[stylist] Creative nonfiction is not made-up material

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Linda,

We may have to agree to disagree . I have a degree in creative writing,
my emphasis in creative nonfiction, IE, the personal essay and memoir
writing. I may have very little knowledge and experience on most
subjects, but this is one area I'm well-versed in.

Memoir writing does not contain "lies." When writing any creative
nonfiction piece, one may use dialogue, which is yes, remembered to ones
best ability, but it's not a "lie." When in conversation with a friend,
you may talk about a conversation with another person. You won't be able
to relay that conversation verbatim, but you summarize. It's still the
truth. Look at it like this: when you summarize a book, you are not
reliving it moment by moment or line by line, but you are still
summarizing the truth. If I use dialogue in a piece of CNF, it will most
likely not be verbatim, but it' ssummarized, still true though.

Creative nonfiction also can use conjecture, but it is clear that a
writer is using conjecture. If I write what I believe your thoughts are
and do not state it's just my opinion, then I'm making something up with
the intention of it being understood it's in deed real. However, if I
state I'm conjecturing with language, then it's clear I'm only guessing.
Again, this is not a "lie," but me adding layers to a piece with
conjecture; plucking up puzzle pieces.

Using descriptive language only allows CNF writers to create a scene, to
provide sensory details. Again, you do this to the best of your memory,
but it's in no way a lie or fictitious. As long as the thoughts,
feelings and events are real, there's nothing fictitious about CNF even
if details such as location, setting and dialogue are written to the
writers best memory of them but not exact. If a painter paints a forest
they once visited but don't paint some trees exactly where they stand in
real-life, does this render the painting completely made-up and imagined
in the mind of the artist? I'd say no; and the same goes for CNF
writers.

You can also look at CNF this way: If you and I go to the same event at
the same time, we will most likely take away different memories. Does
this mean, just because I had a slightly different experience of the
event than you, or vice versus, that one of us is lying about our
experience? Of course not. In creative nonfiction, it's about the
experience, and how that experience can be relatable to others and
transcend into a universal.

So, I respectfully say that it's wrong to categorize CNF as
fictionalized accounts of real-life, or to say that "lies" are told in
CNF. The use of dialogue, descriptive language, metaphor and imagery,
conjecture, different POV's, etc., this does not render a piece of CNF
as fiction, and a CNF writer is not incorporating lies into their story.
We are using creative, literary techniques and devices to not only tell
about our real-life events, but to find a morsel of universal
understanding; to use our life and experiences creating a metaphor that
many can relate to, or creating a finely honed image others can take
something from.

Feelings and thoughts are very abstract things. To create this
abstraction with words often takes very creative means; it doesn't turn
the material into fiction. Annie Dillard's Eclipse is one of the most
famous personal essays studied in writing and literature programs. She
takes a very real moment from a specific time in her life but delves
into a spiritual plane. Because she uses her inner thoughts a lot, it
doesn't mean she's making things up; this would be saying thoughts and
feelings are not real.

Or when I tell you about a specific moment from my childhood, am I lying
about it if I don't remember exactly what happened, or quote verbatim
what people said? No. So why would it be considered made-up if I write
it?

Sorry, but like I said, I've studied CNF for years now, and sat at the
feet of some great CNF writers, and trust me, none of us like to be told
we are lying or making material up. Using creative means does not mean
we are not also providing facts, and there is a form of CNF called
literary journalism. Joan Didion has a lot of great literary journalism.
LJ also relies on creative techniques to "report facts."

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 18
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2012 18:07:29 -0500
From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Memoirs and autobiographies
Message-ID: <1DC0442900B54042B78AAF4F501F3A25 at Lambert>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

I guess it sounds immoral to say that it is a lie? Not at all. Lies are 
delightful, and that is why we write; and why we love literature.

The memoir is greatly enhanced accounts of a  truth  - it is a glorius
lie 
that we tell when writing our story. Our glorious lie is the story we
have 
woven together from the fragments of our memory, imagination, and our 
research into details that we do not remember at all. The true facts
mingle 
with these other aspects to for the woven tapestry of the story we are 
telling.
Otherwise, we would just be a newspaper writer and give the "facts,
m'aam, 
just the facts."

Lynda