So here it is the beginning of August, and I'm feeling SAD: Seasonal Affect Disorder, which affects my SAW, Seasonal Writing Disorder. Let me explain.
It's 90 degrees every day.
I'm not in the Hamptons or on a cruise.
My holiday won't be here until September, a different "feeling" month altogether.
My pen dries up.
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BRENDA SEROTTE
Memoir Workshop at the Public Library
Cover of The Fortune Teller's Kiss
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SAD = SAWSeparate TablesMarch 22, 2011
Okay, so critics said: "You have THREE books here, Brenda, not ONE." What to do what to do...Often, we love what we've written (well, sometimes!) and don't want to revise it to be TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY different. But remember that saying from a famous teacher of writing at NYU: "You have got to (more…)
How personal should we get?June 23, 2010
As I begin teaching a new memoir group next week, one of the first questions I will be asked is: What do you do when you want to include stories about friends or relatives that are personal in your own memoir?
This can be delicate, yes. In memoir-writing, or creative nonfiction, or personal histories, (more…) Creating Nonfiction - One Story at a TimeNovember 2, 2009
Sometimes it's wrong to think of a TOTAL book of nonfiction or memoir. For me, I have to create the tales from real life one story at a time. I've tried to plan out an entire book like it was a novel, but it never ever works for me, so I got the light-bulb (more…)
What Happens Next?September 30, 2009
Many readers have asked me: What happened NEXT? I take this as a compliment that they want more of my story. Good! However, please know that a MEMOIR is a MOMENT IN TIME; in other words, the writer must make a decision where to start (say, age 7) and where to end the story (say, (more…)
Workshopping your StorySeptember 11, 2009
Workshopping is still torture, I think, yet, without it how would we know what works and what doesn't for readers?
It's important to take criticism but it's also important to know when to STOP revising and let the work BE. Any comments? How Fiction Works..August 15, 2009
I'm not yet done with this FAB book, How Fiction Works, by James Woods, but anyone who cares about fiction, autobiographical fiction, writing it, reading it, etc., should give this a go. I like reading about how stuff works...Woods is a critic-genius (I'd hate him to review MY fiction!) (more…)
The Autobiographical Novel...August 12, 2009
Trudging along with "Wedding in Peru," I realize that I'm changing names and "making things up." Does this make it an autobiographical novel, or is it still a memoir because it's MOSTLY true?
Dos and Don'ts of Writing MemoirMay 13, 2009
1. Don't worry what anyone in the family will think. Get your ideas down; write your story first.
2. Make your memoir about you, not about someone else. 3. The great thing about this kind of writing that is different from fiction is that you get to "show" and "tell"! 4. Don't feel you can't create things. Think (more…) |
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