You Can't Make This Stuff Up: The Complete Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction--From Memoir to Literary Journalism and Everything in Between

by Lee Gutkind

From rags-to-riches-to-rags tell-alls to personal health sagas to literary journalism everyone seems to want to try their hand at creative nonfiction. Now, Lee Gutkind, the go-to expert for all things creative nonfiction, taps into one of the fastest-growing genres with this new writing guide. Frank and to-the-point, with depth and clarity, Gutkind describes and illustrates each and every aspect of the genre, from defining a concept and establishing a writing process to the final product. Offering new ways of understanding genre and invaluable tools for writers to learn and experiment with, "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" allows writers of all skill levels to thoroughly expand and stylize their work.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Memoir, Journalism, Essays, How To, Reference

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Lee Gutkind has been recognized by Vanity Fair as “the godfather behind creative nonfiction.” A prolific writer, he has authored and edited over twenty-five books, and is the founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction, the first and largest literary magazine to publish only narrative nonfiction. Gutkind has received grants, honors, and awards from numerous organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Science Foundation. A man of many talents, Gutkind has been a motorcyclist, medical insider, sports expert, sailor, and college professor. He is currently distinguished writer in residence in the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at Arizona State University and a professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication.

Reviews

[Olga Godim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a textbook on writing non-fiction, and as such it shouldn’t be able to compete with fiction. But for me, it did. Not only it competed but it also won the competition. Go figure!
I borrowed three books from the library at the same time: a selection of literary short stories, a fantasy novel by a well-known writer, and this book. I started with the short stories and couldn’t proceed past the story #2; it was just too dull and barren of action. Next I opened the fantasy novel. It was OK [I wince]; I might even return to it some day, but the narrative was kind-off awkward and somewhat flowery, and the characters didn’t pull me in either. And the story started in the familiar, slightly disappointing way: a princess has gone missing. So I put the novel aside and opened this textbook, hoping to learn something. And I only closed it three days later, when I reached the last page.
Although I expected this book to be a tad boring, it wasn’t. It was fascinating, written in a clear, precise language, with a bunch of examples to demonstrate the author’s point of view and his deep knowledge of the subject: creative non-fiction. The lessons I learned could be summarized in two points.
1. When writing non-fiction, don’t make stuff up, never, ever! It should be obvious; it’s non-fiction after all, but Gutkind delivers several real-life cautionary tales about non-fiction writers who did make stuff up, for various reasons. He also writes about their destroyed reputations and soiled credibility. Be on guard against fabricated ‘facts,’ he warns his readers.
2. To write interesting, solid non-fiction stories, writers can and should employ every trick known to fiction writers: structure, dialog, characters, scenes, and vivid descriptions. Without all of those, non-fiction falls flat.
Gutkind also offers his readers multiple exercises and provides full texts of several best examples of non-fiction, written by the masters of the genre. And he analyses those stories with a sharp eye of a teacher.
A very useful book, especially for those who aspire, like me, to write non-fiction. Maybe. Sometimes. There is only one bone I would pick with the author. I’m working on an essay about my mother, and according to Gutkind’s lessons, my story is really, I mean truly, bad. And what’s more, nobody would want to read it. On one hand, the realization upset me, understandably. On the other hand, perhaps I should toil on my narrative some more, find a deeper theme that would incorporate my small personal tale. If I make my essay more compliant with the ideas Gutkind highlights in his book, apply all his lessons diligently, maybe my little memoir will become better. I hope so.

[Jan Priddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a how-to book by the “godfather of nonfiction.” Illuminated by long excerpts from strong creative nonfiction, Gutkind’s book manages to do what it claims to do: explain what creative nonfiction is and how to write it well. Gutkind promotes the narrative as the anchoring and most critical strength of creative nonfiction. Write scenes, he insists and then shows how this is done. It helps to discover that what Gutkind wants in an essay is precisely what a fiction-writer wants in a story. And it helps that I was familiar with several of his examples. It helped me a lot that I’d already written my “million words” of fiction, and that what he said made sense, that his examples are clear, and that this is the best book on writing nonfiction I have come across. That might be because it’s the first how-to by Gutkind that I have read. In any event, I highly recommend it and place it beside other favorites such as Gardner’s The Art of Fiction.

I'm not saying the book is perfect and I don't know that his examples would be my choices. He seems to be trying to play fair with his models, balancing male and female writers and not quite managing it. But trying.

He contrasts a former wife's fictional description of their marriage to his own as a way to acknowledge that truth is not the same as fact, that there is always opinion involved. And I've just published an essay on that very issue in VoiceCatcher. http://www.voicecatcher.org/2012/09/1...

I think Gutkind would be a pain in the behind to live with, but great fun to have over to the house for dinner and long conversation. And I would love to have the man over for dinner. I'm both a good cook and a good listener. Just sayin.

