Writers Tricks of the Trade January-February 2015

PRESS “CONTROL” THEN CLICK BUY TO PURCHASE THE BOOK WHAT IN THE WORLD IS “CREATIVE NON-FICTION” EXAMPLES OF CREATIVE NONFICTION BOOKS Morgan St. James Many people are a bit flummoxed when they hear this and want to know “what in the world is creative nonfiction?” Well, the genre of creative nonfiction is enjoying a renaissance of sorts these days. I’ve even written one myself—a book entitled Confessions of a Cougar. The title should give you a pretty good idea of what it's about, so we won’t go there today, but it is a very “interesting” read. WHAT TYPE OF BOOKS QUALIFY AS CREATIVE NON-FICTION? The range is wide. There is fertile ground for creative non-fiction because so many out-of-the-ordinary things happen in real life. It can be anything from life as a spy for Churchill to the child of a parent who was one of America’s Most Wanted to a romantic romp. Maybe this genre is enjoying resurgence because reports of crisis or bizarre experiences spew from every newscast, tabloid, radio talk show and more. Reality shows demonstrate the degree of humiliation or challenge a human being is willing to endure for money and publicity. Some stories are fascinating, some make the heart go atwitter, and some cause revulsion. Defining creative nonfiction as “not fiction” is almost like calling classical music “non-rock.” BUY IT ACTUALLY STARTED CENTURIES AGO Back in the days of yore, literature was mostly non-fiction—it just wasn’t called that. Books recounted actual events in a storytelling style. Myths were basically the fiction of the day. It is natural for people to tell stories about events in their life, and that said, I must be the poster child for over-the-top stories. If anything, I almost have too many of my own stories. Sometimes I have to heed a mental “T-Sign” and slow it down, so for the most part they turn up as scenes in my fiction books or as short stories. BUY EXAMPLE OF A CREATIVE NON-FICTION STORY One of the award-wining stories in The MAFIA FUNERAL and Other Short Stories collection is The Second Time Around—a hilarious, over-the-top story about a woman who remarried her first husband thirty-six years after getting divorced. When Husband #4 died at the race track with a winning ticket in his hand, she decided to find Husband #1, the dashing tango dancer of her youthful memories. Although he turned out to be an aging, potbellied little man with a sprinkling of thin gray hair across his pate and a Desi Arnaz accent, to her he was Antionio Banderas. Who was the woman? My former mother-in-law. It’s a great story and a terrific example of creative non-fiction. 95% of it is true. Cont’d… WRITERS TRICKS OF THE TRADE Page 27 BUY JAN-FEB 2015

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