Writing Creative Nonfiction

So here it is. Yes, I'm that guy posting his 12^th blog at the last possible moment, but you know what? It's all good. After finishing my project, I have something entirely new to reflect upon regarding creative nonfiction which until this point, I didn't before. And that, is the writing of creative nonfiction. As I've mentioned in class, I was a fan of all the authors we read this term though to varying degrees. We've talked about their works, their histories, their processes, and we've even examined creative non-fiction in filmic representations. For this final blog, I would now like to reflect upon my own process of producing this genre.

I've always been a strong academic writer and admittedly enjoy its form. I studied some journalism and a bit of playwriting as an undergrad and did well there too. I think I must enjoy working within a relatively solid framework, the firm structure allowing me to make a strong point. Fiction writing has always sort of eluded me due to the paradox of its appearing at once too complex in its narrative form and too simple in its style. Of course I set up a structure for myself in approaching the creative nonfiction writing I wanted to accomplish for 462. I choose the authors, identified their themes and agendas, selected experiences of mine in Thailand that related, and then bullet-pointed the scenes and methods/tone I would use to relate them to each author. I presumed that once I did that, writing the stories would be a breeze. Not quite.

First, and this is due in part to the wealth of Thai stories I have, every time I sat down to write about a specific experience, I would find myself half a page later writing extensively on some tangent or sub-story that figured into the specific one I was trying to relate. Sometimes this ended up working toward my agenda, adding a useful layer I hadn't considered, but more often than not, I just had a page of really good story that didn't fit at all into what I intended to express. In most academic writing, you don't have such seemingly natural room to digress.

Now this next issue, I think has something to do with a trick of memory or the power of nostalgia, and it is probably most applicable to those writing personal, creative nonfiction, although it is my no means exclusive to that domain. I could not believe how much time I was spending on these stories nor how quickly it was passing! An hour would slip by in what felt like five minutes as I was reliving some experience with dodgy characters in Bangkok or of serenity on the Andaman coast. I envy the stick-to-it-iveness of those who do this for a living.

Even though I set this project up in the way I approach most writing or other projects, there were some unexpected surprises as things came together. Such as the sudden realization of a connection that I hadn't pondered before when applying an Annie Dillard approach to my travels in southern Thailand or the discovery of a normative discourse in ladyboy go-go bars when trying to think like Hunter S. Thompson. Overall, I was very happy with the way things turned out and truly hope to continue with these stories at some point. In the end, I used my own voice when writing instead of trying to imitate style but still let the authors' perspectives drive mine. It was certainly a worthwhile endeavor and furthered my appreciation for this body of work even more.