[Elliot A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the only book I kept from my creative nonfiction course and it is the only book I read during the entire course.

I kept it for reference purposes and in case I experience another writer’s block. The examples, instructions and exercises are very beneficial and are well enough designed to return to again and again.

I appreciated the author’s use of extensive excerpts to truly showcase the point he was making instead of vaguely outlining his point and moving on to the next topic.

The author used an excerpt by Rebecca Skloot’s The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, which had me so interested in the book itself, I saved it on my library list.

Overall, I kept You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, because I believe it may be handy for future projects, perhaps even during the composition of my thesis, especially with its numerous pieces of advice on how to write more clearly and succinctly. I certainly recommend it anyone, who writes and intends on writing.

ElliotScribbles

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy-to-read, clear book on writing literary essays and imaginative nonfiction. The author peers into the bones under bestsellers such as Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief" and the work Dave Eggers. His goal is to move writers from dry facts and excessive restraint, into a more imaginative treatment of true-life writing.

Gutkind follows his own rules by including anecdotes and interesting stories from forty years as a professor and writing instructor, and as one of the early proponents of literary/creative nonfiction.

If you write newspaper columns, short-form nonfiction or essays--or if you blog or write for business--Gutkind's book will help clarify what makes real stories fascinating. He covers subjects such as creating a cohesive framework, how to mix stories and reflection, and what are the ethics of dialogue and fact-checking in non-fiction writing.

The inclusion of writing from more than a dozen gorgeous examples (a rural veterinarian, a hospice worker's yellow taxi, a visit to a psychiatric ward, Frank Sinatra suffering from a cold) show how non-fiction can be emotionally-resonant, powerful and factual.

This genre (which includes memoirs, narratives, historical biographies and all manner of real-life storytelling) is a dominant segment in the bookselling world. Creative nonfiction titles have topped best seller lists with regularity, and demand for well-written accounts of real people (e.g., Unbroken, Into Thin Air, The Ominivore's Dilemma) has stayed strong. Readers have an insatiable fascination with true re-tellings of life, in all its amazing, tragic, mundane and quirky glory.

The clear, precise writing of Gutkind's handbook is dotted with brilliant excerpts from past and recent non-fiction pieces. This mix of instruction and example keeps it interesting. You could easily read it in one or two sittings. It has the tone of Time magazine mixed with a witty New Yorker article...lots of obscure illustrations and interesting facts, in a conversational, easy-to-digest format.

[Brand E with a Why · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was actually taking notes from this book, which is saying a lot, because I've read so many books on writing (to keep the advice and "rules" fresh in my mind), and mostly I don't learn anything new really. But what Gutkind, the "Godfather of Creative Nonfiction," has put forth in this book are some really useful techniques and strategies to fine-tune your creative nonfiction piece. One in particular was to whip out the old highlighter. I haven't used one of those in a decade, but I happily trotted off to the dollar store and bought myself a pack. Gutkind suggests using one to highlight all the parts of your piece that are scenes (and he thoroughly describes what constitutes a scene, which I've found isn't as obvious as you think). Scenes are what keep the reader's attention. In creative nonfiction, however, it's much easier to rely on backstory to carry the narrative. The trick is to change the backstory into descriptive scene. (Thankfully, I've got lots of hot pink showing up in my 300-page manuscript thus far).

Gutkind also gives a history of creative nonfiction as a genre--how it came to be, how it's been vilified thanks to writers who take liberties with the creative part of the craft and make up "truths," how it's become one of the most marketable genres today.

I highly recommend this for anybody who's looking to learn about the craft or who needs some new insight into it.

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever had an experience where you finally realize that there is a name for the thing you love? I love nonfiction, I love textbooky history books and dense work on neuroscience, but I also REALLY love true stories about real people and events and places, and there are writers who have the uncanny ability to make those stories come ALIVE in ways no textbook can. I gravitate towards those authors and their work and annoy everyone I meet with recounting the awesomeness of the latest book I'm reading.

That thing? It's called Creative Nonfiction. And I had no idea and now it's all I want to read and learn to write. This book is a how-to for writing creative nonfiction and I think I took notes on every other page. Gutkind excerpts and refers to many books that I LOVE and I had no idea that they were all in the same subcategory of nonfiction, the type that draws you in and keeps you there: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Seabiscuit, Angela's Ashes. Dah, I feel like I have so much more to learn on how to write, and that is a fantastic, giddy feeling.

