#TBT: Nonfiction

Back when I first started this blog, I did a series of posts on nonfiction. I was about to start my MFA program and knew I’d be taking a creative nonfiction class that fall, and I was kind of freaking out about it, so I decided to write about it on my blog in the hopes that I’d learn something along the way.*

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been thinking about creative nonfiction lately, and it reminded me of these posts. So, without further ado, here is a (belated, hence the #TBT) round-up of my old posts on nonfiction!

In Part 1, I sort of meander through a general introduction into the genre and what I think/know/think I know about nonfiction.

In Part 2, I take a look at some definitions of the word “nonfiction” and compare and contrast “nonfiction” and “fact.”

Here’s Part 3, in which I narrow things down a bit and talk specifically about the “personal essay.”

Part 4 further compares the terms “nonfiction” and “fiction,” taking into account fact, historicity, and a bit of religion.

Finally, in Part 5 I wrap things up (kind-of) and emphasize the idea that nonfiction ≠ fact, which is what really makes it appealing to me in the first place.

I mention two important books in my musings, John D’Agata’s The Next American Essay and Phillip Lopate’s The  Art of the Personal Essay, both of which are phenomenal resources for learning about nonfiction. But I’ve read a number of nonfiction collections since then that I’ve found really interesting, so if YOU are interested in reading more/learning more about nonfiction, I highly recommend the following:

If you’re interested in nonfiction as it relates to blogs and the internet (and in reading some generally awesome pieces), check out Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded by John Scalzi.

If you’d like to read something experimental, try Reality Hunger: A Manifesto by David Shields.

If something intensely, almost painfully personal strikes your fancy, I highly recommend The Journals of John Cheever.

If quirkiness is more your thing, you might like Vanishing Point by Ander Monson.

If you’re looking for a good laugh, you should definitely read Me talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.

And if you just want to read something fascinating, disturbing, hilarious, introspective, and more, then read Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace. (In fact, if you haven’t read DFW, you need to immediately. Like now.)

So there you have it, a retroactive look at nonfiction. While the genre still interests me a great deal, I unfortunately do not have as much time as I’d like to read the fiction that I’d like, so nonfiction just inherently takes a back seat. I suppose I’ll get back around to it one day, but until then, this will have to do!

* Full disclosure: I was also hoping that as I wrote about nonfiction I’d somehow vomit up something I could use as one of my required essays for the class—writer’s laziness at its best! I did not end up doing that, but I do think I learned quite a bit as I wrote these posts, which ended up informing the pieces I actually did write for the class. Full circle type-stuff, I guess.

in which I talk about what I don't know about nonfiction (part 5)

I've talked about my basic impression of the genre, some definitions and the concept of fact vs. truth, some more definitions and the importance of the "attempt", and most recently one of the major barriers of nonfiction . . . but, at least for now, I think I'm going to wrap things up.  (I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject as I experience my nonfiction workshop class this fall, or read some of my much anticipated nonfiction reading-list*--but until then, this will be the not-quite-final-word.)

So:  here's some thoughts about John D'Agata's over-arching essay in his compilation The Next American Essay, which I found particularly interesting and insightful--specifically these quotes:

. . . despite the obvious abundance of documentation in nonfiction, some of the literature in this genre challenges that very presumption of fact.

This sums up exactly what I've been learning about nonfiction.  Nonfiction may be a lot of things, but it is not always factual.  It can be, of course, but the direction the essay is going right now is not towards the factual side of things--even though I think it is still an effective form of documentation. Where is it going?  Well, he goes on to pose these questions:

What happens when an essayist starts imagining things, making things up, filling in blank spaces, or--worse yet--leaving the blanks blank?  What happens when statistics, reportage, and observation in an essay are abandoned for image, emotion, expressive transformation?

So instead of going towards the factual side of things, the essay is going towards the imaginative, the emotional, the purely expressive.

And here we get to the creative process--one of the reasons I started creative writing in the first place, and one of the reasons I stayed away from nonfiction for so long.  But now I'm realizing that nonfiction can be just as creative as fiction (if not more so, in some ways).  It can be just as metaphorical, just as allegorical, just as exciting, just as lucid, just as stereotypical, just as boring, and just as emotional and crazy as fiction.

But, back to facts.  Here's more D'Agata:

There are now questions being asked of facts that were never questions before.  What, we ask, is a fact these days?  What's a lie, for that matter?  What constitutes an "essay," a "story," a "poem"?  What, even, is "experience"? 

