It's Been Real =)

             Well this is it. This is my last blog entry for this class and for the foreseeable future.  I would like to say that this has been a fantastic class.  Your [Dr. Morris] advanced comp class has been hands down the best writing class that I have had in my time at Kutztown University, granted my time has been rather brief.  However, I do not see any class supplanting it anytime soon. I can honestly say that your class has made me a better writer. Such the growth is obvious to me when I compare a piece of my work from last semester to a piece from your class (which I have actually done). Your class has pushed me and rewarded me. It has taught me to be more confident in my writing.  It has taught me to silence my inner critic and to take risks with my writing and for that I am grateful.

 I would also like to say that you did a fantastic job, especially with our three hour class. You managed to keep it upbeat fun and interesting. That is something I cannot say for the professors of my other three hour classes. I particularly enjoyed the writing prompts we did before each class. I also appreciated the amount of freedom you gave us when it came to writing our papers.  The papers I wrote for your class were actually the only ones I enjoyed writing this semester and, I must note  that I have written much more than one cares to over the course of this semester. I enjoyed the material we covered throughout the semester as well.  You introduced me to what I think is my new favorite genre, creative non-fiction. I had not even heard of creative non-fiction before taking your class.  So I suppose I can add broadening my horizons to the list of positive things your class did for me.  You are a great professor and you ran a great class. I would defiantly recommend that students take your class. I wouldn’t change a thing about our class if I had the opportunity to. Thank you for a great semester.   

Responsibility to Subjects

          We live in a sue happy world these days. Everyone is suing everyone else over matters big and small alike.  It is a dangerous world for writers now a day because of this. As a writer you must be careful not to misrepresent or misquote someone. God forbid you do not obtain their permission to include them in your work first.  If you are guilty of any of the mentioned you can consider yourself one sued author. As an author you are held accountable for being fair and true to all your subjects. I find the best way to avoid any legal ramifications is to simply stick to the truth and nothing but the truth. The pressure writers are under these days does not only come from the legal system.

As the times continue to move forward and become more open so have authors. Authors are pushing the envelope further and further when it comes to their content. They are writing about the scandalous, indecent and outrageous nothing is off limits. As Authors continue to write about increasingly controversial matters they find themselves being put under immense pressure by their subjects. Nobody wants to be exposed or humiliated so people  look for any way possible to get back at the author, whether it be through the legal system or not.

Many authors write about private family matters these days as well. Some authors do not bother get permission from their family members beforehand either; perhaps they do not feel they need to.  I can’t imagine there is a worse way to find that your private family matters have been shared with the world than having to read them yourself.  I think that an author should get permission from everyone weather their family or not before they write about them. The best way to avoid any hot water or sticky situations is to let the people you write about read your work before you publish it. If they do not like the way that they are portrayed then the author should fix it. It’s the author’s responsibility to be as true as possible to his or her subjects.  

Memoir Craze

      

     What is with everyone writing memoirs these days? I don’t get it; does everyone really have a story to tell? Well the simple answer to that question is no. Even if you are a fantastic writer that doesn’t mean you should write a memoir.  More than likely you are not as interesting as you think you are, sorry to break it you. So please save us your life story, we are not interested. Everyone is getting in on the craze lately, from Hollywood’s elite Paris Hilton to the Nation Football League’s Tim Tebow. I find that it is worth noting that neither of these people is over the age of 30. Now let’s get real. I mean how much can a person do in their life before they are even half way through it and, how much of that stuff is actually worth hearing about.  I mean come on! Paris Hilton of all people. Really? What does she possibly have to write or rather have written for her because we all know she didn’t write her memoir herself? That is another thing that grinds my gears, it’s a memoir, it is your story (no matter how boring it is) so you should at least write it. It is not a biography (a book about you written by another). I think that if you want to tell your so-called story so bad, you should have to actually write it.    

      I can see if you have been through a particular traumatic event or have accomplished something great in your life and, you want to tell people about it but, most likely you haven’t. So for God’s sake stop writing memoirs!  Do you really think that you are that great are you really that narcissistic?  Although, I suppose that you have to be a little bit of a narcissist to write a memoir in the first place. After all it is a book about one’s self but, I digress. Memoirs should be left to those that actually have a story to tell, an interesting one at that.  I’ll admit it, my life isn’t that interesting. Why can’t more people be so modest?  I am not saying that there are not good memoirs out there worth reading, I’m sure there is a ton.  Some people just need to realize that there story isn’t one of them.    

Creative Non-Fiction or Simply Creative Fiction?

             Creative Non-Fiction?  Creative Non-Fiction is a cruel mystery.  When this semester first started off I was under the impression that creative non-fiction was simply news report or an interview with fictional elements sprinkled in.   I realize now that I was sadly mistaken. I originally that ought that on the creative non-fiction spectrum that it fell closely to the journalism end. However as the classes came and went the more I was exposed to creative non-fiction and I realize yet again, I was sadly mistaken. Not only does creative non-fiction not hug the journalism end of the spectrum but, it doesn’t even have a defiant place on the spectrum.  Which bugs me to no end but, that’s just my acute O.C.D. kicking in.   Creative non-fiction is one of life’s mysteries if I do say.

