[Stylist] Questions about Creative Writing Terms

Mon Oct 8 18:30:59 UTC 2018

Autobiography and memoir tend to be interchangeable, but, there are distinctions. Autobio is about an entire life, from birth until death typically. Memoir is about one specific moment in a life. Memoir tends to be more narrative, where autobio is more factual, usually not having a narrative flow.

A good book for writing memoir is The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr.

Some great memoirs are Woman Warrior: My Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston and The Truth Book by Joy Castro.

A good autobio is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This book also ventures into memoir, but, it's much more autobio.

Published work means it's available to the public. This can mean anything from traditional publishing to self-publishing to blogging and websites and social media. It also includes literary magazines. There is a specific process and guidelines for submitting to a traditional publisher, with no guarantee your work will be picked up for publication. Same with literary magazines. You need to find the specific submission guidelines for individual magazines and submit, but, this doesn't mean they will accept your submission. Book publishing is much more extensive and complicated though. Literally anyone can self-publish. You just find the platform you wish to use, like Smash Words, and follow the process. Self-publishing guarantees you get published because, you are literally doing everything, but, one down side is that there's no one to help edit and proof read unless you pay for this, not ensuring your best work possible. But if going the traditional publishing route, there is an extensive process for submitting a manuscript, and there's no guarantee a publisher will select your work or even read the manuscript.

A couple of great books about publishing are The Business of being a Writer by Jane Friedman and The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner.

Copyrighting involves a cost and yes, a legal process. I've never actually copyrighted anything, and it's not recommended to copyright your writing. But, you can simply Google how to copyright to learn more about the specifics. But, few writers, especially unknown and unpublished writers, copyright their material.

I'm not quite sure about your question about the characteristics of a novel. I assume you've read novels. A story has to have characters and a plot. How you go about developing characters and plot can vary. Literary devices are employed to do this. Dialogue, scenic development, diction and syntax, metaphor, imagery, internal dialogue, narrative explanation are all devices for both fiction and nonfiction. Consider how these devices are used in the novels you like.

Plenty of books are available typically called craft books. They can help you understand how to write and what methods can help the writing process. One I would recommend is On Writing by Stephen King.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: Stylist <stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Sharon Hooley via Stylist
Sent: Monday, October 8, 2018 12:22 PM
To: Stylist NFBWritingList <Stylist at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Sharon Hooley <shooley42 at gmail.com>
Subject: [Stylist] Questions about Creative Writing Terms

Hi again,

I have some questions about the different kinds and  the processes of writing.  Does anyone know of a good web site where I can learn about these things and perhaps a glossary of  terms, or is there anyone who wouldn’t mind explaining  them to me?  I’ll list the things I think of:

What is the difference between autobiographies and memoirs?

what is publishing, exactly, and how can I publish my own work instead of having someone else do it?

are there any characteristics of a novel besides dialog, actions, thoughts and feelings of the characters involved?

I would greatly appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks,

Is it hard to communicate, even with hearing aids?  Visit http://cochlearamericas.com

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.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/bkpollpeter%40gmail.com