Whatever a fact is, I don't think it is necessary for a piece of nonfiction. I think, instead, the only requirement is that--whatever it discusses, whether it is an emotion or an event or a lie or a misconception--it has to exist, or have existed.  And even that connotation is ambiguous.  Especially as nonfiction becomes more artistic, ethereal, and lyrical:

The lyric essay inherits from the principal strands of nonfiction the makings of its own hybrid version of the form. . . . Facts, in these essays, are not clear-cut things.  What is a lyric essay?  It's an oxymoron:  an essay that's also a lyric; a kind of logic that wants to sing; an argument that has no chance of proving anything.

The essay (and by extension nonfiction) is the neglected step-child of the writing family.  It doesn't prove anything with exactness, not like academic or scientific papers do.  Nor does it create something as wholly and with such wild abandon as fiction or poetry does.  But it does have one foot in each camp, and thus, in a lot of ways, the best of both worlds.

I found the following quote of interest because it was an afterward--despite discussing the title and, at least in my eyes, the overall significance and meaning of the compilation itself:

By "Next" is meant those essays that will be inspired by these.  By "American," of course, I mean the nation.  And by "Essay," I mean a verb.

The "next American attempt," or the "next American trial," or assay, or experiment, or conjecture.  Nonfiction, I think, is all about attempting to convey the human experience, in whatever way possible.  It is about trying to describe personal or terrible or terrific or ineffable things with a limited language--knowing that you'll fail, but succeeding just in the attempt.  Thats a big appeal of nonfiction to me, and that is why I think it is something I'll keep turning to as the years go by.

I think I'll even write a few pieces myself.

So watch out America.

* Including, but not limited to books by David Sedaris, John Scalzi, David Foster Wallace.

in which i talk about what I don't know about nonfiction (part 4)

Aaaand we're back--to nonfiction.

Our neighbors--with whom Raych and I are great friends--read "nonfiction" books almost exclusively.  For them this mostly means auto/biographies and memoirs.  I've discussed their preference of nonfiction over fiction with them a few times, and the general answer is always something along the lines of "most of these stories are just as interesting and exciting as those that happen in novels, but they happen to real people"--and somehow, that makes it better, although I've never quite been able to understand why.

Admittedly, I do agree with them to an extent.  There is a certain something about reading someone's story and knowing that it actually happened.  Nonfiction stories such as Gifted Hands and And There Was Light come to mind for me.  There's just a certain quality . . . I'm tempted to say its magical, but my gut tells me thats not the right word.  I mean, its more the opposite of magical, right?  Not the opposite of magical in that it is dull or boring of course, but the opposite of magical in that it is real.


And yet I can't help but think that by focusing on the "reality" of a story--meaning the factuality, the historicity of it--you lose something along the way.

Take Jesus's parables, for example, from the New Testament.  They're parables for crying out loud, not histories.  Of course there very likely existed in reality a samaritan who was mugged, and a sower who . . . sowed . . . at some point in time, and someone who sold all they had for a pearl, or someone who found his one sheep after leaving the other ninety-nine.  Whether Jesus had these specific people in mind is unclear, but what is clear is that the parables themselves are overwhelmingly considered fictive.  Whether they have any base in fact doesn't really matter--they're fiction, and their power doesn't lie in their real-ness.  They've been some of the most instructive stories (or short-shorts [or microfiction if you will--now thats an interesting concept]) that have ever been told.

And yet, if Jesus had told a story--

"And this really happened, guys," He said unto them, "And behold one of my best friends Henry had two sons, and the younger one said to the father . . ."

. . . and so forth (that's the [modified] beginning of the parable of the Prodigal Son, in case I've lost you--for the full parable you can look here or here), I don't think the parables would be as morally educational as they are.  "Poor Henry," we would say, and feel depressed at how much he suffered because of his wayward son Hubert, or how much Hubert himself suffered, or the neglected older son Haggus, or whatever.  But in many ways the lessons wouldn't quite hit home.  We would still see the same story, of course, and I think many of us would get the point.  But I don't think it would be as personal.  What I'm getting at is that nonfiction is inherently personal--but only for that one person whose story it is.  Whereas fiction is impersonal at first, when we understand that it has never happened to anyone really, but then as we get into it we start thinking "well, maybe this has never happened to anyone, but it actually could happen to anyone."

Are you following me on this?  Here's another example, although its a little biased on my part.

