Notes

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident.. very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this and moments of despair.. if you find that writing is hard it’s because it is hard.

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Don’t worry about whether the reader will “get it”if you indulge us an impulse for humor. If it amuses you in the act of writing it, put it in. It can always be taken out, but only you can put it in your writing primarily to please yourself., and if you go about it with enjoyment, you will also entertain the readers who are worth writing for. If you lose the dullards back in the dust, you don’t want them anyway

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Therefore, think small. Decide what corner of your subject you’re going to bite off., and be content to cover it well and stop. This is also a matter of energy and morale. An unreeled writing task is a drain on your enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the force that keeps you going and keeps the reader in your grip. When you’re zest begins to ebb the reader is the first person to know it.

As for what point you want to make, every successful piece of non-fiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that here she did not have before not two thoughts or five just one. So, decide what single point you want to leave in the reader’s mind.

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But I urge you not to count on the reader to stick around. Readers wants to know–very soon–what’s in it for them?

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Another moral is to look for your material everywhere not just by reading the obvious sources and interviewing the obvious people.

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The Period. There’s not so much to be said about the period except that most writers don’t reach it soon enough.

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Writing is a public trust. The non-fiction writers rare privilege is to have the whole wonderful world of real people to write about. When you get people talking., handle what they say as you would handle a valuable gift.

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Next to knowing how to write about people, you should know how to write about a place. People in places are the twin pillars on which most non-fiction is built. Every human event happens somewhere and the reader wants to know what that somewhere was like.

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what could be luckier for a non-fiction rather than to live in America this country is unendingly various and surprising.

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By interviewing, local men and women park Rangers curators librarians, merchants Alzheimer’s daughters of the Republic of Texas ladies of the Mount Vernon ladies Association. I tapped into one of the richest veins waiting for any writer who goes looking for America: the routine eloquence of people who work at a place that fills a need for someone else.

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Write about yourself by all means, with confidence and with pleasure. But see that all the details.-people places, events, anecdotes idea, ideas emotions-removing your story steadily along.

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Think narrow then, when you try the form. Memoir isn’t the summary of a life is a window into a life very much like a photograph and it’s selective composition.

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the best gift you have to offer when you write personal history is the gift of yourself. Give yourself permission to write about yourself., and have a good time during it.

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Humor is the secret weapon of the non-fiction writer. It’s secret because Sophie writers realize that humor is often their best tool-and sometimes they’re only tool-for making an important point.