Advanced Creative Nonfiction: The Narrative Voice

A strong narrative voice is essential to all compelling creative writing. This workshop, which focuses sharply on point of view, is for memoirists, essayists, and writers of creative nonfiction who wish to develop their own distinct narrative voices. Students are encouraged to experiment with narrative styles outside of their custom, and to use humor, digression, and other techniques to hook readers and editors. As we review each other's work, we discuss how the selection of detail is an expression of the narrator's psychology. What's driving the telling of the story? What are the hidden narrative motivations that are keys to its theme? We draw inspiration from creative nonfiction masters such as Virginia Woolf, Lia Purpura, Katherine Boo, Charles D'Ambrosio, Brent Staples, and Joan Didion.