Elizabeth Benedict's Blog - Posts Tagged "learning-to-write"
Take a Cancer Memoir & Make it Different
How do we learn to write? By reading and by trial and error. By putting ourselves and our work out there -- and taking criticism from friends, strangers, and loved ones.
When I knew I wanted to write about my harrowing encounter with the medical world and with cancer, the project wasn't easy, even though I've written 10 or 11 books, depending on how you count.
But how to bring something new to a familiar, even clichéd, story?
I didn't join a support group, but I relied on the work of other writers who'd been through the experience: Nora Ephron, Jenny Diski, and Susan Sontag.
My new essay in THE MILLIONS is about how I came to write REWRITING ILLNESS: A VIEW OF MY OWN.
Readers have said it's good advice for all kinds of memoirs. I hope you'll read it and let me know what you think!
"Two distinct voices warred as I wrote and rewrote. My friend’s Kate’s: “You have to do this. It will be so helpful to people going through what you went through.” And my friend Bob’s: “I never want to read another cancer memoir!”
READ THE REST: https://tinyurl.com/bp992y6v
When I knew I wanted to write about my harrowing encounter with the medical world and with cancer, the project wasn't easy, even though I've written 10 or 11 books, depending on how you count.
But how to bring something new to a familiar, even clichéd, story?
I didn't join a support group, but I relied on the work of other writers who'd been through the experience: Nora Ephron, Jenny Diski, and Susan Sontag.
My new essay in THE MILLIONS is about how I came to write REWRITING ILLNESS: A VIEW OF MY OWN.
Readers have said it's good advice for all kinds of memoirs. I hope you'll read it and let me know what you think!
"Two distinct voices warred as I wrote and rewrote. My friend’s Kate’s: “You have to do this. It will be so helpful to people going through what you went through.” And my friend Bob’s: “I never want to read another cancer memoir!”
READ THE REST: https://tinyurl.com/bp992y6v