I'm Mormon (or, more properly, LDS).  As you may or may not know, the reason we have been labeled "Mormons" is because of the existence of the Book of Mormon.  I won't go into a full explanation of the book right now (although if you're interested, why don't you start here), but basically:  we believe that its similar to the Bible--a record of God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the American continents, inspired by God and written by prophets.  They key word in that description, as far as my current discourse goes, is "record."  We do believe that the Book of Mormon is an actual historical record of people who really existed two-to-three-thousand years ago.  In fact, I would say that a lot of Mormons's faith is somewhat reliant upon the idea that the Book of Mormon is "historical fact."

I had an interesting conversation with my father in-law the other day about the possibility of the Book of Mormon not being fact at all, but being more of a parable--still inspired by God, but not a historical document.

Honestly, I think a revelation like that (if it were to happen, which it has not) would shock a lot of Mormons, perhaps even snuff out their faith entirely.  If that's true, it's kind of both saddening and disappointing, as it means that a lot of people have placed far too much emphasis on the history of the document rather than its content. They've gotten so excited about the idea that it could have happened to real people that they forget that it is still meant to apply to us.


Now, I'm certainly not saying that nonfiction has no educational/moral/instructive value, because I truly believe it does.  And I'm not saying that fiction is inherently educational/moral/instructive either--because I don't think it always is, nor that it should be.  But I am saying that sometimes we get so excited about nonfiction being nonfiction that we forget what the actual story is, and/or what we could learn from it.  Whereas with fiction, although we have to get over that first barrier of realizing that it has never technically occurred and that it is not fact per se, we can realize its potential application to anyone.


My point is this:  sometimes fact, even if its just the pretense of fact, gets in the way of the inherent value of a piece of literature*.  We find it so interesting that this thing actually happened, or someone actually said this or thought these thoughts or felt these feelings, that we forget that the piece in and of itself is beautiful, inspiring, terrifying, or whatever.  What at first seems like a positive point of nonfiction, I think, becomes a negative if you look at it more closely.

Thats all for now, folks.  I'll finish up my thoughts about nonfiction shortly.


*  Of course, the same can be said of the suspension of disbelief found in varying degrees in fiction.  But thats a discussion for another day.

in which i talk about what i don't know about nonfiction (part 3)

Ah, nonfiction.  We have come so far, in such a short period of time.

Its amazing what reading a few books, perusing some definitions, and just pondering a subject for a while can do.  I feel much more intimate with the genre of nonfiction than I ever did before.  And overall it has been a pleasurable experience.

Let me briefly explain why the genre has been so prevalent in my mind lately.  I'm taking a creative nonfiction workshop class this fall--one of the first workshop classes I'll be taking officially as part of my MFA program (along with the YA Novel workshop class).

I was hesitant to enroll at first, mostly because I had hardly read any nonfiction--ever--let alone having tried to write something in the genre.

But I think I've come a long way.  Reading The Next American Essay and having started another nonfiction compilation entitled The Art of the Personal Essay has been very helpful.  Reading what some professionals think of the genre has helped me incubate my own opinions much more effectively.  I've even attempted my first (conscious) nonfiction piece--and I don't think its that terrible.  I have some ideas for other nonfiction projects that I'm excited about, hopefully they'll emerge from the darkness of my encephalon and see the light of my computer screen later this year.

So I feel like I've been learning a lot.

And now I want to talk about the personal essay.

It seems to me that the personal essay is the heart of creative nonfiction.  Auto/biographies, histories, etc. make great nonfiction, but I (personally) am much more concerned with the creative aspect of the genre--which seems to be aggregately piled under the heading of "personal essay" (although memoirs, debatably, exist there as well--sort of one-foot-in-the-creative-and-one-foot-in-the-general of nonfiction).  So I thought I'd look at the OED defenition of "essay" (again, I've bolded statements I found particularly interesting) . . .


OED, "Essay"
I. The Action or process of trying or testing.
1. a. A trial, testing, proof; experiment. b. The trial of metals.
2. A trial specimen, a sample, an example; a rehearsal.
3. a. assay. b. The part of a deer in which trial was made of the 'grease'; the breast or brisket.
4. A taste, or first taste, of food or drink presented to a great personage.
II. A trying to do something.
5. a. An attempt, endeavor. b. The result of an attempt.
6. A hostile attempt.
7. a. A first tentative effort in learning or practice. b. A rough copy; a first draft.
8. A composition of moderate length on any particular subject, or branch of a subject; originally implying want of finish, 'an irregular undigested piece', but now said of a composition more or less elaborate in style, though limited in range.


