Memoir
Memoir Vs Autobiography Vs Biography: The Craft of Nonfiction Books
What is the difference between a memoir vs autobiography vs biography? These three categories of nonfiction describe different approaches to telling your life’s story. But while these books all sit…
Read MoreInterview: Barbara Henning on “Girlfriend” and the Craft of Poetic Memoir
[Photo: Barbara Henning (right) with poet Maureen Owen (left)] Our selves are collages of the people that impact us; we are products of every person we have met. To put…
Read MoreWhat Else? – How Research Makes Meaning
Since all the essays in my new collection, Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless, incorporate facts I learned from asking experts, reading scholarly works, or rooting around in…
Read MoreTruth in Possibility: Writing Speculative Nonfiction
Speculative nonfiction is an emerging genre of literature that empowers writers to incorporate imagination, wondering, and non-shared realities into works of creative nonfiction. By writing into the realm of possibility,…
Read MoreLiterary Motifs: What is a Motif in Literature?
When a work of literature employs an image or idea in repetition, that image or idea might be a motif. Literary motifs describe noteworthy repetitions whose presence in the work…
Read MoreYou Finished Your First Draft—Now What? A Step-by-Step Guide to Your Novel’s Next Chapter
Congratulations! You’ve crossed the finish line of your first draft—an accomplishment many dream of, but few achieve. I hope you are beaming with pride, but after the adrenaline fades, you…
Read MoreWellness Journaling: How to Journal for Wellness
Keeping a wellness journal allows us to monitor our health in a way that’s both freeing and healing. Traditionally, journaling is a way to keep a written record of our…
Read MoreWriting About Real People
Sneak Peek: This essay is excerpted from some of the materials I’ll be sharing in my class, “The Body and Soul of Your Memoir: Shape, Focus, and Write Your Memoir”…
Read MoreHow to Start Journaling: Practical Advice on How to Journal Daily
If you’re exploring how to start a journal, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Journaling has transformed my life, and it can do the same for you. In this article,…
Read MoreHow to Write a Memoir: Examples and a Step-by-Step Guide
If you’ve thought about putting your life to the page, you may have wondered how to write a memoir. We start the road to writing a memoir when we realize…
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