The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality (Wiley Books for Writers)

I am using this book for a class on literary journalism. To be frank, there aren't a lot of choices out there for this class--there's a lot of the other kind of 'creative nonfiction' stuff--memoir, personal writing, etc. I like that stuff too, but I'm trying to draw the Journalistic Line, here. This book is one of the few choices there are for my purposes, but I can see why--who could write a book much better than this? This is the Gold Standard as far as I'm concerned.The book has a teeny-tiny reader in it (unlike most CNF books which are about 50 pages of 'craft' and 200 of 'reader') which leaves plenty of room for one to explore one's own taste. Don't have taste yet? Gutkind gives a (slightly dated but not much) list in the book of great places to start. If you grab this book and any of the good anthologies of creative nonfiction or literary journalism (I use _Art of Fact_) you'll soon figure out what you like or dislike. His reader is useful because he refers to it throughout the text part, and it gives a chance to see the stuff in action.He covers everything from how to choose a topic, ethics of the genre, the position of the self (echoing my opinion that in LJ, it's not about *you*!) and form. It's amazing that a book that covers so much could be so cheap! I've seen $90 doorstop-texts with less content. And though it has no exercises in the book, per se, it's easy enough to use it as a follow along guide that will be a companion through many years of writing.If you're just interested in the genre, or need the scoop from the Disciple of Creative Nonfiction (he edits a journal of the same name, as well as a new, yearly anthology), and words from a man who practices what he preaches, this is a wonderful book.

This book is a great guide for people who can afford the time and money to write a creative non-fiction book.It is written by a college professor who does not understand the reality of the difficulties faced by people who have to earn a living.After finishing the book, I said to myself, "why bother".

Required for a course (2021).Disappointed that this book is so ancient (1997), and has never been revised.The book is also very personal about the author's experience and work. A big promo for the author's writing, and his works are used as the majority of examples. More variety would have been better.Unfortunately, this book would be best for those writing creative non-fiction on subjects in the news, rather than personal memoirs. The latter area is not covered in the book.Unfortunately, the "Selling" part of the book has become historical.Look for more recent books.

I found this to be a good introductory book about the ins and outs of creative non-fiction writing and beyond. It covers many areas, from description, dialog, and framing all the way to research, immersion and interviews. I did get the feeling at times that this book was really written for beginners (even though I am one) to the point where it was a bit too simple and vague in several chapters.Also, it seemed to focus more on essays and literary journalism and less on memoir and travel writing, which I could have used. I found Tell it Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Non-fiction to be much more helpful for my needs. I did like the chapter called "The Elusive Truth" which focused on where the boundaries of truth might be for creative non-fiction writers.That topic is of particular interest to me, since much of the writing I am doing takes place over 10 years ago, and some of it is a bit foggy in my memory. A good portion of the book has readings (many of them, unsurprisingly from Gutkind's books) as well, although there were few writing exercises.

Good read; educational; a benefit to writers. Worth the purchase.

This book was described as "used-like new" but the book is full of underlines and notes. The book is readable and will work for my purposes, but it is certainly not as described.

This is a complete waste of money. The book i read the day before i read this was phenomenal: Writing Life Stories: How to make memories into memoirs, ideas into essays, and life into literature. It really is the best craft book i've ever come across, no contest. The excersies in it are creative, fun and (most of all) extremely helpful when it comes to figuring out what your weakness is AND THEN how to overcome them. You will get none of that in AoCN. There is little 'warning' about what can derail your writing. And there is, seriously, NOTHING that takes that next step and teaches you to overcome something you may realize you are not good at.There is simply not enough valuable content in Gutkind's book to warrent a full reading. I had to force myself to finish it, hoping that I would learn something new. That did not happen.What bothered me most was that this author spends WAY too much time explaining the books and essays he has written. He threw in an incredibly long excerpt from one of his books, and then gives about three paragraphs of information of why reading his excerpt should have taught me something. I couldn't believe this guy threw in a section about ego in the midst of this nearly shameless advertising of his own works. This book comes off as a guy bragging about his own work. This book does not encourage the reader to do much of anything, whereas the other book i referenced above makes you want to dive in and do the excersises for months on end because the book gets you so fired up to write, on top of that, it gets you fired up to practice getting better on your flaws as a writer--it gets you fired up to continue learning, not simply 'wow, I want to get down to writing my memoir this second!'I'm a lucky guy, in that i can afford to 'miss' with some of the books I buy, but there are just too many other books out there that destroy this one. What I'm angry about losing the most is the aderal I wasted by taking it before i read this book, and that may have been the only reason I was able to finish it.

On the reading list for my MA Creative Writing

As described. Would recommend.

Well written and clear; and exemplar of what it sets out to describe. A great way to use this book is to start your Creative Nonfiction masterpiece while working your way through Gutkind's book. Recommended.