ch.1. What is this thing called creative writing? --
Reconciling the method with the madness --
Some basic definitions --
Creative nonfiction : a working definition --
Writing that is surprising yet convincing --
Creative nonfiction : capturing what has eluded capture --
On sentiment and sentimentality --
Our first job as writers : to notice --
Avoiding the "writerly" voice --
Exercise 1 : "I don't know why I remember..." --
Exercise 2 : I am a camera --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"On keeping a notebook" / Joan Didion ---
"Emergency" / Denis Johnson --
ch. 2. The splendid gift of not knowing --
pt. 1. Writing as discovery --
Creative nonfiction : making the ordinary extraordinary --
Writing down what you don't know (about what you know) --
On rendering, not solving, the mysteries that surround us --
Moving from "triggering" to real subject --
Surprise yourself, interest others --
Obsession as a creative virtue --
Exercise 1 : Things I was taught/things I was not taught --
Exercise 2 : I want to know why --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"Where are you going, where have you been?" / Joyce Carol Oates --
"Welcome to cancerland" / Barbara Ehrenreich --
ch. 3. Details, details --
pt. 1. Concrete details as the basic building blocks of good creative writing --
Defining "images" within a literary context --
Imagery that works on two levels --
On seeing the general in the particular --
On crowding the reader out of his own space --
Don't lose any of your senses --
Use of concrete details in creative nonfiction --
Use and abuse of metaphor --
When should you use metaphor? --
Avoiding the "S" word : banishing conscious symbols from your writing --
Imagery as creative source --
Exercise 1 : Harper's Index on a personal level --
Exercise 2 : Render a tree, capture the forest --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"The things they carried" / Tim O'Brien --
"Nebraska" / Ron Hansen --
ch. 4. The shapely story --
pt. 1. Defining the short story --
Some basic definitions --
The conflict-crisis-resolution model --
Linear vs. modular stories --
To epiphany or not to epiphany? --
Is change necessary? (the debate continues) --
On not becoming slaves to theory --
Exercise 1 : False epiphanies I have had --
Exercise 2 : Opportunities not taken --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"What makes a short story?" / Francine Prose --
"Helping" / Robert Stone --
ch. 5. Why you need to show and tell --
pt. 1. The importance of narration --
Some basic definitions --
Why "show not tell" is such common advice --
The show-and-tell balancing act --
Traditional uses of narration (telling) --
Why narration is such an important creative tool --
How showing and telling complement each other --
Good intentions, bad advice --
The showing-telling continuum --
Showing and telling in creative nonfiction --
Exercise 1 : Tell me a story --
Exercise 2 : What everyone knows/What I know --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"Brownies" / ZZ Packer --
"Winner take nothing" / Bernard Cooper --
ch. 6. Who's telling this story, anyway? --
pt. 1. Introduction to point of view --
Some basic definitions --
Distance and point of view --
Shifts in narrative distance --
Choosing a point of view for your creative work --
Point of view and creative nonfiction --
Common point of view problems --
Exercise 1 : Change point of view and dance --
Exercise 2 : Using point of view as a way "in" to difficult material --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"The lady with the little dog" / Anton Chekhov --
"Moonrise" / Penny Wolfson --
ch. 7. How reliable is this narrator? --
pt. 1. How point of view affects our understanding of a story --
How we judge the integrity of the stories we hear and read --
First person point of view and reliability --
Third person point of view and reliability --
Exercise 1 : He said, she said --
Exercise 2 : See what I see, hear what I hear --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"The swimmer" / John Cheever --
ch. 8. You talking to me? --
pt. 1. Crafting effective dialogue --
What dialogue is good for --
A word about attribution --
Five important tips on dialogue --
Dialogue in creative nonfiction --
Exercise 1 : Nonverbal communication --
Exercise 2 : Them's fighting words --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"Hills like white elephants" / Ernest Hemingway --
"Inside the bunker" / John Sack --
ch. 9. The plot thickens --
pt. 1. Figuring out what happens next --
Story vs. plot : some basic definitions --
A word about causality --
Render how - don't try to answer why --
Character-based plotting --
Avoiding Scènes à Faire : recognizing clichéd plot twists --
Exercise 1 : What's behind the door of room 101? --
Exercise 2 : "By the time you read this..." --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"Sonny's blues" / James Baldwin --
ch. 10. Recognizable people --
pt. 1. Creating surprising-yet-convincing characters --
Flat vs. round characters --
Eschewing the general in favor of the particular --
Consistency as the hobgoblin of characters --
Ways of defining character --
Characters in relationships --
Character in creative nonfiction --
Exercise 1 : Emptying pockets --
Exercise 2 : Sins of commissions/Sins of omission --
Exercise 3 : Seven or eight things I know about him/her --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"Surrounded by sleep" / Akhil Sharma --
"No name woman" / Maxine Hong Kingston --
ch. 11. Raising the curtain --
pt. 1. Beginning your story, novel, or nonfiction piece --
Your contract with the reader --
Characteristics of a good opening --
Starting in the middle --
On the nature of suspense --
Beginning your creative nonfiction piece --
Exercise 1 : Give it your best shot --
Exercise 2 : Start in the middle --
Exercise 3 : Make them squirm --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"People like that are the only people here : canonical babbling in Peed Onk" / Lorrie Moore --
ch. 12. What's this creative work really about? --
pt. 1. The art of transferring true emotions onto sensory events --
Many different answers to the same question --
Writing about what matters --
Transference : borrowing from Freud --
The road to universality --
But it's the truth! and other common pleas for clemency --
Creative nonfiction : on being true as well as factual --
Making things carry more emotional weight than they logically should --
Transference and creative nonfiction --
Exercise 1 : Getting an image to spill its secrets --
Exercise 2 : What I lost --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"Ralph the duck" / Frederick Busch --
"The knife" / Richard Selzer --
ch. 13. Learning to fail better --
Advice for writers from writers --
Perfection is our enemy --
Undue influence : a cautionary tale --
The developmental stages of a creative work --
"Hot spots" and other noteworthy aspects of an early draft --
An exercise-based approach to deep revision --
A word about constraints --
Analytical/mechanical exercises --
Research-based exercises --
Chance-based exercises --
Revision example : "The company of men" / Jan Ellison --
pt. 3. Reading as a writer --
"Shitty first drafts" / Anne Lamott --
"The Carver chronicles" / D. T. Max --
"The bath" / Raymond Carver --
"A small, good thing" / Raymond Carver --
ch. 14. Getting beyond facts to truth --
pt. 1. Some final thoughts on creative nonfiction --
Recollections and re-creations --
Ethical considerations --
Subjectivity vs. objectivity --
A trip of self-discovery --
To be in or out of the story? --
pt. 2. Reading as a writer --
"Learning to drive" / Katha Pollitt --