Post #38 – Memoir and Fiction, Writing Alchemy – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
What a winter!
Matilda and I were sick with coughs and chest colds for more than a month. I’m still not sure that I didn’t have Whooping Cough…I’m not kidding, it has been that bad. But through it all we pounded away to finish writing and editing Writing Alchemy.
It’s done. It’s been proofed and it’s uploading to the printer today. And right now you can pre-order and save money while you ensure that you’re among the first to get a copy, Click Here.
[We’ll have a handful of early copies with us at Story Circle Network’s Stories From the Heart Conference in Austin this April. (There’s still time to register…but not much.)]
But my headline says that I think Hemingway would have approved of Writing Alchemy. That’s a pretty bold statement so let me explain: In 1935, Ernest Hemingway wrote to Russian-Socialist translator and essayist Ivan Kashkin, and one of the things he said to him was this:
“…writing is something that you can never do as well as it can be done. It is a perpetual challenge and it is more difficult than anything else that I have ever done.”
Because this comment reminds us that we can never achieve perfection in our writing, it might frustrate a less dedicated writer than yourself. Hemingway certainly believed it. As his personal writings illustrate, he spent his entire writing career trying to write the perfect sentence. It’s important that we remember that his quest never prevented him from enjoying a successful writing career.
Writing is a Journey…Not a Destination
A commitment to perfection–accepting the challenge, taking up the gauntlet to always write better–is the only way we get better. As long as we recognize, like Hemingway, that we’ll never achieve absolute, 100 percent perfection, I believe we can enjoy the journey and avoid frustration.
It takes practice. But more important than that, it takes practicing the right way. Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi called it “perfect practice.”
I’d like to share one more quotation from Hemingway because to my mind it captures the very essence of Writing Alchemy: How to Write Fast and Deep. True, Hemingway is writing about fiction, and the first version of Writing Alchemy is our Memoir Edition, but that aside, I think this is an important quote for anyone who wants to understand the concept behind Writing Alchemy. First the quote, then I’ll explain:
“When you first start writing stories in the first person if the stories are made so real that people believe them the people reading them nearly always think the stories really happened to you. That is natural because while you were making them up you had to make them happen to the person who was telling them. If you do this successfully enough you make the person who is reading them believe that the things happened to him too. If you can do this you are beginning to get what you are trying for which is to make the story so real beyond any reality that it will become a part of the reader’s experience and a part of his memory. There must be things that he did not notice when he read the story or the novel which without his knowing it, enter into his memory and experience so that they are a part of his life. This is not easy to do.” (from an unpublished manuscript in the Kennedy Library collection and printed in Ernest Hemingway on Writing, Larry W. Phillips, ed. NY: Touchstone, 1984, pp. 5-6.)
You almost have to read this quotation a couple times to get everything Hemingway’s saying. First, he’s talking about writing in the first person. For our purposes, let’s take that to mean writing about ourselves and our lives in a memoir.
Second, you have to make your writing realistic, believable. That comes from writing with detail and insight. In this way, your readers, if not walking in your shoes, will come to feel that they are walking and standing by your side. They will become so engaged in your words, the vivid word pictures you create, the emotion you raise, the dialogue, the sensory detail that they connect with you, your writing and your characters.
Finally, Hemingway says you want to enter the reader’s “memory and experience.” And the best way is to show rather than tell.
Show:
- Through strong character development,
- By raising emotions both in your characters and your readers,
- With conversation (dialogue) that puts readers in the scene,
- By letting your readers see, hear, smell, taste and feel (five senses) what you and your characters are experiencing…
…then wrap it all up in a context of time and place that brings everything together. We call these the Essential Elements of Writing. Hemingway explains the what; Writing Alchemy is the how.
Writing Alchemy: How to Write Fast and Deep
As many of you know, Writing Alchemy has been under development for several years:
- Many of you have taken workshops, classes, online courses or coaching where Matilda and I have introduced you to some of the concepts.
- We’ve watched your responses and reactions to the material. We’ve observed the changes in your writing (nothing short of phenomenal, I might add).
- We’ve made adjustments in our teaching approach because of you. Chapter 1, “Head Start” is a product of observing you.
- Seeing your initial reaction to our introduction of social science research, we’ve enriched every chapter with lessons from the social sciences and practical examples showing what they can teach us about characters, behavior, motivation, emotions and conversation style.
- We’ve filled the chapters with short exercises that will get you using the material in Writing Alchemy…this is a very hands-on book.
- And so much more.
We’re so grateful to you–our many students, friends and coaching clients–that we included you in the acknowledgments. You’re that important to us, and you’re part of the final result.
But we want to do more than acknowledge you. We want to give you something tangible…like a great big savings on the price. Writing Alchemy is coming in around 325 pages. We’re going to sell it for $24.95. But you can pre-order today for $15. You can lock in a low price and ensure that you are among the first to get your copy. For a limited time, you can order a copy for $15 by going to our Women’s Memoirs store and clicking on Writing Alchemy. We expect to start shipping in early May.
Matilda and I are eager to get Writing Alchemy in your hands and hear what you have to say. In the meantime, thank you for being a part of the process that has made Writing Alchemy possible.
