonfiction' by Philip Gerard
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Mary Rosenblum
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published by Story Press
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Mary Rosenblum
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ISBN 1-884910-43-2
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Mary Rosenblum
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His enthusiasm alone should
get you writing personal narrative! And he does a very nice job
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Mary Rosenblum
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of covering all the aspects of
the craft.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's useful even if you simply
plan on writing nonfiction pieces, not necessarily personal narratives.
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Mary Rosenblum
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He has a nice section on Art
of the Interview, and another on Law and Ethics.
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Mary Rosenblum
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One question that always comes
up from the students I point toward personal narrative is 'where do I sell
it?'
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Mary Rosenblum
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While you don't find a lot of
magazines that feature ONLY personal narratives (I actually can't think of
any, offhand)
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Mary Rosenblum
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what you have to realize is
any magazine that is related at all to your narrative's topic is a
potential market.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Bailey White, who is now a
very well respected (and best selling) author of personal narrative
published
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Mary Rosenblum
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her early narratives about her
wacky family and their gardening in gardening magazines.
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Mary Rosenblum
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As she gained name recognition
and fame, she ended up in the big glossies like Atlantic.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So if you write a charmping
narrative about your kid's first days at school, try the parenting
magazines with it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If it's a harrowing and
hilarious tale about your first camp out with your cubscout troup, it might
go with parent magazines, or outdoor magazines, or even hunting
magazines...
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Mary Rosenblum
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depending on what it was about
and the tone.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Editors are usually very happy
to read personal narratives and generally, as with fiction, you can send in
the entire piece rather than a query.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Like fiction, it's not the
topic that matters, it's how the author writes that matters.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So it saves you from dealing
with query letters.
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Mary Rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum , your web editor and we're talking about personal
narrative. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in
November) , more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any
questions you have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on
the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular
'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into
the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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Mary Rosenblum
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But the most important thing
to remember is that 'real' is not enough.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Just because it really
happened doesn't mean you're going to engage readers with it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Just as with fiction, you need
to hook the reader and use all the fictional arts of strong 'show, don't
tell', good dialogue, and a brisk pace, as well
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Mary Rosenblum
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as dramatic arc to make the
story irresistable.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If it plods along, if you tell
us about events we just can't visualize, the editor will say no thanks.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And if you read the successful
personal narrative writers you'll realize that whether they write in a
light tone or more seriously, their voice stands out.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It is strong, unique, it
sounds like a person. They reveal their own character as they describe
events that happen.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Even if they're telling a
story that happened to another person, they are still clearly a character,
not just a droning voiceover.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The biggest weakness I see in students
first trying personal narrative is a bland and featureless narrative voice.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I have several favorite
narrative writers and I can recognize their voices if I happen to hear
someone reading from their work, without having to look at the cover to see
who wrote it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That is how distinct your
voice needs to be.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You've all had the experience,
I'm sure, of listening to a professional or just really good storytelling,
telling a story.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And I'm sure you've all had
the experience of listing to someone drone on and on at some function where
you couldn't gracefully escape.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You want to be the
storyteller, not the drone. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you're telling stories
about things that have happened to you, that voice needs to be especially
strong.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you're doing something that
is more biographical...writing about another person...it won't need to be
as personally characterized, but it still needs to be a strong and unique
voice.
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charie'
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What if your story has graphic
details (i.e. car accident/injury)? Do you tone them down depending on
where you submit them?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Absolutely, Charie.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Always think of your
readership.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you're writing for a
children's magazine, for example, you're going to describe that car
accident or injury differently than if
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Mary Rosenblum
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you're, say, writing for a
hunting magazine.
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charie'
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How do you keep up the drama
without the "tragic" details?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Oh, gosh, you can create
stronger suspense with just a glimpse or a hint than if you describe the
blood and gore in detail Charie.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You might look at the scene
and look away and give the reader your reaction...your lunch tries to climb
into your throat...something like that.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Believe me, it's like the
monster under the bed...what we cannot see is MUCH scarier than what we can
see!
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charie'
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Sort of like Hitchcock implying
the horror off screen?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Exactly.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And actually, in general, the
horrific scene you do NOT describe will have more power than the one where
you detail every last bit of gore.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Readers desensitize VERY
quickly, and they can generally imagine something worse than you'll
describe.
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charie'
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I guess the reader fills in
their own "version" of the accident from their personal
experience.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Mostly they fill in that blank
with the thing they think is the 'worst case'.
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Mary Rosenblum
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HP Lovecraft, who writes some
of the scariest stuff out there in terms of sheer look over your shoulder
and shiver creepiness never describes his monsters.
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Mary Rosenblum
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To this day I can't read him
in a spooky setting without giving myself a case of the willies.
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charie'
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Then the important part of your
narrative would be the build up or results of the accident.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Here, it is your reaction,
charie. That is what cues the reader as to how awful this is...YOU create
the dramatic impact with what you say.
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Mary Rosenblum
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This ties into featherpen's
question:
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featherpen
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how do you pull the reader into
the story? Make him care?
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Mary Rosenblum
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You do that in a couple of
ways, feather.
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Mary Rosenblum
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if you're writing about a real
person not yourself, you create that real person the same way you'd create
a made up character for the reader.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You reveal that person's
character so that readers care about him/her. Then what happens to that
person matters.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you're writing about
yourself...personal narrative...then you create YOURSELF as a real
character through your vocabulary...
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Mary Rosenblum
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how you speak about things, so
that the readers begin to identify with you. You become a friend and they
care about you.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Your reaction elicts their
reaction to events.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's the same thing as writing
first person POV fiction, only you know the character quite well...it is
you. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
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And that is where new personal
narrative writers tend to falter. You know yourself too well, so you don't
bother to 'create' yourself for the reader
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Mary Rosenblum
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but 'you' don't necessarily
translate well onto the page without some intentional craft.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now some writers have a very
strong, natural narrative voice. Jay Lake, a fellow spec fiction writer, is a natural first
person writer.