[Billie Pritchett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lee Gutkind's You Can't Make This Stuff Up is a pretty good little book that gives sound advice on writing nonfiction. It has a lot of writing exercises in it to encourage readers to begin to hone one's craft. To be honest with you, I didn't do the exercises, just read the book. But I think if I were to go back and do the exercises and reread the notes I took on the book, then I will be be able to improve my writing. Couple things I will say right away. Gutkind's advice is best when it's about how to frame a story and also about the importance of revision. He really really emphasizes revision and says that it's best to just get all the material out there on the page, don't take too seriously what you write on that first draft, and then go back and hone, hone, hone. Will take it to heart.

[Erika Dreifus]

FIVE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT TWO BOOKS

By Erika Dreifus

‘Tis the season to focus on nonfiction. For me, anyway. As I struggle with essays of various stripes (and lengths), I’m infused with ideas and lessons gleaned from two new books: Lee Gutkind’s YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING CREATIVE NONFICTION FROM MEMOIR TO LITERARY JOURNALISM AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN (Da Capo Press/Lifelong Books, Paperback, $16.00 US) and THE ROSE METAL PRESS FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH NONFICTION: ADVICE AND ESSENTIAL EXERCISES FROM RESPECTED WRITERS, EDITORS, and TEACHERS, edited by Dinty W. Moore (Rose Metal Press, Paperback, $15.95).

Time pressures do not permit me to write full reviews of each book. But there is much to admire in them. I’d like to share with you five strengths that I believe apply to both texts.

1. EXPERTISE

Both Lee Gutkind and Dinty W. Moore are recognized experts in the subjects their books treat. Gutkind, whose titles include editor of the prominent quarterly CREATIVE NONFICTION, has been nicknamed the “godfather” behind the genre (the source of that reputation is explained in the book’s early pages). For his part, Moore’s name is similarly familiar in the world of brief nonfiction, exemplified by the work published in BREVITY, the online magazine that he edits. Contributors to the FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH NONFICTION include acclaimed writers and teachers: Bret Lott, Philip Graham, Lee Martin, and many others.

2. CONTEXT

Each book provides a sense of historical context. One of the most interesting sections of YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP is an appendix – credited to CREATIVE NONFICTION’s managing editor Hattie Fletcher – which summarizes “Great (And Not So Great) Moments in Creative Nonfiction, 1993-2010.” If you need a refresher timeline for les affaires Binjamin Wilkomirski, James Frey, and “Margaret B. Jones,” you’ll find it here. You’ll also find reminders of how recent some of the best known books of creative nonfiction – not to mention journals, programs, and other institutional markers – truly are.

For its part, the FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH NONFICTION features a useful introduction (by Moore) that traces the evolution of “the myriad ways in which authors over the centuries have embraced the very short form of thoughtful, artful nonfiction.” Moore is also careful to cite significant developments in our own times, including the growing popularity of brief *fiction* (manifested in several notable anthologies published in the 1980s and 1990s) and a series of “fine brief nonfiction anthologies,” beginning with IN SHORT (1996), edited by Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones.

3. SAMPLES

Both books provide not merely excerpts, but rather full-text examples of essays that illustrate key craft points. Gutkind’s choices are interspersed throughout his book. In the FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH NONFICTION, each contributor focuses on a specific aspect of craft, whether it has to do with image and detail or voice or point of view, and presents an exemplary essay (sometimes the contributor’s own, sometimes not). And the quality of these readings is simply outstanding.

4. EXERCISES

Each of Moore’s contributors also includes a complementary prompt or exercise. That means there are about two dozen exercises in the book – enough to keep any of us going for quite some time. Although they’re less numerous, exercises also appear sprinkled through Gutkind’s book.

5. TEACHABILITY

Here I refer not (only) to the books’ potential usefulness for the classroom, but also – and perhaps even more important – to their potential usefulness for the individual writer-learner. These are books that I know that I – with an MFA in fiction and four online poetry courses behind me – will turn to again and again as I seek to improve my skills as a writer of creative nonfiction. There’s no way I have possibly absorbed all that they have to teach me in the initial readings I’ve completed so far. But – thanks in large part to their aforementioned qualities - I am confident that I will return to both books. Often.

(These remarks first appeared in the October 2012 issue of THE PRACTICING WRITER. Complimentary copies of both books provided by the respective publishers.)

[Karen]

I enjoyed the book for the most part. I just have a personal bugaboo about authors referencing their own work too heavily. For me, it sounds pretentious and self-agrandizing. I admire Mr. Gutkind and his work, particularly with Creative Nonfiction Magazine. I would have enjoyed more writing samples from other authors (which does happen more frequently in the second part of the book), and less casual references to himself.
There were a few scenes that I thought read very differently than the conclusions he drew from them, but I'm a woman, and I get the impression that Mr. Gutkind is not quite tuned in to that demographic.
Some of the text was repetitive or seemed obvious to a person who has studied much writing at all, but too advanced for a person who knows nothing about structure.
It has its good points, but was not as satisfying as simply reading lots and lots of creative nonfiction pieces. Of course, it won't prevent me one bit from reading CN Magazine, In Fact, and the author's other great reads.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book on how to write creative nonfiction, complete with examples from some of the finest essays and memoirs I have ever read. I think the "exercises" could have been a little more action-oriented than they were, but they were just the sprinkles on a learn-by-example cake. Or whatever. A great book for anybody wanting to write creative genres.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book serves its function, it provides an introduction to and general history of creative non fiction with a few exercises and articles. Gutkind repeats a lot of mantras of other writing books about how it is a job as well as a craft and something one has to make time for to do to get really good at. I'm a teacher and will be using a lot of this in my writing lessons.