So.  An essay is an attempt, a trial, an endeavor.  I like that.  The idea of the essay as an attempt at addressing something (an issue, an emotion, an item, a person, a location, an idea, a religion, whatever) is intriguing, and humbling as well.  An essay is not definitive.  Its certainly not fact.  Its just a sincere attempt.  They're an effort made towards understanding.  And therein lies one of the most valuable qualities of nonfiction.  I don't know anybody who couldn't be more understanding or sympathetic in some area.  Many essays, in my opinion, are created to help the understanding (or at least the exploration) of a given topic, and thats a worthy objective--and quickly becoming one of my favorite attributes of creative nonfiction.

I also found the "rehearsal" and "rough copy/first draft" definitions interesting.  A "first attempt" at understanding things, as it were.  Hmmm.  So all of these musings about nonfiction I've been mulling over could be their very own personal essay, right?

Anyway, the point is:  Yoda, eat your heart out.  There sure as hell is a try, and its called the personal essay.

MFA programs

Its been a little too long since my last update--I'd like to have a new post every 1-2 days.  I'll try to work on that.  I have a lot of things I would like to talk about on this blog, but my own writing always comes first.  Sometimes after a day of writing I just don't have the energy or desire to blog.  (I don't blog in the morning for the same reasons--I don't want to drain any energy I could be putting into my own fiction writing).  That said, I would still like to update more.  A lot of it just comes down to discipline--something I need, perhaps more than anything (except tenacity) as a writer.

If you're paying attention to my progress bars, you may have noticed that I recently finished the first draft of my first nonfiction project.  WOOHOO!  I'm actually very satisfied with how it turned out.  There will definitely be some things to fix and address in revisions, but I think that its a pretty compelling piece, especially being my very first nonfiction.  We'll see how I feel about it in a few weeks, but I feel okay about it right now.

Also, as of today, the progress bar for "Sleep of Death 1.0" has also reached 100%!  Which means . . .

I'll be moving on to my second novel project--an attempt at a YA novel.  I'm pretty excited to get back to a novel--it is a lot easier to quantify my progress compared to shorter projects, and I feel like I'm accomplishing so much more.  So I'm pretty excited back into that project, starting tomorrow!

But, in the meantime, I'd like to talk about MFA programs.

This Fall I'll be starting an MFA program--that's a Masters in Fine Arts, in Creative Writing--at BYU, with a focus on fiction.  I'll go into more detail about this program specifically in a later post, but for now I'd like to talk about my experience applying to MFA programs, as well as some general ideas about them.

Two years ago (starting in the fall of 2008), I applied to four MFA programs.  Three of them were very competitive, one was not.  I didn't know anything about the application process, I barely did any research, and I barely spent any time applying to them.

I was rejected from all four of those programs.

That was the major reason why I took a year off between programs (something worth another blog post entirely).  I spent that year working and writing, as well as re-applying to some other MFA programs.  Thirteen MFA programs, to be precise.  Here they are, in list format:

1. University of Iowa
2. University of Michigan
3. University of California-Irvine
4. Syracuse University
5. University of Washington-St. Louis
6. University of Alabama
7. Arizona State University
8. Ohio State University
9. Brigham Young University
10. University of Nevada-Las Vegas
11. Sand Diego State University
12. Portland State University
13. University of Utah

A lot of high-end schools, some mid-listers, and a few wild cards and lesser-known programs.  But this time around, I was much more prepared.  I spent dozens of hours researching each school, preparing my personal statements (tailored to each program), filling out applications, studying for and re-taking the GRE, organizing letters of recommendation and, of course, working on my writing sample--the single most important component of the MFA Creative Writing application process.

You see, the selection of MFA students is incredibly subjective.  While med programs and dental programs and law programs and others all rely heavily on test scores (and/or GPAs, letters of recommendation, and personal statements), the writing sample is everything.  So, of course, I spent most of my time on that (my writing sample, if you're interested, was "In the Details," a story I wrote in early 2008--I may, if I feel so inclined, post it on the blog at some point, so keep your eyes open for it).

To make a long story slightly less long, I was rejected from 11 of those programs and accepted to two (BYU and Portland State).  Again, I'll elaborate on BYU's program and why I chose it in a later post.

