Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction

Okay, so I'm not a writer. I don't even play one on TV. I'd LIKE to be a writer, but beyond a few stories, I'd like to tell, I possess no formalized tools (read: haven't taken any creative writing classes AND probably didn't pay enough attention in English 101 - much to my regret) to get those stories out.That's why I liked "Keep it Real." Mr. Gutkind and his team of contributors have assembled several constructive articles regarding necessities for "Creative Nonfiction." Much of what they share moves beyond the Creative Nonfiction genre and can inform the work of the fiction writer.While the order of the brief articles seemed random (they're alphabetical, dummy!) I frequently found myself underlining passages to which I would want to refer as I worked through future projects. Within a couple of days, I was back in the book, rereading an underscored passage or two.As I rewrite something that was "perfect" before, as I mold a journal entry into a memoir piece, heck, even as I take notes for a possible idea, many of the tenets of "Keep it Real" guide my efforts and help make my efforts more succinct and efficient. I have license now to be more critical of my work:"Take a highlighter and yellow in the scenes. If half your essay, more or less, is not glaring and blaring back at you in yellow (I use green), that's a red flag, a warning that your essay may not be infused with enough narrative to compel a reader onward." (page 141) That one piece of advice is more than worth the price of admission for me.Perhaps this is not the volume for a student in an MFA program or for someone who is studying writing in a formal program. But for someone with a story to tell who is looking for tips and coaching about how to tell it, this book deserves an easily accessible place on the shelf. You'll be referring to it often.

I strongly recommend "Keep It Real", an anthology of essays by various experts on how to write Creative Nonfiction. The book details every conceivable writing tool needed for the writer of this nouveau literary genre. Lee Gutkind, the editor, is the purported grandfather of Creative Nonfiction.Originally, I adjudged Creative Nonfiction as an embellishment--inserting fictional facts with flamboyant color into an otherwise true story to round out its rough edges and instill it with vivid life. I viewed this strange new genre as a stretching of truth into virtual fiction."Keep It Real" set me straight. Its integrity as nonfiction remains intact. This new genre awakens the dry experience of Journalism, as depicted by publications like the "The New York Times", by inserting emotion and color into lifeless facts. It maintains accurate prose about real people and events, while painting dry facts with drama and imagination. The nonfiction writer, as a factual reporter, enters inside the mind of the protagonist, not through fictional embellishment or psychic guesswork, but through true depictions of that person's actions, expressions, and words. Likewise, the writer can be an interactive character in the story with the license to express his own personal thoughts, feelings, and perceptions through a depiction of his own behavior and reactions. The story reads like lively fiction, but tells the truth.My memoir-in-progress, which I had initially labeled Nonfiction Narrative, is really Creative Nonfiction.A potpourri of essayists, each allocated their own chapter in "Keep It Real", covers the elements of composite characters, quote compression and restatement, frames, characterization, immersion into another's point of view, fact-checking, libelous issues, and etc., including etc. about etc."Keep It Real", though not creative nonfiction itself, reads quickly, colorfully, and entertainingly, while remaining highly educational. Only 160 pages, the soft paper and font size are an easy read for the impatient author, like me, eager to learn the genre's craft quickly.Read it, and get published someday.

Overall, this is a very useful text, although there are some small problems with it.First the good. The chapters are specific and don't waste the reader's time with an excessive amount of examples. It is clearly written, makes many good points, and covers the basics of writing creative nonfiction.The drawbacks is in organization. The chapters are not numbered, although there is a table of contents that uses the chapter titles. Also, while the book is edited by Gutkind and there is a list of contributors, there names are not in the chapter headings. Finally, the organization could use work. Some of the chapters seem randomly placed. Arranging the chapters by subject would help.

The topics covered in this book are definitely important for anyone who wants to start writing creative nonfiction, but I found the treatment of each topic to be too brief and general. It's not a long book, or an expensive one, and I suppose you get what you pay for, but I wished the chapters where much more in-depth.

As someone who writes creative nonfiction, I have had for years questions swirling around in my mind that I didn't quite know how to articulate, but that made me uncomfortable. This book helped me to articulate those questions, and to answer them. I can't be more grateful to Gutkind and the other contributors to his work.

This will be useful if I ever get around to writing as I'm urged to do. Has been helpful in the other writing I do.

An excellent resource for anyone interested in reading, writing or teaching creative non-fiction. Reinforced my appreciation for the genre. This one comes highly recommended!

Educational; awesome read. Value is great.