Nonfiction Writing + Tricks for Your Noodle

Something about writing non-fiction has always felt a little icky to me. Whenever I start a prose piece that involves parts of my real life I tend to hide those bits with layers of fiction. It's not so much that I mind displaying my personal, uncomfortable moments (although that does play a role), but rather that it feels self-important to think that sharing my story would be interesting enough to captivate another human's attention, let alone mean something to them. 

And yet, so many non-fiction works have meant something to me. So when my writing class segued from fiction to non-fiction I sacked up and hit the keyboard. It wasn't easy. I should say it isn't easy...I'm still working to finish a piece I need to turn in on Monday. And I've probably started about six different stories. I thought about writing a braided essay about loss and the five steps of grief, but as I was putting important moments of my life into words it began to feel trite. I don't think it's that my stories lacked meaning, rather that my discomfort with writing about my own stories was coming through in my writing and mucking it all up. 

It happens. But after two weeks of self torture I've figured out a few tricks I thought I'd share that have helped me write personal non-fiction without gagging on my words:

1) I try to write without looking at the screen/page or paying attention to how and what exactly I'm writing. It may end up gobbly gook, but it's something to start with and then I can cut, cut, cut. I also try to do this with fiction as well but I find it's easier with non-fiction since I'm not creating the narrative or characters, just relating .

2) I try to picture the story in snapshots and write each part separately--whether it's atmosphere, character description, or dialogue--in whatever order they come out. Then I can rearrange them later so the narrative flows.

3) If I'm writing about something intensely personal, I sometimes write my first draft in third person. Distancing myself from the confessional "I" allows me to get out certain truths and opinions that I would otherwise choke back. Once I have the words down and I'm in revising mode it's easy to switch to first person and bring myself back into the story.

Wish me luck...time to get back to it!

Internships for Emerging Writers, Editors, and Publishers

I've been working on a list of editorial internships since I was...oh...18 and thought I might try my hand at a summer internship. Somehow that never came to fruition, however I see no reason my list should go to waste. Below are some of my top picks with links to more information. If you're specifically interested in small presses, check out the small press database from Poets & Writers (also linked to on my left sidebar). Also, bookjobs.com has a great list of internships as well as a book jobs search engine, mostly in larger publishing houses (and dominantly in NYC). I think the best way to find an internship is by figuring out who publishes your favorite authors and researching from there. Here are four presses I think highly of and would recommend looking into their internships:

Copper Canyon Press

Graywolf Press

Red Hen Press

Seven Stories Press

Most publishing and editorial internships are unfortunately unpaid, especially if, like me, you're more interested in the small independent presses. Some will offer a stipend or housing, but be prepared to work "for free." The benefit to the small publishers, magazines, and presses is that you'll ultimately have more responsibility and a wider range of tasks; the downside is you'll probably be waiting tables at night (especially if you're opting for an internship in NYC). Here's one writer's take on the promise and peril of being an intern. I personally like to think of it as an old-fashioned apprenticeship: trading hard work for knowledge of a trade. 

Freelancing the Internet

The internet provides us with a seemingly limitless amount of information (obvious fact number one), all of which has to be written by someone somewhere. One would think this would create a boundless amount of work for all those writers out there. However, most of the content written online is done for free and often folks are reading more for the content or "facts" presented than the presentation itself. Without editors and page frames to help shape and restrain, writing can become aimless and wandering, and often, just plain bad. The payoff is shaky as well if you're looking for monetary gain--"monetizing" your site is only helpful if you get thousands of views per day and more so if people actually click on the advertisements. I don't know about you, but I don't think I've ever purposefully clicked on an ad blurb. In fact, I've even browsed away from sites where the ads were too intrusive to the writing.

However, for those writers of a journalist/essayist kind, there are some alternatives to going it alone: information sites Suite101 and About.com are currently looking for people to fill their freelancing gigs. As far as the writing side of this goes, you would have access to an editor and get to network with other writers. As for revenue, I'm undecided whether one would be better off starting their own website or submitting to the regulations (especially the copyright regulations) of these sites. Nicholas of writtenroad.com has a pretty helpful evaluation here of the two sites with some pros and cons for you (writtenroad is also a good resource for travel writers).