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Mary Rosenblum
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He does personal narrative
like falling off a log. But he's kind of the exception.
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Mary Rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum , your web editor and we're talking about personal
narrative. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in
November) , more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any
questions you have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on
the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular
'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into
the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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foxx
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How much can you embelish the
truth??
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Mary Rosenblum
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Well, that has recently come
into question, foxx, with the recent scandals about reporters who 'made up'
interviews, and memoirs recounting events that never happened.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Essentially, if it happened,
you can tweak it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But making up a person or
making up a 'composite person' say, from several real people, is over the
line.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Making up an event that didn't
happen but could have is over the line.
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Mary Rosenblum
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None of this is cast in stone
or a law, but that's the standard these days.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It was pretty loosely adhered
to, but memoir and personal narratives that hit the 'big time' are getting
closer scrutiny these days.
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Mary Rosenblum
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An example would be the
memorable Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Just as your family members
won't agree on who said what exactly, you aren't expected to get it
verbatim perfect either.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But if Aunt Sally wasn't
present, don't add her!
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foxx
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Many of my experiences are one liners.
They need to bulk up some how
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Mary Rosenblum
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Well, you apply the same
techniques you do to fiction. You show. You don't tell. If your one liner
is...I was out for a walk with my son and a black bear chased us up a
tree...
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Mary Rosenblum
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that's a great personal
narrative waiting to happen. You describe the walk, your reactions as that
bear shoved her head out of the blueberry brush, her snort
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Mary Rosenblum
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your son's reaction, what you
thought, what you said, what you both did.
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charie'
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What if your "truth"
is stranger than fiction? Is there a way to ground it in reality so that it
doesn't sound made up?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Well, you can just tell the
reader, 'truth is stranger than fiction and I know this for a fact because..'
and go from there.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Truth IS stranger than
fiction, but a personal narrative doesn't pretend to be anything but truth.
You may not be able to use that truth
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Mary Rosenblum
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in a fictional story, since
readers might not believe it could really happen
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Mary Rosenblum
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but in personal narrative,
you're telling the readers up front that it DID happen.
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lavinia
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Do memoirs have to be grizzly
and full of outrageous acts?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Oh, not at all, lavinia.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Many of Bailey White's
narratives are about weeding the garden and chatting over the fence with
her nutty neighbor or shopping or making a 'friendship box' for
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Mary Rosenblum
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a sister school with her grade
school class.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Very 'boring' stuff, only
they're not boring.
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Mary Rosenblum
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She populates them with her
own comments and vivid and interesting characters and they come to life.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's not what you write it's
how you write it that matters.
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builder guy
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It feels natural for me to write
personal narritive, could I use this style for writing articles also??
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Mary Rosenblum
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Absolutly, builder. I agree,
you do have a strong narrative voice.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you're writing about
someone else, say after an interview, you might want to put less of
yourself in the piece.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you're writing about do it
yourself roofing and pointing out some of the problems in a light manner,
you could make it very personal.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Depends on what you're writing
for whom. A how to article is generally not written in a 'creative fiction'
style, for example.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But you might write a personal
narrative about the first time you shingled a 12 in 12 slope roof and
nearly broke your neck and it's very funny, and it might sell to the
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Mary Rosenblum
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same builders mag that would
want a very dry and technical how to piece.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The more flexible your
'voice', your writing style is, the more markets you can cover in
nonfiction.
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Mary Rosenblum
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While creative nonfiction,
personal narrative is a bit harder to sell then regular nonfiction, it is
still much easier to sell than fiction.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I just heard back today from
one of my students. I had her send her assignment three to Dog and Kennel
and sure enough, they took it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It was a personal narrative
about completing the Canine Good Citizen test with her rescue dog.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Remember. It's just like
fiction.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Start with a strong hook. Don't
begin with a lot of backstory about who you are and why all this happened.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Use vivid details so that your
reader sees what's going on and doesn't have to listen with his/her eyes
closed.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Bring it to a dramatic high
point, even if that's just your five year old blowing out the candles on
his cake.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Keep the writing tight, use
strong verbs, avoid passive voice and the 'to be' verbs...all the basic
'rules' for good fiction writing.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And work on your voice.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Let the reader get a sense of
how you feel about things as they happen.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Don't simply describe the
actions going on around you. That is one of the most common mistakes I see.
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Mary Rosenblum
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We need to see the actions but
we need to know what you, the narrator, think/feel about 'em. We need your
reaction.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Remember...something as simple
as successfully passing a test with your dog can be publishable. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
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No heroism or catastrophe
needed.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's what it means to YOU and
thus to the reader.
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Mary Rosenblum
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In that particular example,
her universal was the success of tackling a tough task (an untrained rescue
dog) and succeeding in the face of what seemed tough odds.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Any last questions before we
close here tonight?
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you go to Writing Craft:
Article Index on the LR website, you'll find Creative Nonfiction on the
topic list
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Mary Rosenblum
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and if you click on it, you'll
find the articles on this that are posted on the website.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Do join us Sunday for our
casual chat.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's my favorite time of the
week here.
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Mary Rosenblum
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We usually get a good crowd
and the conversation is fun.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And give that personal
narrative a try. It's a great way to gain a few clips.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Good night all!
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Mary Rosenblum
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See you Sunday.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'll post the transcript in
the usual place.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Writing Craft: Forum
Transcripts
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Mary Rosenblum
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Have a great weekend, all.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Happy Friday the 13th, too!
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