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

This dense reading was not as engaging as Kephart's Handling the Truth. Gutkind is way too pretentious to self-identify as "The Godfather." His suggestions and methodology are not keen on functional methods of self revision.

[Ed Lasher · Rating 2 out of 5]

The advice was good, if a bit obvious most of the time. Overall, this book felt lazy, as if Gutkind were trying to fulfill a contract. There's also a few too many plugs for his magazine.

[Joanna Bair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for a creative nonfiction writing class for my MFA program, and I’m not normally a fan of nonfiction. But I enjoyed this. It has a lot of interesting stories. Gutkind has an interesting way of analyzing works and gives general basic advice on writing creative nonfiction.
Basically don’t lie, but be interesting. Focus on the action before the information. A lot of people what applies to fiction.
I never would have read it without the class so I’m glad I did.

[Scott Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing

I started reading this book to get the information I would be presenting in my high school creative writing class into some form of recognized structure. I soon became engrossed in the content and found myself changing parts of my own writing. I highly recommend this book to students of writing and specifically to anyone interested in writing nonfiction.

[Arvind Naladiga Venkat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for writers of creative non-fiction and a wonderful read for any aspiring writer.

[Kayla]

Read for my nonfiction class. I won’t lie, I mostly skimmed this and paid attention only to those sections that felt most relevant. But from the good chunk that I read, I really liked it.

[Olivia Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much from this book! Full disclosure- I’m currently taking a creative nonfiction writing class with Lee, so I might be a bit biased, but I thought this book was great. Not only does it teach you how to write creative nonfiction by explaining the genre, but it also tells fun stories and gives exercises for the reader to do to improve their work. I’ll definitely be coming back to this book as I work on my dissertation!

[ukuklele · Rating 3 out of 5]

... writing for others in a way you might want others to write for you. (pg. 16/293)

Yang dapat termasuk tulisan creative nonfiction yaitu: essay, journal article, research paper, poem, autobiografi (mencakup seluruh kehidupan), memoar (fokus pada periode tertentu). Tapi, tidak tepat menyamakan creative nonfiction dengan esai, sebab esai bisa saja hanya berupa opini tanpa riset dan teknik naratif. Poetry is (often) creative nonfiction, presented in free form or verse. Lalu ada pula istilah "lyric essay" tetapi dalam buku ini tidak dijelaskan panjang lebar dan entah apakah itu serupa dengan "puisi esai" yang dulu sempat menghebohkan jagat kesusastraan di Indonesia.

"The word 'creative' refers to the use of literary craft, the techniques fiction writers, playwrights and poets employ to present nonfiction--factually accurate prose about real people and events--in a compelling, vivid, dramatic manner. The goal is to make nonfiction stories read like fiction so that your readers are as enthralled by fact as they are by fantasy. But the stories are true. (pg. 29/293)

Maka creative dalam creative nonfiction bukan berarti ada yang boleh dibikin-bikin. Creative di sini berarti cara penulis dalam mengemas materi faktual dengan teknik-teknik yang biasa digunakan pengarang fiksi/drama/puisi supaya tulisannya lebih memikat.

Namun, adakalanya penulis lebih mengutamakan creative daripada nonfiction, lebih mementingkan daya pikat (style) daripada kadar faktual (substance). Di sini genre satu ini jadi kontroversial. Buku ini menyertakan kasus-kasus manakala suatu karya creative nonfiction yang mula-mula berhasil kemudian terbukti cuma mengada-ada.

Maka bagian pertama buku ini cukup panjang lebar membahas aturan main dalam menulis creative nonfiction: pengertiannya, perbedaan antara truth and fact, dan seterusnya, untuk memberikan batasan yang jelas mengenai apa yang boleh dan tidak boleh masuk dalam genre ini, sebab mentang-mentang creative bukan berarti akurasi fakta bisa dikorbankan.

"Truth is personal--it is what we see, assume, and believe, filtered through our own lens and orientation. Although it may revolve around the same subject or issue, the truth as one person perceives it may not be the same truth another person sees." (pg. 37/293) There are many truth to a story and many versions of the same story. Walau creative nonfiction menceritakan kisah nyata, kenyataan tentang suatu hal yang sama bisa jadi berbeda-beda menurut berbagai sudut pandang (mungkin seperti kisah Rashomon, tapi buku ini tidak sekali pun menyinggungnya).