However, I understand why it’s impossible to place creative non-fiction on the spectrum.  Every work is different. Every author is different; some take more “creative liberties” than others.  Which brings me to the question, what is too much? At what point is it no longer considered non-fiction? I suppose only the author really knows the answer to that question. How much creative license does the author have?  I think this mystery aspect hurts the overall genre of creative non-fiction. It is easy for readers to doubt or question the truth of what they are reading. After all it is not completely unheard of for an author to fabricate his or her work, such dishonestly also hurts the credibility of creative non-fiction.  I know as a reader I do not want to be lied to. If what I’m reading has “non-fiction” anywhere in the title it damn well better have happened. Granted it could still be a good story, I just want to know if it actually happened. I want to know if real people actually experienced the events that captivated me. It gives the story a certain appeal to know that it actually happened. Perhaps that is why some authors try to pass their work off as creative non-fiction when in reality it is nothing more than the product of their imagination.  

Tape Recorder Vs. The Pen

     

Ahh the classic debate of is it better to use a tape recorder or hand write notes during an interview.  From the interviewers point of view I would rather take advantage of technology and use the tape recorder. However, I admit that I would use it out of pure and simple laziness. I do not believe that the use of a tape recorder holds any advantages over the classic pen and paper. Many say the use of a tape recorder allows the interviewer to maintain eye contact with the interviewee. However, I argue that with practice it’s just as easy to maintain eye contact while writing. Also you have to look at it from the interviewee’s point of view. Would you appreciate it if someone jammed a tape recorder in your face and interrogated you?  I do not think so. The whole process can actually be kind of intimidating and make the subject quite uncomfortable. Not to mention that there is always the possibly of the technology failing and losing all of your saved information. Technology fails all the time; I would not risk my entire interview on it. Another advantage of the good old fashion pen and pad of paper is the ability to take side notes with discretion. You can note aspects of the settings, facial expressions of the interviewee, tone of voice or even what they are wearing. You can write down anything that interests you or anything you find to be of value. As opposed to a tape recorder where the interviewer would have to either stop the interview or wait until after the interview is over in order to make any form of side note.  Tape recording can also land you in some serious hot water if you are not careful.  The law states that you must be sure to make the person you are recording aware that they are being recorded or they can reserve the right to sue you.  This is not a hypothetical situation either, it has happened in the past. It is essentially the same thing as bugging someone’s telephone.             

Million Dollar Writing Prompt

 It was your typical rainy night in Kutztown. I was walking back from my Wednesday night class with a miserable scow on my face; I couldn’t wait to get back to my room and curl up in my bed. I was almost to my dorm when I tripped over a soggy lump in the middle of Main Street. Luckily my night class gets out at nine o’clock so no one was around to see me splash into a puddle in the middle of the street. I sat up and looked at the lump; it was a brown burlap bag. I picked it up, it was heavy. I couldn’t just leave it in the road so I took it to the sidewalk an opened it up out of curiosity. I was amazed at what I saw it was full of cash, all $100 dollar bills!  I jammed the sack into my book bag and hurried to my dorm and stuck it in my hamper full of dirty clothes. I hid it there until I could transport it back home where I gave half of it to my mother so she could fix up the house; pay off the mortgage and her car payment amongst other bills. I wasn’t so responsible with my half.  The first thing I did was buy a brand new car; no longer would I drive a p.o.s that barley got me to the end of the block. The second purchase I made was a new bed, a large comfy bed.  I couldn’t stand sleeping in a bed that my feet hung off of and was about as soft as plywood. The third thing I did was throw a massive party for me and all my friends, much to the discretion of my mother, who I had to pay off.  Luckily I wised up as my funds began to dwindle and i quickly paid off all of my student loans. I put the rest aside for the grossly overpriced textbooks I would need to buy over the next two years. Any remaining funds went into my “rainy day” collection. Never again would I be bored on a rainy day.                         

Lyric Essay!?!?

What is a Lyric essay? That’s exactly what I wanted to know, after reading about It I was still unsure what exactly it was.  Since I was still confused I decided to look up some actual examples of lyric essays. What I found was essentially a poem, an abstract one at that. I knew what I was reading was about a fossil because of the title. However, it wasn’t made clear to me until after I had finished the entire thing and I took a step back to take it all in. Then it hit me, the whole essay was simply describ9ng the fossil laying in the dirt.  A lyric essay is supposed to make you question what you’re reading and where it is headed. So it was actually quite appropriately ironic that I was confused about what lyric essay is when I was reading about it. Looking back I actually find it quite humorous. A lyric essay can be about absolutely anything, a flower, a bug, ice-cream, a memory, a metaphor or a simile, anything at all. There are no rules on how to construct one. The one I read was constructed of one word sentences and fragments separated by commas.  While it may read like a poem is it’s far from it. It doesn’t need a rhyme scheme, or have a certain amount of syllables per line or anything like that. I like to describe the lyric essay as the missing link between a poem and an essay, the bridge between poetry and prose.   I personally like the whole concept a lot and decided to try and create a lyric essay of my own (a short one).

  Once bright and burning like the sun.  Sweet, elegant and stood sturdy in the wind.

A shadow of its former.  Aged. Gray and dull. Wispy and frail, soon to be swept to the heavens.

Death is swift. Sudden. Off with its head. Shattered and scattered. Up and away its spirit flows. 

(My Lyric essay about a dandelion)