Non-Fiction Writing Resources
Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction–and Get It Published
by Susan Rabiner, Alfred Fortunato
Every time you see another huge nonfiction book comes out, do you drift into that same old dream of serious commercial success? More nonfiction books are published each year than fictional novels. If you want your piece of the pie, you will have to write like the most professional writers and analyze your work like the toughest editor. The Susan Rabiner Literary Agency is the backbone of the experience provided in this book. From the editor’s point of view, you will want to get the following across as quickly as possible to the editor of your book:
Proposals – what key answers they should provideWriting with the intended reader in mindGetting your point across to the editor quicklyHow to make the introduction speak volumesHow to make complex ideas come across as simple reading.Once you master this key points, you will be home free! This book will guide you through the process and help you understand why each of these key points is so important.
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Couldn’t Keep It to Myself: Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution (Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters)
by Wally Lamb
Wally Lamb, without a doubt, is my most favorite author but if you are expecting a typical Wally Lamb book, this one is not anything like typical Wally Lamb. You will not find any fictionalized, emotionally challenged, embattled characters with hearts and souls so deep and intriguing they stay with you for years after reading their stories the first time. What you will find in this Wally Lamb creation is those same characters except non-fictionalized, real life flesh and blood women. Wally Lamb encountered his calling behind the walls of a women’s prison, teaching women how to write in a way that might help them release their demons and move on with their lives. Mr. Lamb couldn’t let their works remain unpublished, as they are truly stories that we can all learn from.Learning about the people around us is a way to come to trust them, a way to allow compassion to influence our feelings about the people around us. The York Correctional Institute has, behind its steel doors and concrete walls, 11 women who generously shared their stories with the world. Please read this book it will forever change your perception of compassion and trusting
your fellow man.
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Ernest Hemingway on Writing
Scribner
Perhaps Ernest Hemingway was right to be concerned about the stuff on butterfly wings. During his lengthy career, he maintained that it was of the worst luck to talk about writing. He said that it might be like removing the magical stuff on the wings of butterflies. It took him his entire life to agree to talk about his writing career. Just months before the end of his life, he gave us what we had always asked of him; reflections of his writing career. Via letters, interviews and articles, he provides us with an incredible overview of his life, loves and writings. In addition to doling out bits of his own views, he gives writers plenty of advice on the craft, disciplines and impressions of the profession itself. Don’t miss this legendary writerís advice, perceptions and general wisdom. You won’t find much “how-to” information, but you will find an incredible conglomeration of information, tips, and bits of honesties not shared with the general public.
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Escaping Into the Open: The Art of Writing True
by Elizabeth Berg
Every woman who has dreamed of being a successful freelance writer will understand the reasons why Elizabeth Berg had to write this book.She expresses through love and heartbreak the ins and outs, joys and possibilities that are a part of the writing life. Inspiring and joyful, this book will hearten writers and want to be writers in a way that is
encouraging, emotional and passionate. Incredibly funny, she leaves no stone unturned in the auspicious life of a woman writer. She leaves a few messages for us at the
end of this seriously funny memoir to find your own voice and then believe in it and if you want to ride then stay on the horse. You are not likely to find the kind of advice doled out here in any other writing guide. You won’t find a handbook chock full of writing exercises but you will find the very best advice on the market, especially if you happen to be female. It takes a writer at heart to understand what she is saying to those of us with more than a little bit of reason to listen to her.
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How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer
by Lois Daniel
If you have been told more than once that you should write your life story, perhaps you should consider this advice. If you have no idea where to start, this book will help you organize your life and get it on the page. Designed in a manner that the nonprofessional writer will understand, this guide is full of information, tips and hints about how to record your history and the history of your family. Perhaps you assume that you must start with your birth and work your way through, but this isn’t always the best way to handle things. It may be a better story to begin with what is happening in your life now, what it is that is causing you to want to write your life and then work backwards in time. There are many different formats for writing oneís life, all of which are explained in this guide. Even though you know your own life story, you will probably find the need to do some research. Information on how and where to research is provided. You will also find tricks to remember various happenings in your life, ways to motivate you when you become fed up with the whole project and even excerpts from other nonprofessional writers who have used this guide to help them write their life stories.