Soal truth mungkin bergantung pada sudut pandang yang boleh jadi bias, tetapi fact adalah detail yang tidak bisa diganggu gugat karena sudah jelas atau selalu bisa dikonfirmasi melalui penelusuran dokumen dan sebagainya. Buku ini menegaskan, "It's the responsibility of the creative nonfiction writer to confirm every fact that can be confirmed." Factual accuracy =/ personal truth.

Sebagai buku praktis, di dalam buku ini ada latihan-latihan untuk mulai membuat tulisan creative nonfiction kita sendiri. Kita bisa berangkat dari pengalaman pribadi dengan menuliskannya sedetail mungkin (menurut buku-buku self-help yang saya pernah baca, kegiatan ini dapat bersifat terapeutik juga).

Kalau bukan dari pengalaman sendiri, kita bisa menggunakan pengalaman orang lain melalui immersion. Penulis buku ini sendiri asalnya ingin menjadi novelis, tapi sadar dunianya sempit sehingga perlu mencari sebanyak-banyaknya pengalaman. Maka ia mencari pengalaman itu dari dunia luar, dengan mengamati kehidupan orang lain, menghabiskan waktu bersama mereka dengan mengaktifkan segala indra, mendengarkan percakapan mereka, membuat sketsa tentang berbagai hal (misalnya, deskripsi tempat), dan seterusnya, sampai mendapatkan cerita untuk dituliskan, dan cara itulah yang dinamakan dengan immersion. Bisa saja kita lebih dahulu menentukan cerita yang mau ditulis, baru kemudian mencari bahan. Kalau immersion tidak mungkin dilakukan karena apa yang mau ditulis adalah peristiwa masa lampau, kita bisa menggunakan dokumen-dokumen seperti foto, video, dan sebagainya, memanfaatkan detail yang ada untuk menghidupkan kembali cerita.

Bagaimana kita tahu telah mendapatkan "cerita"? Apa yang dimaksud dengan "cerita"? Buku ini tidak banyak membahasnya selain bahwa "cerita" ini mengandung awal, tengah, dan akhir, ada aksi, dialog, dan drama. Kalau googling, misal dengan kata kunci "story structure", dapat kita temukan banyak bagan yang menerangkan unsur-unsur yang membuat suatu cerita komplet. Cerita yang lebih panjang mungkin mencakup sampai struktur-tiga-babak.

Selanjutnya adalah tentang bagaimana menuliskannya, yang berarti menulis dan menulis ulang, berkali-kali .... "Almost anybody can sit down and write something--once. But the real writer, the commited and potentially successful writer will write and revise and write and revise until whatever she is writing ... works." (pg. 121/293)

Draf pertama boleh spontan, expansive. Ikuti saja instingmu. "... writing should be spontaneous experience. (pg. 162/293) Setelah ada draf kasar, ada sejumlah hal yang perlu diperhatikan dalam menuliskannya ulang.

Yang pertama-tama kiranya adalah struktur dan tema. Fakta-fakta yang sudah terkumpul itu mesti terangkai dalam suatu struktur, dan menjurus pada suatu tema. Struktur itu terdiri dari serangkaian scene yang di sela-selanya disisipi informasi, atau umpamanya: tulisan adalah bangunan, scene adalah batu bata, dan informasi adalah semen perekatnya.

Untuk mencipta scene, ada beberapa pertanyaan yang dapat diajukan.

What happened? What happened next? What happened after that? (Plot)
What did he/she/they say to one another? Can you recall the conversation? (Dialogue)
What were you thinking? (Inner point of view)
What were people wearing? What did the room or the house of the neighborhood look like? What was the weather that day? (Specificity and intimacy of detail)

The scenes have to make a point, ada aksi yang sifatnya show. Sampai di sini, buku ini nyambung dengan buku lain yang belum lama ini saya tamatkan, Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It) .

Maka dalam membaca draf tulisan sendiri, kita dapat menandai scenes (atau yang berpotensi menjadi scenes), juga bagian-bagian yang kurang menjerat fokus atau tidak memikat konsentrasi untuk dibongkar-susun lagi.

Selebihnya adalah masukan yang umum dalam tulis-menulis, seperti membuat pembukaan yang memikat (penulis mencontohkan film Pulp Fiction), dan tiap scene sebaiknya diakhiri dengan cara yang memancing pembaca agar terus membaca. "The stronger the scene and the faster you involve the reader in the scene, the more successful you'll be. So when writing a scene, think about thrusting your reader into the heat of the action as quickly as possible. Action comes before places and characters." (pg. 221/293)

Masih ada berbagai petunjuk lain, tapi saya cukupkan sampai di sini saja karena sudah pusing wkwk.

