The Memoir Revolution

Category: Writing

June 1, 2010

Interview about the relationship between literature and life

Author Interview, Literary Non-fiction, Literary Publication

author, father, grieving, interview, Literature, memoir, professor, son

Literature can teach us important lessons about life; it can give us strength, as you suggest. When we read good literature, we realize we are not alone. We learn about empathy, about ourselves and about others. As the story unfolds, our own lives unfold. We see ourselves and others, understand the complexity of human character,…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
March 23, 2010

Author and creative writing teacher helps me steer between fact and fiction

Author Interview, Cultural community, Immigration Experience, Literary Non-fiction, Philadelphia Regional

Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, memoir, notebook, Philadelphia, truth

My characters are not composites, although I suppose they are sometimes inspired by particular traits I do observe in people in the real world. My characters seem like real people to me, and so I often spend a lot of time just thinking about them in my mind before I commit them to paper. I…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
December 31, 2009

Author Interview: Curtis Smith talks about publishing in Literary Journals

Author Interview, Literary Non-fiction, Literary Publication

Author Interview, Creative Nonfiction, Curtis Smith, essay, Literary Journals, literary nonfiction, Philadelphia Stories, Publishing, Short Story

At this year’s Philadelphia Stories Push to Publish conference, Curtis Smith played an important role, by throwing in a few choice comments about how much fun writing is. (To read more about his comments, click here ). One of the parts of writing that seemed to be working especially well for Curtis was his regular…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
December 4, 2009

Looking for the onramp at Philadelphia “Push To Publish” writer’s conference

Literary Non-fiction, Literary Publication, Philadelphia Regional

conference, Creative Nonfiction, Literary Journals, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Stories, Publish, Writers

by Jerry Waxler At the Philadelphia Stories’ “Push to Publish” conference in the Fall of 2009, I peered into a room filled with cabaret tables, each with an editor on one side and an empty chair on the other. Christine Weiser, who along with Carla Spataro organized the conference, stood guard at the door. When…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
April 9, 2009

Reading error teaches a writing lesson – or – A good character is hard to define

Literary Non-fiction, My own life, Writing Workshop

character development, Creative Nonfiction, Family, How-to, memoir, Short Story, Writing

Part of relating to a good story is to feel a personal connection with its characters. Now I need to develop the knack of portraying the people in my life onto the pages in my memoir. I have attended workshops, and read how-to books about this skill, but it has been eluding me until recently…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
March 25, 2009

Fiction built on a foundation of real life

Immigration Experience, Literary Non-fiction, Philadelphia Regional

Coming of age, Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, immigrant, melting pot, Philadelphia, Short Story, South Philly, story, truth

Fiction seems entirely different from memoirs. And yet, when I carefully compare the two forms, I discover they are intimately connected, each breathing life into the other. A good memoir is more than just a raw dump of facts. It generates dramatic tension by using fiction techniques like suspense and character development. And the support…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
January 22, 2009

Stylistic innovation in Sean Toner’s clown story

How-to, Literary Non-fiction, Literary Publication

Creative Nonfiction, How-to, humor, Literary Non-fiction, literary style, writing tips

By focusing tightly on each moment he brought me into his world, endowing scenes with color and character, creating depth of emotion and variety of insight. Toner’s exquisite attention on small details provided me with so much pleasure I was sorry to see it end.

Written by

Jerry Waxler
November 12, 2008

Style, humor, and other tips from Doreen Orion’s Travel Memoir

Author Interview, How-to, Literary Non-fiction

Alice Sebold, Doreen Orion, humor, memoir, style, Writing

Lots of artists have tried to represent a starry sky, but few of their paintings became famous. What was it about Van Gogh’s rendition that was more popular than everyone else’s? The difference is not in what he painted but how. Style makes a difference in writing, too. Lots of people write about motoring around…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
September 22, 2008

Seeing History Through The Eyes of One Man

Biography, Book Review, Literary Non-fiction

Chairman Mao, China, Foster Winans, history, Ji Chaozhu, memoir, world peace

Ji Chaozuh’s memoir offers a crash course in the history of modern China, provided through the eyes of a man who was in the thick of it. Ji was an English translator for the two main characters of Communist China, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. Ji Chaozhu was present during some of the most powerful…

Written by

Jerry Waxler
October 18, 2007

Memoir writing tips from 60’s singer Dee Dee

60’s, Book Review, Literary Non-fiction

While the book contains many celebrity scenes, on stage and hobnobbing with stars, she also shows me her life as a real person: what it was like for her as a young girl, surrounded by the hassles of the record business and how it felt working with her distant, at times emotionally abusive relationship with…

Written by

Jerry Waxler