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Your Life as Story
by Tristine Rainer
In this guide to writing oneís life story, you will learn about the history of the biography as it traces back to Egyptian inscriptions all the way to present time. Writing about oneself takes more than just the knowledge of one’s life, it takes courage, perspective and humor. This author teaches the prospective autobiographer how to write using oneís heart and soul to pour out oneís life onto paper without holding back and without boring the reader. Just because the story is a true one, doesn’t mean that the storytelling should be dry or without life. Learn how to give
life to words even when the words are really a bit dry. Examples from famous biographers, such as Maya Angelou are used as a basis for teaching techniques. The author also educates the reader on how to make a series of scattered life stories a readable, enjoyable and memorable experience. Fear not about having forgotten the past, she also gives you tips on how to remember the forgotten, how to fill in the blanks and how to go about finding the information that you don’t readily have available. Editing and publishing your works are also addressed in case you decide to make your writings available to the general public.
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Legacy : A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing Personal History
by Linda Spence
Do you dream of leaving the realities of your world for your children and grandchildren to learn from? Do you feel like you have something to teach with the world, a tale to share? Writing your life story has never been easier than with the direction of Linda Spence in her book Legacy. You will find step by step instructions on how to write an interesting life history that shies away from the dry point by point stories but rather is a living history of an interesting person. You will find a voice for yourself as you go through her thought provoking series of questions designed to remind you of your personal history and how it is connected with the previous generations and how you are connected to the world around you. The process of writing your life story can be as cleansing as spending years with a therapist so even if you have no intention of sharing the story, give yourself the gift of your own autobiography.
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Tell It Slant
by Brenda Miller, Suzanne Paola
We all love a good, fictionalized crime story or the history of a famous family over 100 years. Obviously the dialogue and probably even some of the characters have been fictionalized to make the story full and rich and interesting. The special art of creating these stories, from true stories is examined in “Tell It Slant”. The authors have developed a method of helping the writer create what isn’t available in regards to non-fictional works. Intensive instructions, along with writing exercises are used to help the writer develop a feel for writing non-fictionalized works. Donít dull your audiences with dry, humorless, uninteresting works the next time you are called upon to produce a non-fiction work. Pick up this instructional guide and add life and feeling to your non-fictionalized characters and dialogue.
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Writing from Within: A Guide to Creativity and Life Story Writing
by Bernard Selling
Hardback and inexpensive, this great little book gives the potential autobiographer many ideas and sparks to create a legacy on paper that many generations to come will
appreciate. If you are writing to leave something behind for your family or because you want to share your experiences with the world, this book will help you organize your ideas and put them on paper. Sometimes we shortchange ourselves by not using the appropriate amount of depth and feeling. Writing from Within will help you dig deep for those childhood memories and remind you how those experiences and memories have shaped your life today. Whether you want to skim the surface of your life or complete disclosure, if you are experienced or a novice, whether this is your first book or your last being left as a legacy, Writing from Within will give you the edge you need to make your autobiography everything you dreamed it would be.
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The Writing Life
by Annie Dillard
This Pulitzer Prize winning author has given us a rare glimpse into the lives of writers particularly freelance writers. Regardless of what profession you have chosen, if you are reading this book you must have at least considered writing as a living. Within a few pages, you will find yourself emerged into the life of a writer in a way few other authors have been able to accomplish. Non-writers will get a view of a world most of us see as “on the edge”, daring and exciting. For writers, it is a long conversation
with a warm cup of cappuccino and biscotti reminiscing about the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Exciting, daring, spellbinding, emotionally charged ñ this book has it all. Donít miss out on Miss Dillard’s best book to date!
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