Never have so many shared so much of so little. (James Wolcott) (pg. 267/293)

Buku ini ditutup dengan "APPENDIX: THEN AND NOW GREAT (AND NOT SO GREAT) MOMENTS IN CREATIVE NONFICTION, 1993-2010" yang kurang lebih merupakan kronik perkembangan genre creative nonfiction. Sebelum 1993, tentu sudah ada banyak tulisan nonfiksi yang disampaikan sekreatif mungkin tapi penulis membatasinya sepanjang penerbitan media yang dia asuh khusus untuk genre tersebut, yang mula-mula berupa literary journal pada 1993 sampai menjadi majalah pada 2010. Kronik meliputi judul-judul karya creative nonfiction yang berhasil, misalkan sampai jadi best seller dan difilmkan, dan beberapa ada yang sudah diterjemahkan ke bahasa Indonesia, contohnya buku-buku Jon Krakauer, David Sedaris, Running with Scissors, A Beautiful Mind, sampai Eat, Pray, Love, juga ada tanggapan para kritikus berikut skandal-skandalnya.

Banyaknya skandal menunjukkan genre ini rentan difabrikasi. Kisah nyata bisa tak kalah memikat daripada karya fiksi, tapi mana tahu itu juga ada yang dikarang saja? Maka kisah nyata seolah-olah sekadar label. Kontroversi ini membersitkan bahwa boleh jadi ada tulisan nonfiksi yang saya pernah baca ternyata memberikan informasi yang tidak benar, tetapi saya sendiri sebagai pembaca pada dasarnya hanya peduli apakah artikel itu menarik atau tidak. Jangankan artikel nonfiksi kreatif yang dibaca sekadar sebagai perintang waktu, data-data dalam laporan ilmiah yang punya konsekuensi lebih serius saja mungkin dimanipulasi atau dikira-kira belaka :v

Kiranya dewasa ini pun genre ini bersaing dengan media sosial digital yang telah menyuguhkan terlalu banyak cerita dalam bentuk seringkas-ringkasnya tapi sudah mengena tanpa begitu mempertimbangkan fakta.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't remember now what Gutkind said in the two previous books on the same topic, but this one was clear and useful. The structure seemed to bounce a bit from topic to another in the beginning, but the second part was clear: for CN you need scene, frame and focus. That is easy to remember. I appreciated how the text showed how scenes work, instead of just telling the reader how they do so. Practice what you preach, etc.

[Tiina Mahlamäki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Luovan tai narratiivisen tietokirjan lyhyt ja tiivis määritelmä: hyvin kirjoitettu tosi tarina. Sellaisten kirjoittamisesta kertoo tämä teos, luovan tietokirjoittamisen kummisedäksi kutsutun Lee Gutkindin kirjoittama.

Teos on siinä mielessä onnistunut, hyvä ja vaikuttava, että jo ennen kuin olin päässyt kirjan puoliväliin, olin ideoinut kaksi tietokirjaa, jotka kummatkin voisin aivan realistisesti kirjoittaa ja joita ryhdyin jo hahmottelemaan. Kirja antoi siis hyviä ideoita, nyrkkisääntöjä harjoituksia. Mutta siinä oli hyvin paljon yhdysvaltalaiselle lukijalle tai kirjoittajalle tarkoitettuja ohjeita, vahva painotus siinä, että tarkoitus on saada paljon lukijoita. Siinä myös viitattiin esimerkkiteksteihin, joista yksikään ei ollut minulle ennestään tuttu ja kuvattiin hyvin paljon ja yksityiskohtaisesti oppaan kirjoittajan omaa elämää ja sen sattumuksia. Tämä taitaa olla jokin sääntö luovassa kirjoittamisessa, niinhän Julia Cameron ja Natalie Goldberg tekevät, mutta siihen alkaa kyllästyä ja odottaa, että päästäisiin asiaan.
Teoksen toisessa osassa käydään lävitse esseitä, joiden rakennetta lukijoiden oletetaan käyvän lävitse ja oppivan kohtausten ja dialogin käyttöä sekä tarinan rakennetta. Kirjoittaja toistaa toistamistaan nyrkkisääntöjään, joiden mukaan kohtaukset muodostavat rungon, jonka sisässä välitetään informaatiota lukijoille, joiden kiinnostusta tulee herkeämättä pitää yllä ja ruokkia. En ole aivan varma haluanko oppia kirjoittamaan juuri tällaisia tekstejä, mutta kirjan edetessä alan ymmärtää oppaan kirjoittajan pointit ja ehkä jotain opinkin. Ainakin nyt mieli palaa oman kirjoittamisen äärelle.

[Sandee Ferman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it hard to read, and at the same time easy to read.

