I’ve been somewhat bothered by the fact that I don’t read much fiction. For someone who has a degree in creative writing, this is a bit troubling. My degree is in nonfiction creative writing, but still, you would think that I read a novel a week or more. Not really. Not too long after my MFA, I went through a burnout phase. During my 3 … more »

The Paris Review – Gay Talese: The Art of Nonfiction No. 2. This interview with Gay Talese in The Paris Review is fascinating. What appeals to me is how Talese gathers information for his prose. He goes out and talks to people; he interacts and observes and takes notes. Critics identify him with the New Journalism movement, a group of writers who blend traditional news … more »

Many of you—at least a third, I’m guessing—are writers by nature. You majored in English, dabbled in creative writing, probably immerse yourself in literary novels at lunch. You love the written word. You revel in your expertise in grammar, your fine tastes in sentence structure and semantics. You proudly display your Chicago Manual of Style on your bookshelf. Maybe you even secretly want to be … more »

I wrote this post for Poewar.com last year, but I like to keep my own writing consolidated on my site, so I’ve added it here. Literary nonfiction gets its energy, Richard Locke says, from the intersection of the personal and professional. The tension and appeal of literary nonfiction comes from the interplay between the writer’s personal experiences and the topic he or she is exploring. … more »