I'm holding in my hand the "it" that I've been pining for and I've been savoring every word. Brad (my husband, not to be confused with Brad the poetry editor) laughed at my absorption for I "already know what's in there." But I don't. Kimberly's introduction and Mick Silva's forward (both superbly written touchstones for why Relief exists), the layout and order of the content, the inside graphics and feel of the pages, and the majority of the poetry and fiction are all new to me. I truly am savoring every word and enjoying every minute (and I've only found one typo so far!). For those of you who don't get your copy before Thanksgiving, eat your heart out! And when you do, please post and tell me what you think.
(Title line from The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll)
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
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4 comments:
You and all the staff at Relief did a phenomenal job. Thanks for your guidance. I too look forward to savoring all the works in this issue.
So far (I'm not quite done reading my copy that arrived this week), I've liked your "Bookshelves" best. It's deeply touching. Thanks for demonstrating Creative Nonfiction with skill.
A question: what's the difference between CN and Memoir?
Thank you Deanna for your comment. Nonfiction is such a broad genre with so many subgenres that it is sometimes hard to know where one begins and the other ends. As editor at Relief, I will read whatever comes into our cnf drawer whether or not it is truly creative nonfiction, and if it is superbly written, I will even consider publishing it. Memoir is more akin to autobiography and therefore very concientious about writing in a linear fashion. Dates, occurences, people, and experiences are told to communicate the essence of the author's personal life.
Memoir is a little more of a bridge to creative nonfiction in that it allows leaps into reflection but it is still absorbed in the author's life.
Creative nonfiction freely leaps back and forth into reflection or riffs that support a theme, a character that is not the author, a topic of research, an observation, etc, etc. It is more concerned with telling a story, in a story-telling fashion and uses techniques associated with fiction, i.e. story arc, character buidling, tension, plot, narrative, dialogue, setting, etc. It also may make broad use of literary techniques found in poetry such as phrasing, symbolism, compression, etc.
although I have not blogged about it much here, I have written some on the topic at Master's Artist and on the Relief blog. I hope my comments help you in understanding this delicious genre.
Karen
Thanks, Karen. I'll keep studying cnf and rereading the pieces in Relief. They provide a lot to chew on.
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