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If you’re looking for an English course-esq YouTube channel, like I know you are, I’d recommend Writing with Andrew.
Not long ago I initially watched his video “I’m Politely Begging You to Write Nonfiction” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIP_hLaLnLo&t=14s) and I’ve rewatched it recently.
I have not been a fiction writer for a long time and this has stunted my recreational writing. If I’m not writing fiction, what is there to write? Essays I’d draft for classes? Not that it’s unenjoyable, but is that what I want to commit my free time to? And yet, I get aches to put pen to paper (...or fingers to keys). So, after watching that video, I dedicated an unused journal (which I have many) to creative non-fiction writing about the state I live. It’s a place I have a lot of feelings about. That I know some of and want to know more. It’s important to me.
It’s a semi-consistent source of recreational writing. And it feels like me. I can free-write, thinking less about the incessant needs of fiction. In creative non-fiction, my true observations, my -isms, my home–it’s all in my writing. I don’t worry about something being wrong. Something about fiction makes it harder for me to speak–Andrew puts it well, “For a lot of fiction in the last hundred years or so, writers have been celebrated for having minimally invasive narration. Readers want the story, not the author's personality. But when it comes to non-fiction, personality and voice are exactly what readers are looking for”. I cut the me from my fiction writing to make way for the story. But the reason the stories resonate so much in my head is because it’s my own. Isn’t it right to have myself in my fiction?
Who knows–maybe my non-fiction writings will create a version of me willing to insert my voice into fiction (watch “Writing Anything Will Make You a Better Writer” by Writing with Andrew as well). But until then, I’m writing.
I realize my writing here seems a little hateful of fiction. It’s not hate. I love fiction, reading it, pondering writing it. I moreso don’t have the skillset built for it to be very enjoyable to me. I want to write fiction, it’s a skill I want to hone, but I also want to write consistently. I’ve found creative non-fiction is the way to do that for me.
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J
I find I'm more in tune with myself and with the world around me when I'm journaling, so I would say there is definitely a correlation between knowing one's self a little better through honing your awareness onto your thoughts and your perception on what's real and occurring around you, and reiterating that to yourself through non-fiction writing. It helps me stay present.
And I feel like in a world where everything is in constant motion, without interruption, with no gaps of stillness or presence, it is so important to make time to exercise that luxury. We don't really check in with ourselves anymore, and a lot of people become a product of their continuity because of that.
Instead of completely detaching through fiction and creative output, we can kind of come back into ourselves through non-fiction. There's a certain neutrality practiced through it as well, where you're present, but detached in that you're no longer subject to a constant motion, and being carried away by the current of modern life, where you're a captive of the clock and of your perceived obligations. A spectator and commentator, rather than an affected party.
With fiction I feel like people consume it with the intention of detaching from their own perceptions of the world, so to see someone else's very human experiences projected into it, whether intentionally or not, can be unwanted, because it detracts from what they're getting out of it. Personally I appreciate fiction more when it can give me a more informed perspective on the experiences of the artist and how they perceive the world. I feel like I'm being offered crucial context that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to interpret as efficiently than if they had just relayed it to me themselves. I can experience it a little more thoroughly and apply my own interpretation while taking into account the artist's experiences, I guess.
Thank you for the source and for your commentary on this! I didn't take the time to consider just how significant non-fiction writing has been for me up until now. I will be checking out Andrew's channel as well. And I apologize for the run-on comment, but the prompt was inviting.
No need to apologize for the run on comment! I love that you resonated with it and you left a very thoughtful response full of things I had considered or couldn't put into words.
Ditto to everything you said. I think there's a large emphasis on finding yourself in fiction--and that's more than a reasonable thing to want--but it can put aside the very real experiences that people write about in a way that is still entertaining and compelling.
I should get into reading non-fiction more. I've been finding a lot of charm and personality in even the textbooks I read for classes, and I can't imagine what I'm leaving behind by not pursuing it! I had stumbled upon a book on Starlings at my college's library and reading the first passage had me hooked. I'll have to go back for it... When my mandatory reading lightens up.
by ohnothankskid; ; Report