[stylist] Creative nonfiction and use of the word lie

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

But transformations are not the same as "lies." When a worm turns into a
butterfly, does it now mean it's a lie to say it was once a worm? I
agree with what you say that artist shape their craft turning
experiences into personal things, and how what we experience as a
collective can turn into various different forms, but the word lie is
not exactly the right word. Lying means not true, never happened, and
this is not what CNF, or other art forms, are doing. It may be a skewed
view of something, it may be different from what others think, feel,
experience, but it's not untrue, based solely on something that never
happened. We are now delving into philosophical realms, but in a
nutshell, what you are stating is that memoirists are writing about
things that never happened, which is what "lie" means, and I'm modifying
that word to say memoirists are not creating material from scratch but
using real-life experiences and constructing art by creatively relaying
those experiences. You may think the word lie is a simple one not
implying certain things, but it does not even fit your definition here
in this post. Taking away your own truth from an experience, forming
your own views, opinions, it doesn't suddenly make the content of ones
life and art untrue, a lie. This three-lettered word has very rigid
definitions, and the views you express on this topic don't really fall
into that solid definition.

Oh, and sorry if I have been spelling your name incorrectly. Since it's
a more commonly used name, I assumed the spelling of it was L I N D A. I
know about people misspelling a name because my name is always
misspelled as I'm I T at the end and not E T or E T T or E T T E, grin.

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: 2
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2012 11:34:22 -0500
From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Creative nonfiction is not made-up material
Message-ID: <3D8C81AC0E914EDE9324F7E052F58AFE at Lambert>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

I have to say I am fascinated by the strong, and very strange, reaction
that 
a little three diget word has  aroused. Who knew that to meniton a "lie"

would bring on such passion. It makes me smile to think of it!   I am 
accustomed to dealing with discussions and distractions in the college
and 
university classrooms where I have taught for many years. It goes with
the 
territory. But, it is fun when even I am surprised.

Artists and writers lie and steal. I plead guilty to both and I
certainly 
hope that the hundreds of students in my classrooms over the years
learned 
to do it, too. Professors and our ideas have a way or reproducing and 
multiplying.

We take something from one place, and we take it to a different place.
We 
are like a turck driver - we pick up a load, travel with it, and deliver
it 
to another place. It is never the same when it reaches the final 
destination. A transition occurs in transit.

Our load is "ideas" and "inspiration" and "a hunch" or an "obsession."

It is  from this  stuff that our creative work emerges.
And, sometimes even we are hoodwinked by our own sacred cows.

Lynda (spelled  L  Y  N  D  A  )