So, you may be wondering:  Why did I spend so much time, effort, and money on these programs?  Is an MFA degree really that necessary in order to become a writer?

Well.  No, its not.  In fact, I don't think an MFA degree is at all necessary to becoming a published author.  The best education a writer can get is 1) by reading and 2) by writing.  In my opinion, those two things (along with tenacity and time) are the only necessities for becoming an author.  You don't need to take writing workshops or classes, you don't need to buy self-help books or special magazine subscriptions or anything, and you certainly don't need an MFA degree (although I won't deny the potential helpfulness of all of those things).

So, again you ask, why would I, Christopher Husberg, want an MFA degree if it isn't necessary?  Why spend all that time and money?

Well, for me there are two major reasons.  The first is derived from the fact that an MFA is a teaching degree--not a writing degree.  By obtaining an MFA I could technically teach at the University level--although I'll more than likely use it as a spring-board into a more "collegiately acceptable" PhD program--because, in all honesty, I've wanted to be a teacher, specifically of literature and writing, since high school.  My desire has always been to be a writer first and foremost, but teaching appeals to me as well.  So an MFA, in a way, is a tentative (and admittedly unreliable) form of job security (the second reason I applied).  If my writing career doesn't work out, or if it takes longer than I would like to get started, I have something else to fall back on (and an excuse to keep writing until I get something right).

I will admit that, if I weren't married, I probably wouldn't have made as much of an effort to get into an MFA program.  If I were single and only worried about myself, I probably would have tried to go straight into publication (which would have been good in some ways, and bad in others).  But I'm not single, I'm married, and although for now its just me and Rachel, I still have that responsibility.  I have a family that I need to (help) provide for.  I like to think that an MFA degree is a profession of my commitment to that responsibility.

But, also, an MFA program will be instructive and educational.  I do think that it will help me become a better writer.  Do I think I would have grown as a writer without an MFA program?  Yes.  But probably not in the same ways, and perhaps not as quickly.  One of the best things about an MFA program is that I'll be able to spend so much time writing.  And I really think that writing is the single most important thing a writer can do (I know that sounds idiotic, but if you're a writer you know exactly how true that statement is).  I'm sure I'll learn a great deal from workshops as well, and forays into the genres of nonfiction and poetry, and writing a thesis, and taking other classes.  But most of all, I'll be able to write.

And, of course, that's what I'm most excited about.

So.  There's some of my thoughts on MFA programs.  If, by chance, anyone reading this is thinking of applying to any Creative Writing MFA programs, I would highly recommend Tom Kealey's Creative Writing MFA Handbook.  I normally don't put a lot of stock into books of that type, but this one was genuinely helpful and informative, and an easy read.  I would highly recommend it to anyone considering applying to MFA programs (you could also check out the blog run by the same guy here).

Well, thats all for now.  Some things I'm excited to blog about in the near future:  Harry Potter, gender diversity, more about nonfiction, Apple products, and more.  Look forward to it.

in which I talk about what I don't know about nonfiction (part 2)

First of all, thanks to those of you (there were a few, more than I had expected! [but admittedly less than I had hoped]) who commented on my previous post.  I appreciate all comments, big and small!  And, if you do come up with any impressions on the subject, I am still open for suggestions.  Just comment on the same post here, or shoot me an email if you wish.  The first draft of the piece is nearly finished (as you can see in the progress bar :-)), but it IS only the first draft, and there is still much to work on, cut, and add.

And now, back to my musings on the genre of nonfiction.

I just want to cover some definitions and my opinions of them as I contemplate the conundrum of "nonfiction" (bolded terms and phrases are my own emphasis--things I found interesting). . .

*******

From the OED:
"nonfiction"
A.  n.  Prose writing other than fiction, such as history, biography, and reference works, esp. that which is concerned with the narrative depiction of factual events; the genre comprising this.
B.  adj.  Of, relating to, or consisting of non-fiction; non-fictional.

Webster's is much more simplistic:
"nonfiction"
:  literature or cinema that is not fictional.

From Dictionary.com:
1.  the branch of literature comprising works of narrative prose dealing with or offering opinions or conjectures upon facts and reality, including biography, history, and the essay (opposed to fiction and distinguished from poetry and drama).
2.  works of this class:  she had read all of his novels but none of his nonfiction.
3.  (esp. in cataloging books, as in a library or bookstore) all writing or books not fiction, poetry, or drama, including nonfictive narrative prose and reference works; the broadest category of written works.

