Now Write! Nonfiction: Memoir, Journalism and Creative Nonfiction Exercises from Today's Best Writers

Now Write!

by Sherry Ellis

An essential handbook for nonfiction writers, featuring the trusted personal writing exercises of today's masters of creative non-fiction, including Gay Talese, Reza Aslan, John Matteson, Tilar Mazzeo, and many more!

Beginners and seasoned writers alike will relish the opportunity to use the top-notch writing exercises collected in Now Write! Nonfiction culled from the personal stashes of bestselling and critically-acclaimed nonfiction authors like legendary essayist Gay Talese ( Thy Neighbor's Wife ), New York Times -bestselling authors Ishmael Beah ( A Long Way Memoirs of a Boy Soldier ) Reza Aslan ( No God but The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam ), and Tilar Mazzeo ( The Widow Clicquot ), 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winner John Matteson ( Eden's The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father ), creative nonfiction icon Lee Gutkind ( Creative Nonfiction magazine), and many other top memoirists, journalists, and teachers of creative nonfiction, these exercises offer fresh ideas for every facet of creative nonfiction writing, from pushing through writers block to organizing a story, capturing character to fine-tuning dialogue, injecting new life into a finished piece to starting a new work from scratch.

Now Write! Nonfiction will take you out into the field with creative nonfiction's master

*Peek inside Gay Talese's mind, as he shares the "writer's road map" he used to organize information for his classic book Thy Neighbor's Wife and his seminal essay "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold."

*Learn from Reza Aslan why what you remember isn't as important as why you remember it the way you do

*Explore the importance of cultural nuance in language with Ishmael Beah

*Discover Lee Gutkind's simple trick, performed with a highlighter, that can help any writer identify whether their piece is truly showing action, or just telling

An essential resource that will help writers of any level to hone their craft and get writing, Now WRite! Nonfiction offers over 80 quick, simple excersises trusted by top nonfiction writers to get their pen moving!

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Memoir, Education, Reference, Self Help

332 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2009

About the author

Sherry Ellis was a writer, social worker, writing coach, and the originator of the Now Write! series of writing exercise books. She edited Now Write!, Now Write! Nonfiction, and coedited Now Write! Screenwriting with her niece, Laurie Lamson. Her author interviews were published in literary magazines and are anthologized in Illuminating Fiction. She passed away during the process of putting together the fourth book in the series: Now Write! Mysteries. She is greatly missed by authors everywhere.

Reviews

[Julie M · Rating 3 out of 5]

tagged: A collection of essays on writing NONFICTION ("memoir, journalism and creative nonfiction exercises from today's best writers and teachers)

This one really resonated for me, from Reza Aslan:
Your memories are lies you've convinced yourself are true. Science has proven that every time you recall an event in your past you actively recreate that event in your brain. You reshape it, give it details, create new significances. And in doing so, you irrevocably alter the facts of the event so that often what you remember is far from what actually happened. . . for writers this is a good thing. Because what matters most in good writing is not always What do you remember? but rather Why do you remember it the way you do? It is, in other words, not your memories that make for a good story but the metaphors embedded in your memories.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estaba dejando este libro al final porque el tema de escribir non-fiction no me interesaba tanto pero me resultó muy interesante aún así. No sé si porque iba con la idea de que lo iba a hojear y aventar por ahí y tenía la barra muy baja, pero la verdad sí tiene buenos ejercicios que voy a poner en práctica. Esta saga de libros en general probó ser consistentemente muy útil.

[Cassie Cox]

Now Write! has proved to be a great resource full of unique writing activities for memoir, journalism, and creative nonfiction. This book is definitely one I see myself returning to, time and time again. I read so many theory-based educational books that I've learned to appreciate gems like this. My copy of this book is dog-earred and full of post-it notes on pages that are begging to be tested out in my classroom as soon as possible.

[Lyna M. Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I found some great ideas. They are presented as if you were sitting in a writing workshop. A few of them were repetitive with similar activities with a minor variation. There were also a few that I don't think I would ever personally use. That said, I think there is a little something for everyone to gather ideas for a memoir or a personal essay.

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best teaching resources i've found!

[CX Dillhunt]

Worth a read by any writer/teacher; covers memoir, journalism, creative non-fiction exercises, work well with poetry & essay

[Zachary Giambalvo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful as a writer.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I use this in my fiction writing class every day!! Great book!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked this out of the library, but didn't do much, if any, work from it. I'm interested in picking it back up as an exercise in writing. I like the format and prompts.

[booklover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aspiring non-fiction writers will enjoy having this on their shelf. It is filled with useful exercises and writing prompts by published authors who share their methods on the Art of writing.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and new way to challenge the writer that I want to become.

[Alma Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some very fun and thought-provoking writing exercises.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting and useful ideas, but as a whole rather overwhelming. The sheer amount of short exercise prompts leaves one wondering where to start. Hence, single-authored introductions to CNF are probably better for someone new to the genre, but they of course lack the diversity of voice in this collection.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hit or miss collection of short nonfiction writing exercises. Nothing groundbreaking, but there's some fun to be had.

[Emma Sea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only OK for me. The book is an exercise each from a number of talented non fiction writers, but this style made it hard for me to get into the spirit of the exercises as the style and focus changed from one writer to the next. YMMV. Probably excellent for classes, for exactly the reason it didn't gel for me.

[for-much-deliberation ...]

Quite interested in non-fiction writing, so this sounds pretty good.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some great writing exercises in here, but I had to wade through a lot of boring ones to find them.

[Jane Lopez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of writing excercises... but most of them were boring. I had to skim through quickly and pray that I find something good.