I appreciate the perspective of "creative non-fiction". I haven't come across that phrase before. It gives value and place (to me) for writing from experience and memory.
I wrote poetry and tried to write fiction for years, until I felt compelled to start writing a memoir, and found that nonfiction and essays worked well alongside poetry and felt more "me" than trying to write fiction. I know I have a long way to go but I do feel like I've found my niche and feel more compelled to write than I ever have before.
I think it is so true. The only real "should" can be that you "should" do what you want. Isn't that the greatest freedom? Granted, there are many life pressures that make doing what you want an impossibility for a huge number of people. But to the extent that that kind of liberty exists, you should (!) take it.
I think of this in terms, too, of the style or genre that a person might choose to write in, even within fiction. I am more interested, I think, in inhabiting different styles, different modes--the way an actor would not want to be type-cast perhaps. But "should" I be sticking to something that's recognizable as a brand? Nah.
Comfort writing is not a way I've thought about it before since for me I think the act of doing it in general is engaging directly with my own discomfort, but recently I've been starting my writing practice with a little bit of poetry and it really gets me in a good place to just let things flow, then I move into the screenwriting that feels a bit more uncomfortable. It feels like warm-up writing to me if that make sense!
Meta, this really touches on something I try to practice in my own writing: expanding that circle in a way that isn't too painful. I agree completely about the need for balance, and I further believe there's a great deal of growth you can have while on the periphery of your comfort zone, not totally outside of it. That's where I live most days.
Thanks. The class really has me writing. Just wrote a paragraph from each of the three prompts you included in the email of a few days ago.
I appreciate the perspective of "creative non-fiction". I haven't come across that phrase before. It gives value and place (to me) for writing from experience and memory.
Thanks,
Iris
I wrote poetry and tried to write fiction for years, until I felt compelled to start writing a memoir, and found that nonfiction and essays worked well alongside poetry and felt more "me" than trying to write fiction. I know I have a long way to go but I do feel like I've found my niche and feel more compelled to write than I ever have before.
I think it is so true. The only real "should" can be that you "should" do what you want. Isn't that the greatest freedom? Granted, there are many life pressures that make doing what you want an impossibility for a huge number of people. But to the extent that that kind of liberty exists, you should (!) take it.
I think of this in terms, too, of the style or genre that a person might choose to write in, even within fiction. I am more interested, I think, in inhabiting different styles, different modes--the way an actor would not want to be type-cast perhaps. But "should" I be sticking to something that's recognizable as a brand? Nah.
Comfort writing is not a way I've thought about it before since for me I think the act of doing it in general is engaging directly with my own discomfort, but recently I've been starting my writing practice with a little bit of poetry and it really gets me in a good place to just let things flow, then I move into the screenwriting that feels a bit more uncomfortable. It feels like warm-up writing to me if that make sense!
Meta, this really touches on something I try to practice in my own writing: expanding that circle in a way that isn't too painful. I agree completely about the need for balance, and I further believe there's a great deal of growth you can have while on the periphery of your comfort zone, not totally outside of it. That's where I live most days.