Hey Workshoppers,
Today we’re serving up a delicious buffet of creative lessons from our (massive!) Forever Archive — a super easy way to find something that’s perfectly suited to your writing needs!
In particular, we’re looking at creative non-fiction in all its many forms — from the humble newsletter to the deep and meaningful personal essay. We’ve got prompts to get you started, techniques to help you tell your truth, and expert insights to hone your narrative voice and create powerful prose…
We love CNF here at The Forever Workshop, and we know a lot of you do too, so here’s our highlight reel:
A Creative Non-Fiction Toolkit
We want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth — buuuut also make it readable and interesting and personable and and informative and funny and bonus points if it makes us cry.
We’re not asking much from non-fiction, are we? Thankfully, we’ve got a whole load of expert guidance from seasoned non-fiction authors to help us.
Where to Start With CNF
Let’s begin with an intro to the personal essay and three effective ways to find your way into a story from Andrea A. Firth’s Finding Your Essay’s Heartbeat Workshop:
P.S. This workshop really is your go-to for all things personal essay — from structure to POV and narrative voice to getting to the core of the truth you’re trying to express.
According to Courtney Kocak (incredibly comprehensive) workshop, every writer needs a newsletter (oh hey, that’s you!), which can be the perfect low-stakes place to start exploring creative non-fiction… Here’s how:
Plus there’s SO much more advice on finding your voice, niche, and audience, and all the logistics of launching, running and maybe even monetising a newsletter. Binge-read the full workshop here.
Or if you’re just figuring out what kind of CNF you wanna explore, try a little introspection, observation and reflection in Andrea A. Firth’s Quiet Writing Workshop
The weird thing about CNF is that despite having a whole lifetime of experiences to draw from, sometimes it’s hard to know what to write about… So here are a few unusual idea-sparking exercises to get you going:
Experimental CNF Prompts
Develop your dialogue skills with a little light eavesdropping and use overheard conversations to springboard fresh ideas for your non-fiction (and your fiction!). Lauren Veloski’s Dialogue Workshop might seem like an unlikely place to find CNF inspiration, but it’s full of psychological insights into personal relationships, dynamics, and conflict — all of which are vital for delving into your own real life stories…
Non-fiction that isn’t afraid to get right to the root of real life scary stuff us can be incredibly powerful, moving — or even hopeful. In Kayla Kumari‘s Freaky Flash Workshop, this brilliant prompt shows us “how horror can help us understand the harms, monstrosities, and evil in the real world”:
And another flash fiction-based exercise (because CNF flash is a huuuuge genre to tap into, if that’s your thing) by yours truly Jo Gatford — because if you’re finding it too hard to write about a sensitive subject, sometimes throwing a bit of absurdity into the mix can turn it into a bizarrely effective metaphor:
Ok, are we warmed up? Do we know what kind of CNF we’re trying to write? Next, let’s go even deeper and develop those drafts until they truly reflect your voice and your story:
Getting to the Heart (& Truth) of Non-Fiction
Why do we read CNF? Because there’s something interesting, intriguing, and ultimately relatable to be found in another person’s truth. We want to see ourselves reflected, learn something, or find out how someone else got through the same shit we’re going through. Erin’s wonderful Creative Process Workshop shows us how:
Or maybe you find it easiest to tell real life stories with a dose of humor… Alex Baia’s Humor Writing Workshop has great advice on finding your voice through a funny, truthful essay — from observations on pop culture to personal revelations and life lessons. If your baseline is weird and awkward, you’re already half way there… ;)
We’ve all heard the advice ‘show, don’t tell’ for fiction, but it applies to non-fiction, too. Or, as Sophie Campbell puts it: “Show your depth; tell your truth.” Learn how to tell your story without over-telling, and show readers exactly what they need to see in your personal essays:
P.S. There’s a whole bunch of really useful tips on editing and polishing your writing in The Creative Copywriting Workshop — well worth checking out.
And, because we all need to be gentle with ourselves when writing about real life, some final wise words from Andrea A. Firth:
There’s so much more great advice and techniques to be found in all these workshops — so pick your starting point and get stuck in.
Then go write the story only you can tell.
Tell Us Your Best Bits:
In the spirit of this whole end-of-year-everything round-up, we want to hear about what you’ve learned (or what you can teach us!).
So here’s a question for you:
What’s the BEST piece of writing advice you’ve heard this year?
Tell us below:
Check out ‘My Mother Always Said I Tend To Pick Up Birds With Broken Wings’ on my page my most raw display of my own creative non fiction