And, of course, trusty wikipedia:
Non-fiction or nonfiction is an account, narrative, or representation of a subject which an author presents as fact.  This presentation may be accurate or not; that is, it can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question.  However, it is generally assumed that the authors of such accounts believe them to be truthful at the time of their composition.  Note that reporting the beliefs of others in a non-fiction format is not necessarily an endorsement of the ultimate veracity of those beliefs, it is simply saying that it is true that people believe that (for such topics as mythology, religion).  Non-fiction can also be written about fiction, giving information about these other works.

*******

So.  Non-fiction is not fiction.  Okay, obvious.  Right?  But even that simple term might go somewhere deeper than we think it does (or, rather, deeper than I ever thought it did).  It is not a dichotomy of fact vs. fiction.  It is far more accurately a label:  "everything that is not fiction."

Which is not to say that nonfiction must be FACT.  According to dictionary.com it can offer "opinions and conjectures upon facts and reality."  Ah.  Opinions and conjectures.  Well, those aren't fictional.  But they certainly aren't always factual, either (usually aren't, in my experience).

And, of course, wikipedia introduces the concept of accuracy--whether the opinion, conjecture, or "fact" is indeed an accurate representation or not.  But then the question itself is unnecessary, at least when determining nonfiction.  Whether its accurate or not doesn't matter; it is still nonfiction.  (I'm especially drawn to the last statements from the wikipedia entry.  The current nonfiction project I'm working on regarding views on Mormonism and its folklore, is not "an endorsement of the ultimate veracity of those beliefs, it is simply saying that people believe that" [not the most eloquent way of putting it, but it does express the basic premise of my project, and its validity as nonfiction].)

I'm coming to realize that therein lies the genre's beauty.  Nonfiction doesn't have to be fact, it doesn't have to be true.  It just has to . . . be.  It has to exist, prior to its conception in words.  Whether that existence itself is a lie or inaccurate or whatever, simply doesn't matter.

I've more thoughts on nonfiction, but I'll save them for another day.  Pica pica, as they say in Sicily.

help me out here

So, if there IS anyone out there listening to this here blog, and willing to respond, I'd like some input on something . . .

The nonfiction piece I'm working on right now has to do with Mormon/Latter-day Saint culture and how it is viewed, both from within and without the Mormon church, as well as some aspects of Mormon folklore.

So, if anyone would like to tell me what they think about the Mormon/LDS Church, I would love to hear it.*

They can be true or untrue, outrageous or plausible, ambiguous or certain, or any number of things.  Really, I'm just looking for opinions, and as many as I have, even I run out of them sometimes.  So if you have a few to spare, or have heard an interesting one or three, let me know.

Some broad examples of things I'm looking for:  Mormons as polygamists, Mormons have horns, the three Nephites, Johnny Lingo, Mormons can't drink alcohol, Mormon Missionaries, Mormons go to BYU just to get married, brainwash their children, etc. . . .

If you are a member of the LDS Church, what are some interesting aspects of Mormon culture?  They can be funny, serious, controversial, or whatever.  Or what are some memorable Mormon folklore stories, or odd expectations, or anything?

If you are not a member of the LDS Church, what impressions do you have of Mormons in general?  What rumors/interesting facts/strange beliefs have you heard about them?

Or, if you haven't heard of the Mormon church at all, tell me that, too.  That is perfectly acceptable (and useful to me as well).

So . . . if there is anyone out there actually following this blog, I would love to hear some ideas.  If not, I'll survive.  I just thought I'd ask!

And, incidentally, if any of you are interested in what the heck I'm talking about or what Mormons REALLY believe/do/practice/whatever, the best sight I could direct you to is this one.  You can ask questions there, find out about our beliefs, and a lot more.

*  Here's some fine print:  Although I'm interested in all anecdotes, rumors, impressions, and what have you (really anything is valid), the point of this post is not to start a debate on any number of issues.  I will be including some things regarding Prop 8 in the piece, but I'm not interested in debating the topic right here, right now.  However, if you do have something interesting to say on the subject that you think I might be able to integrate into the piece, then by all means feel free to tell me it!  Controversial issues are, duh, controversial, and sometimes that is what makes them worth talking/writing about.  Thanks in advance for your input.

in which I talk about what I don't know about nonfiction (part 1?)

