[stylist] Creative nonfiction is not made-up material

[Lynda Lambert]

I think you need a  "time out." muhahahahahahah
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bridgit Pollpeter" <bpollpeter at hotmail.com>
To: <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2012 3:34 PM
Subject: [stylist] Creative nonfiction is not made-up material


> So this therefore implies that nonfiction writing is about experiences
> and events that never happened. I do understand what Eve and Lynda are
> trying to say, but lie is the wrong word. "Lie" is not exactly a word
> you can use on a philosophical level; a lie is a false, untrue thing
> that does not exist, never happened, and this is not what creative
> nonfiction is in any way shape or form.
>
> And perhaps some are misunderstanding the "creative" part of creative
> nonfiction; based on many post, creative is being equated to untrue,
> lies, stuff that never happened and is included to provide
> entertainment. Creative only means a writer is using literary techniques
> to bring into a three-dimensional realm as opposed to a flat story on
> the page. Using creative means does not mean a writer is pulling in
> imagined elements, making up people, places and things just for the sake
> of telling a story. This is what Frey did in A Million Little Pieces,
> which has been established as not, N O T, being a memoir or any type of
> creative nonfiction. You are not "creating" information but just using
> creative ways in which to relay true information.
>
> The reason nonfiction and fiction have specific names is because one is
> imagined, made-up while the other is about real-life. We all hold
> thoughts and opinions based on our interpretation of life, and this may
> differ from person to person, but this is not the same as a lie. I've
> yet to hear from anyone here how a memoir is about events that never
> happened, which again, is what a lie is. We are not talking about
> historical fiction, fictionalized accounts of one's life or any other
> type of fiction; we are discussing a form of nonfiction that often
> employs literary techniques to bring in the "creative" part of creative
> nonfiction. It's not drawing upon made-up info. It's the difference
> between a one-dimensional painting and a three-dimensional painting with
> layers of shading giving an audience a fuller view of the picture.
>
> I can write that Ross and I sit on the couch with our niece watching TV.
> I feel like Penny is our daughter, but she is not. I feel like a mother,
> and it's difficult to reconcile my feelings with reality.
>
> Or I can write:
>
> We sit on the couch, worn and dirty from life, with Ross slumbering next
> to us as a black-and-white movie hums softly in the background. Hands
> folded as if praying, your tiny bulk nestled against me; we are like a
> family. Mother, father, baby, but you are not mine. We are connected
> biologically, but you are not my daughter. Niece by birth, you are so
> much more to us. My heart dissolves with yours, longing to know this
> feeling always. Breathing steady, slowly, surely, and for a moment, I am
> a mother.
>
> I imagine us part of a holiday snow globe as the three of us lounge on
> the couch at two o' clock in the morning. The mist of this fantasy
> shimmers around us, engulfing us in warmth. The rhythm of your whispered
> snoring strides along with the beating of my heart. Sleeping in my lap,
> I try to draw you into me. How can this be? I am not a mother, but I
> bear the heart of a mother like a badge.
>
> Did I make anything up? Is this a lie? Please explain to me how
> nonfiction writing such as memoir and personal essay can be equated to
> containing lies. Again, on a philosophical level, I get where you ladies
> are going, but you are using the wrong word, and there has yet to be any
> explanation in your favor of how this type of writing contains lies. In
> the paras above, are you telling me this did not happen, these are not
> my thoughts and feelings? It makes no sense.
>
> I respect the intelligence, knowledge, wisdom and experience those
> posting on this topic bring to Stylist, but, though I'm only 30, I know
> creative nonfiction even if I know nothing else. There are different
> schools of thought on what constitutes memoir and personal essay
> writing, and what is permissible and how certain information should be
> presented, but across the board, no one would agree that creative
> nonfiction writing contains lies, big or little. Try making that
> statement to some of the big creative nonfiction writers of our time--
> Annie Dillard, Joan Didion, Scot Russel Sanders, David Sedaris, Maxine
> Hong Kingston-- and see what they say. Different interpretations,
> different views-- this is not the same as a lie. My perspective is
> different than yours, it does not render one of our perspectives as
> being untrue and made-up.
>
> 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: 4
> Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2012 18:42:16 -0700
> From: Eve Sanchez <3rdeyeonly at gmail.com>
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Creative nonfiction is not made-up material
> Message-ID:
>
> <CACdbYKVYK3ivUDm6ixtKHsEPrg3psghnE+h4vXcMWW_qwW5TRg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Sure there is. Even using the word 'tinkering' shows this. Tinkering is
> creating, being creative is creating. Creating is not solely done with
> the truth or it would not need creating. Hence the lies appear.. It is a
> lie spoken when one says he never lies. Diolch, Eve:)
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site:
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.net <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> stylist:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/llambert%40zoominternet.net
>
>