Truth of the Matter, The: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction

by Dinty W. Moore

This introduction to creative nonfiction examines the building blocks of nonfiction prose one by one, illustrating how individual voice and narrative strategies delineate this literary form from conventional nonfiction. Individual chapters are devoted to detail and description, characterization and scene, distinctive voice, intimate point-of-view, and the various ways in which writers discover the significance or universality of their work. Essays from contemporary nonfiction writers such as Henry Louis Gates, Norma Elia Cantú, Pico Iyer, Joan Didion, and others are integrated directly into the text to illustrate concepts.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Essays, Crafts, Textbooks, School, Anthologies

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2006

About the author

Dinty W. Moore is author of the award-winning memoir Between Panic & Desire, the writing guides The Story Cure and Crafting the Personal Essay, and many other books. He has published essays and stories in The Georgia Review, Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Southern Review, Kenyon Review, Creative Nonfiction, and elsewhere. He is founding editor of Brevity, the journal of flash nonfiction, and teaches master classes and workshops across the United States as well as in Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and Mexico.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some gems in this book. The selection and analysis of short essays is particularly strong. A tiny quibble: some of the terminology is odd -- "literary journalism essay"?? Overall, this is a useful book for those teaching creative nonfiction and my students appreciate its friendly tone and deep clarity.

[Jody Keisner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect introduction to creative nonfiction and the elements of the discipline, this book offers lessons in craft, style, and form. I've been teaching from this book for nearly 10 years. My students love it, and there's a hearty collection of flash and longform essays in the back to choose from.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down, my favorite textbook for teaching Personal Essay or Creative Nonfiction. The writing instruction is sensible and not at all preachy, the exercises are useful, and the anthology is packed with a variety of readings. I would love to see an expanded and updated second edition someday, but in the meantime, I'll keep going back to this again and again. The one semester I didn't choose this for a Personal Essay class, I immediately regretted it.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource for those starting to write CNF!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides an overview of the genre, but was disappointing overall. I felt let down that the actual writing by Moore took up less than half of the entire book - the rest is given over to samples of writing by other authors to read as exemplars. And that writing tone! Far too didactic for my taste, though I did have to laugh at Moore's comments to 'show not tell' when he himself often does the opposite. This book could be a useful intro for newish writers, but for others it has little to offer in my opinion.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really two books combined: a short text on the craft of creative nonfiction and a short story anthology. The craft section is pretty accessible, but may be more useful to novice writers than experienced writers. The anthology section has some great selections, but many of the essays anthologized here are also ones anthologized in other collections, so it may be worth checking out the table of contents before purchasing depending on what a reader wants this book to provide for them.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not totally finished with this wonderful tome; yet, I am now aware of my instructor's reason for praising Dinty W. Moore's work.

This book not only cleared up for me some things I never understood, but he offers many pieces by other authors whose well thought out and expressed works are inspiring.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am relatively new to creative nonfiction, so this book was a fantastic overview of the major sub-genres of creative nonfiction that I hope to play with a lot more in the future. The essays in the anthology were interesting reads as well.

[Joanna Eleftheriou · Rating 5 out of 5]

The BEST craft of nonfiction book I've found. It actually addresses key issues, is built to help, and is written well.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to the basics of creative nonfiction with a superb anthology.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoughtful guide to writing creative nonfiction, with a lot of wonderful examples of the genre.

[Arlene Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great as a textbook for writing the personal essay.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a creative non-fiction class

[Priscilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will teach this book for the first time this semester & expect it to be a great book in the classroom.

[wen_s · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on craft, with examples in the anthology. Currently reading this for a class, but a good read for anyone who wants to write memoir or essay.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For any beginning creative nonfiction writer, this book is chock full of motivation and ideas to get you started in the right direction.

[Monique the Book Geek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for school.