Difficult, because even though it's liberally sprinkled with engaging essays, there's enough "I told you so" in there to take away one star in the rating. Some pedantry gets in the way, but not much until the last chapter when Gutkind goes on for pages about getting an MFA in creative nonfiction. An MFA. Seriously? I didn't think the book was geared toward academic degree wannabes (and it isn't). That chapter could have been eliminated without missing anything.

Easy -- and fun -- to read because of the copious examples of very good creative nonfiction that were included and then analyzed to point out their methods. I enjoyed reading "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" (an excerpt) and was riveted by the story. It was a good example of how compelling nonfiction can be when it's written using the basic techniques used in fiction: storyline, tension, scenery, etc. Gutkind chose some essays I wouldn't have, but he also chose some memorable gems for this book.

If you have any inclination to write any kind of nonfiction, this is absolutely a book you'll want to read, preferably early in the process!

[D.A. Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve bought way too many “how to write” books that I’ve parked on my bookshelves and never got around to opening. They sound helpful but are a lot of blather with maybe one good tip among the pages.
This is not that kind of book. I borrowed it from the library, and it’s due today, so I thought I’d have a quick run-through to see if it was worth perhaps adding to my good writing books shelf (it’s quite small) or if I should return it to the library and forget it.
It’s 2 hours later and I have been totally immersed. Gutkind has so many approachable examples and ideas that I was positively entranced. I’m working on building up my creative non-fiction writing and this is just the book to encourage me, and anyone else with similar goals.
It’s a rare writer who can clearly explain how it can be done. Gutkind is one. The book is on my to-buy list. Excellent information on all aspects of writing creative non-fiction, with telling examples and exercises I actually want to do.
Bonus!

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't even finish it. I don't know if writers are just more forgiving toward other writers' work, or what, but I found the good reviews for this book baffling. Very little practical insight, a lot of freaking OBVIOUS tips ("don't lie"), and a few times where Gutkind picks academic fights BY NAME. Who cares, dude? Settle your issues on your own time, don't make me pay for it.

Garbage.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gutkind provides excellent examples to illustrate his advice, all while modeling how to approach our own work with framework and focus in mind. As he recommends, I plan to read the book again after a short break. It would be impossible to internalize everything from the first pass.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the opening, when he talks about the development of creative non-fiction journalism, and the end, when he gives a history of scandals, much more than the middle of the book, which is mostly writing advice that I find very obvious.

[Mohamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things I learned from this book—

Creative nonfiction falls somewhere between mundane journalistic writing and the novel. While it is impossible to achieve an overarching definition of the genre, what it stands for can be guessed from the title, i.e., it is supposed to be creative and nonfiction. For instance, writing a memoir, being a nonfiction genre, certainly differs from a novel insofar as the former cannot be grounded in imagination; however, a memoirist, as long as his writing does not twist or deny some checkable facts, can always frame and shift the focus of certain life events in a way that would make them more riveting to the reader.

The Craft of Writing— while you are sipping on your cup of coffee and falling in love with word arrangements inked by a certain author and underlined or yellowed or copied or whatever by you in a hysteria-like manner, Lee reminds us, it is experimentally possible sometimes to capture some— not to say all— the underlying techniques and mending in a piece of writing; however, such greed, well known to the aspiring authors, comes to an end when we try to move beyond technicalities and conscious moulds of style. The following are some uselessly useful tips— generalizable to all genres of writing — mentioned by Lee and uselessly usefully paraphrased by myself.

Be honest with yourself as a writer when attempting any genre of writing. That is to say, sometimes, being obsessed with mere aesthetics aka. studding your writing with endless diamond-words — which is only one element of the rather kaleidoscopic nature of writing, we fall in the trap of whimsicality and superficial content. Other elements of the writing process, I should remind you, can be stale long hours of research; painful cutting of precious diamond-words and sometimes even whole paragraphs and pages; finding the right frame and focus of— say, an essay; or maybe just the almost impossible annihilation of a writer’s ego. Such elements, if tuned to an absolute pitch, enrich the content, add credibility and essentially broaden the scope of readership.


Schedule and clarity of mind — a cannot-do-without element. Lee contends, and I absolutely agree, that trying to find the best time when you are usually able to sustain a clear mind and vision about your work is extremely essential to the creative process.


Embarking on a writing journey, in many ways, resembles being possessed by a devil (cliché time); that is, your drive to write and rewrite and revise until you can’t do it anymore and then do it all over again. In short, your drive behind writing should surely be beyond whim.


Hemingway did it! — A writer, especially a novelist, being a creator of unique vivid stories, should seek life outside books. After all, a novel, by definition, is a unique piece of storytelling which by and large appears entirely from the writer’s point of view. And the best way to acquire the latter in that sense is to go out and immerse yourself in real life events. I should mention also that, arriving at this very specific section, my respect and appreciation for the author reached a crescendo because it was clear that the author genuinely took the time to explain enough the idea of immersion and its importance on aspiring writers and how you can actually start experimenting with it.

