Over the last year or so I have run across several interesting articles about topics I’ve already discussed here. Sometimes I do write another post—I keep coming back to plot, for example, and show-don’t-tell—but sometimes I just stew about it.
And I’ve decided to stew no longer.
There’s a lot of good material in my archives, even if I do say so myself. So let’s have a look at the types of stories we tell—in posts from my archives and new articles that expand the topic.
✱ We discussed the concept of memoir in “The Way We Were.” (I also reviewed Michael Hainey’s lovely memoir After Visiting Friends here. It’s a great example of how memoir blends the personal with the historical—as is Edmund de Waals’s The Hare With Amber Eyes, which is another memoir to savor.)
Last fall, literary agent Chip MacGregor declared memoir to be a growth category in publishing, and I agree. Memoir—done right—is a compelling story that also happens to be true (James Frey notwithstanding). MacGregor offers three tips for those who might undertake a memoir project:
1. Understand the difference between memoir and autobiography and self-help told by personal revelation.
2. Don’t assume because something interesting happened to you, it will be of interest to others.
3. Don’t tell us about your mistakes—show us.
There’s more, of course. Read the whole article here. MacGregor says memoir is difficult to write, which is upheld in this story from agent Rachelle Gardner.
✱ I’ve also talked about narrative lists (“Literary Nonfiction and the Narrative List”), one of my absolute favorite ways to tell a story. Author Jon Magidsohn reminds us, emphatically, that a list in and of itself isn’t a story and is not, in fact, good writing. His list made me laugh. And since I love Umbert Eco’s fiction, I was delighted when this short article at Brain Pickings brought to my attention his interest in lists. In an interview with Spiegel Online about this subject, Eco said,
The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. … The list doesn’t destroy culture; it creates it. Wherever you look in cultural history, you will find lists. In fact, there is a dizzying array: lists of saints, armies and medicinal plants, or of treasures and book titles. Think of the nature collections of the 16th century. My novels, by the way, are full of lists.
A man after my own heart.
✱ Not long after I wrote “It’s a Mystery to Me,” my post on writing in the mystery/suspense/thriller genre (and the follow-up, “Resources for Mystery/Suspense Writers”), I came across “Are You Writing a Mystery or Suspense Novel?” by literary agent Janet Grant, and did a little face-palm. Because this is a fantastic explanation:
Suspense Mystery
Catastrophe any second already happened
Action physical mental
Perp known unknown
Situation anywhere closed community
Characters cycle of mistrust red herrings
Conclusion emotionally satisfying intellectually satisfying
This is fleshed out much more, of course, so check it out.
✱ I’ve long been fascinated by the “ripped from today’s headlines” phenomenon, and have written about using it for story ideas here and here. But author Helene Dunbar has actually done it—and explains the questions she asked herself and her thought processes in this interview at OneFour KidLit. (Her YA novel, These Gentle Wounds, releases May 2014. This month!) Very interesting ideas here.
* Because it’s almost summer and because I am still positively slammed with work (not a bad thing) and because slammed with work means less time to write the kind of thoughtful blog posts I want to write, I’m writing a series of updates to reconnect you with my archives. Let me know what you think.
Tweet: Memoir, narrative lists, mystery/suspense, topical—what kind of story are you writing?
Tweet: Some of the types of stories we tell—discussed in posts from my archives. Now updated.
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