I've always enjoyed fiction.  Grew up with it, loved it.  And when it came to reading assignments for school, my least-hated of all of them were always novels and short stories, fiction of any kind.  And I've enjoyed writing fiction since I was a kid.

But nonfiction is something very different for me.  When I think of nonfiction I think of, first of all, memoirs.  I then think about autobiographies (and a few biographies).  My eyelids then start to droop.  I get sleepy.  Or bored, or frustrated, or depressed.  Don't take this the wrong way.  I've read some phenomenal memoirs and autobiographies (most of them, now that I'm thinking about it, come from the WWII era): Primo Levi's Se questo e un uomo (known in english as Survival In Auschwitz) and  Jacques Lusseyran's And There Was Light are predominant among others.  I think both of those works, and many others I've read, are wonderful, well-written, honest, and even (in Levi's case) horrifying or (in Lusseyran's case) inspiring.  I don't want to downplay the auto/biography.  I'm not as well read in the genre as I would like to be, but most of what I've read I have enjoyed, or at least found worth reading.

But generally, I just don't enjoy the genre as much as a good old-fashioned fiction.

Essays are next in my stream of nonfiction-thought.  And when I think of essays, I think first of 5 paragraphs and then of AP tests and then of college research papers.  And then I break into a cold sweat because, as much as I love writing, one of the most important things my undergraduate career taught me was that I didn't want to write academic papers for a living.  I've written some papers, essays, and theses I'm proud of.  I've even enjoyed the process a few times.  But, for whatever reason (and this is a topic for another post entirely), I don't find it as rewarding as the fiction-writing process.

Essays, of course, have other meanings, too.  In fact, in my experience almost any form of nonfiction that isn't strictly an autobiography or a memoir falls under the ambiguous form of essay, and they can be much more organic and unfettered than my original thoughts of the form.  In fact, they're what have come to monopolize most of my opinions of nonfiction.  I'm currently reading The Next American Essay, a collection of essays from America's past 30 years or so, and as boring and useless as some of them seem to me, there are a surprising number that make me feel good things and think interesting thoughts.  I'm a fan of that sort of thing when I read, and to have it happen while I read "nonfiction" was like eating broccoli and finding out it tastes like european chocolate.  It was delicious, but slightly disturbing.

And I must return briefly to the memoir.  The autobiography without context.  The scene from the life of fill-in-the-blank.  The significant moment, or the insignificant one.  Can't take the memoir out of the equation.

And what about all the other forms of nonfiction?  I'm sure there are some I'm not even considering, of which I've never heard.  Travelogs?  Journals?  Histories?

And then the lines just start to blur in my head--not only between auto/biography, essay, memoir, and other, but also between nonfiction and fiction in general.  I mean, really.  What is the difference?  Where does fact come into play, and fiction?  Is there really much of a difference between the two?  "Don't be an idiot, Chris," you say, "its easy--the difference between nonfiction and fiction is that one is FACT and the other is FICTION."  Uh-huh.  But I'm not so sure in some cases.  In The Next American Essay I've come across a number of essays that I can't help but assume are fictional, and the realization has jarred my view of nonfiction as a genre.

Of course I'm not talking extremes, here.  I think there's a fact-fiction difference between a science fiction novel and an essay discussing the mating habits of butterflies (although there are even similarities on that extreme a dichotomy that I'm tempted to argue).  But what about the short story based solidly in personal experience (write what you know, right?)?  Or what of an essay written about the mating habits of hippogriffs?

And, in my opinion my most daunting question:  does one tell the "truth" more than the other?  Is one form more honest than the other?  Does the distinction really matter at all?

Hmmm.  These are some questions that have been on my mind lately.  What do you think, loyal readers*?  What defines nonfiction?  How does it compare to fiction?  Is one more enjoyable than the other?  More truthful?

I'll discuss this more in a later post, but I also want to talk about some books that I've read, my opinions on the iPad as a tool for a writer, MFA programs, and a bunch of other stuff in the meantime.  But I'll get to it soon.  This was more of a warm-up of sorts.

Until then, I'll keep reading this nonfiction stuff, hoping I get a grasp on it.

*  This is, for the most part, a rhetorical question.  I realize that I could probably count the number of people who have read anything on this blog on one hand, and I'm not sure if any of those people are even interested in nonfiction.  But I could have a readership large enough to say things like that one day, right?  Might as well start those habits now.  And of course, if you are reading this and DO happen to have a comment or answer to any of my questions, spit it out!