This is specific to storytelling but also partially to essays, articles; basically, to all nonfiction writing to a great extent— Riveting and memorable are elements usually found in scenes and not stale telling. A writer who tells, his work is more likely to leave a fleeting impression on the reader. However, a writer who shows, detail-emanates, and image-manifests— all usually happening through building scene blocks, brings the reader to a world of images which results in seamless and entertaining conveying of information and truths. — And while we are still at it, according to the author, you should always make sure that a scene should always contain some kind of action — either going backward or forward or downward or upward but never still. Of course, there will be information blocks or semi-information blocks — i.e., scene blocks imbedded with new information; however, the transition, the collision between these different blocks should have a silky feel to it. This way, the reader smoothly dances between total engagement and semi-engagement— by the latter I mean applying their minds to new information.

Finally, a point that I appreciated more than anything else is the fact that the author couldn’t stress more the importance of capturing vivid and meticulous details in scenes, regardless of the genre.

[Yaaresse]

DNF - Our library closes for extensive renovations this week, and so any checked-out print books will have to be returned to a distant branch after Friday. I got to page 155, and my overall impression is "meh." I'm not interested enough in this book to either speed-read it or hunt down another format.

My purpose in reading it was to better understand why "creative non-fiction" has become A Thing and why its proponents seem to think the good old general term "non-fiction" is no longer good enough for them. One hint that this wasn't going to happen is when the author listed several examples of what he considers "great" creative non-fiction, and I recognized half of the books as ones I loathed specifically because the author made the book more about themselves than the subject they claimed to be covering. Given that, it should not have surprised me that this book also is crammed full of first-person preening and I, me, my language. (And what's the deal with going on and on about the ex-wife in the beginning chapters? Of all the examples that could be used, that felt slightly passive-aggressive and a little skeevy.) If I had wanted to read about him, I would have just gone to his website.

On the plus side, he's very clear about the rule "Don't make up stuff and don't present your opinion as fact." I can think of some news outlets -- as in most of them -- that should have that tattooed on the palms of all their writers' and anchors' hands so they are constantly reminded of it.

(Since I got 40% through this and skimmed another 10% of it, I'm counting it as read.)

[Judd Street · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, readable, and engaging little introduction to writing creative non-fiction by Lee Gutkind.

At its core, "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" encourages would-be creative non-fiction authors to think critically about their use of scenes. Gutkind centres these vignettes at the heart of what creative non-fiction is all about, arguing that good authors orient their life towards capturing these moments (both through intentional immersion and just choosing interesting life opportunities) and make heavy but strategic use of them in their writing. The book covers a variety of issues, like pacing the various stories you want to use and dealing with reconstruction/recreation.

Gutkind also heavily emphasizes rewriting, rewriting, and rewriting until the text is at the quality you're chasing. In particular, I found Gutkind's mechanistic approach to thinking about the structure of the article/book very helpful, as opposed to the style or line-by-line editing. I think I often let the structure emerge organically, and I found Gutkind's push to consider structure more explicitly really helpful... even if I was left wanting more tips and tricks by the end.

I will admit: I did find his frequent self reference to being the "godfather" of creative non-fiction to be a little off-putting. I think it was intended to be self-depreciating and tongue-in-cheek, but it came across as just a little too sincere throughout.

All told, though, I found this to be a very useful guide. Makes me wish I had been able to be part of the To Think, To Write, To Publish cohort while I was at ASU, because I think one-on-one mentorship would help pick up where this book left off.

[L L · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband makes fun of me, because my most common critique of nonfiction books is that "The author's tone got annoying." How ironic that about 15 or 20 pages into a book about writing creative nonfiction, I found the author's tone annoying. I should have known better for a book with a title that contains a contraction and second person pronoun. I suppose Gutkind was deliberately trying to take a conversational tone, appropriate for a how-to book.

Despite my annoyance with the author's tone, as someone trying to pass her pandemic days, trying to figure out what she wants to write, this book was an excellent overview of the genre of creative nonfiction. While I have read many books in this genre, I had never read anything describing what the genre is, how to think about it, and how to actually write it.

The second half of the book that delves into the actual craft of writing is much stronger than the first half. It offers practical advice on how to write, that is both simple and wise: write regularly and revise lots. It encourages people to read nonfiction with a writer's eye-- understanding the choices that the writer has made. Gutkind structurally analyzes several moving creative nonfiction essays (these essays alone make the book worth reading), including an essay of Gutkind's that is actually not annoying and well-written, so that you can gain a better understanding of how the writer crafted the piece.

An excellent introduction to learning how to write creative nonfiction.