Keep it Real by Lee Gutkind Prompt

Oh, the chapter on using family members as characters. I guess what I can use as a response to a classmate's   presentation is to discuss the event where my fiance and I hadn't told my parents we were engaged. Oops, probably should have told them that night where he proposed in front of the Provo Temple. Oh well, now they know and no big deal except they (at least my mother) already knew and were waiting for the man to grow balls just to ask. OK, might not be exactly what the case was, but it still makes a good story for later, I tell myself. Need funny stories every once in a while, no?

Creative Nonfiction Prompt

Oh regret, how much do I hate having you around. Even while traveling through a fiery trial whether large or small, you regret things that you don't have any control over, and it is a heavy burden to bear. Sometimes, you wonder, "what have I done or haven't done to deserve this?" Regret is harmful and although I am not a hundred percent if this will work for class, I don't regret that I am battling cancer. Nor do I regret having bruises on my left arm where the nurses dug and twisted in veins. Just makes a good story later, so might as well enjoy the moment. Throughout my young life (soon to be 26 years), there have been worse things, and I don't regret passing through those trials. Just remember:

Branching Out of the Fantasy

Remember me talking about that if I wanted to write nonfiction that I had to learn the trade? Okay, so those might not be the exact words, but they are close. I decided to take on the romance genre of reading. Don't get any ideas that that includes erotic because thinking that is a mistake. There are romantic novels without any of those scenes. Of course, not to forget that there are some, if done right, scenes that go over my head because they are so rooted into the novel that I don't notice them. Maybe it is the naive personality deep within me...who knows. Kind of sad that I can read something for class and totally miss a certain scene until it is pointed out by a classmate.

Subgenres in Creative Nonfiction

“A slew of subgenres come together to make up that big hodgepodge that is creative nonfiction. Memoir, personal essay, narrative journalism, the poetic or lyric essay, travel and adventure essays, literary journals, nature and environment writing, profiles, the nonfiction novel, cultural critiqus, and even some reviews all come under its heading. Yet much creative nonfiction falls under more than one of these subcategories. Go into your standard bookstore and you rarely find a section expressly for creative nonfiction. These books are scattered all over the store, by subject; they’re found under sociology, architecture, travel, political science, and on and on—and often they don’t quite belong there. A memoir about a child who travels widely across several continents might end up in travel, biography. African American studies, essay—who knows?” (Hesse 2).

            Hesse’s explanation of what makes up the genre creative nonfiction involves more than an essay or a memoir. Creative nonfiction “falls under more than one of these subcategories” when looked in a microscopic point of view (2). There cannot be just one or two in any genre. If the world of nonfiction had two subcategories and a writer creates a nonfiction piece that fits to one of these subgenres, the academic world as well as the innovative side will only produce a cookie cutter effect. The effect is dull, non-informational, not unique, and will lack the most important part of the opportunity of creation. Imagine that there are just two genres in the art of nonfiction. Either the cookie cutter will be like a previous work or a rebellion in the art will begin. If there is not a rebellion, the freedom of the press is jeopardized. However, if there were a chance for innovation, many genres will make up the nonfiction.

As there are subgenres in fiction, having many subgenres in creative nonfiction is essential. In order to avoid the cookie cutter effect, each writer has his or her personal touch to a specific work while trying to remain true to the facts. Writers, if not all, of creative nonfiction desire and specialize in a variety of works. There are books on many topics that are “scattered all over” a bookstore for readers who have different interest than the person next to them (2). When a reader walks into a bookstore, a peak of interest is in that person’s mind. A reader who loves to learn about a specific person comes into the store and heads towards a subject about that specific person. In some cases, that book can be a memoir or a collection of essays about that person the reader is fascinated in and pick it up to read.

Books in general speak about many topics whether fiction or nonfiction. Subgenres need to exist. How would anyone know what subject to find if there were one general theme? To look at it a scientific point of view, humans are under the Mammalia family, but scientists know that when looking at just the human family, they call humans, Homosapians. Creative nonfiction is the broader family in the literature sense. Literary journals, memoirs, essays, novels, and other works have their own species within the nonfiction family. When broken down further, these works are place within another family or topic. These works are not cookie cutter works. They are individuals that make up the field of nonfiction.

Life is a journey so have fun with it.

Who would've thought that coming to Turlock would change a young Californian into something else? Not much has changed transferring from a grape vineyard city to a small orchard town. I've always been in the valley, so I'm familiar with it from Sacramento to Los Angelas with minor forgetfulness with the smaller communities around the area. Have patience with me, I still have forty-years or so to learn.

Speaking of learning--Wow, learning how Creative Nonfiction came to be from the 1960's to now is interesting. Now to figure out how to present what I decided to talk about to the rest of the class. Never had to connect my laptop into a system where it projects onto a bigger screen. I knew there's a plug but didn't have to call upon it before now.

I suppose that if I desire to be an universal writer, I will have to come to terms with this subject (nonfiction) and play with the rules like other writers who know about this subject far better than me. Wouldn't hurt to ask those particular writers what techniques they use and why they use them.

Yes, I am jumping all over this page. Welcome to my mind, where a whole lot of nothing try and find a way to make sense of what the world gives me.

I guess I should end this; I'm in my creative nonfiction class, so my professor might not be happy if she knew I'm blogging instead of paying attention--talk about serious ADD action (not actually ADD). On the flip side, I think this counts for what we're learning in class. Maybe she'll give me some slack. Who knows.