It wasn’t until after graduating college that I realized I wanted to branch out with my writing. I’d always been accustomed to writing fiction, but a few weeks ago I finally had to admit to myself that, while I love coming up with plots for stories and writing them out, I have a natural pull toward writing nonfiction. Perhaps it came from my time reading Walking On Water by Madeleine L’Engle and blogging, and then there was my trip to New York, and my history of keeping journals in college (I wrote through three full journals by my senior year). So, then I got to thinking about the main writing forms that I’d like to focus on as a writer, and these are the ones I go to most commonly:
Fiction
Fiction writing was my first love: novels, short stories, etc. I wrote my first short story in high school. That was also when I wrote my first book, but it was rubbish. I wrote more short stories in college once I changed my major to English and decided to take the writing track. I think my fascination with fiction came from my love for reading growing up. My mom told me once that when I was little and staying with my aunt and uncle, a year or so before learning how to read, my aunt saw me sitting on their bed supposedly reading aloud the story of The Little Mermaid. Only she knew I didn’t know how to read, but was actually coming up with a story line based on the illustrations. “What she was saying made so much since it was like she was actually reading from the book,” she’d told my mom. It was odd hearing this about myself, yet it seemed to confirm the inner pull I’ve always had for stories and the need to write them.
Book Reviews
I think writing so many academic papers in college actually helped me understand how to write a truly good book review. On my blog, I’ve tended to use the blogger’s format of book reviewing where you give a short synopsis, then tell the world what you thought of the book. Which is a tried and true method, for sure, but it was in digging through stories and poems as an English major and connecting the symbols and intentions of the authors, forming a thesis, then using their own words as evidence to prove what I drew from the text, that made me look at book reviewing in a whole new light. That and reading book reviews on websites such as the B&N Review, The Millions, and LA Review of Books. They actually study the author’s words as they read and use their findings to form a full-on article. It’s brilliant to read a well-written book review. So, now, whenever I do write reviews of books that have really touched me, I try to go further with them. Give the review a point to the reader.
Personal Essays
Like I said before, probably my time journaling, blogging, and reading Madeleine L’Engle’s nonfiction has a lot to do with this one. Journaling is one of those private mediums that lets you figure yourself out and deal with life in a raw, and slightly embarrassing, way without being judged. Blogging is taking those epiphanies drawn from journaling and putting them into a less embarrassing, yet still completely honest, and even more readable, form. But, I think Madeleine has more to do with it than anything. Even though I’d heard of her before, it wasn’t until my freshman year of college when my professor had assigned us something of hers to read that I was introduced to her writing. I did some research on her works and found Walking On Water, which is one of the best books I’ve ever read. But, then, I’m most definitely biased. I have so many passages highlighted in that book, I honestly think I was learning how to structure nonfiction writings without even trying or realizing I was doing it.
Interview Articles
My senior year of college, I took a business writing class where my professor had us interview someone and write an article about the topic of our choice. He said to “write it as though you’re writing the cover story for Rolling Stones Magazine.” I said, “Hell, yes!” I knew right away what I wanted to write about, as I was in the process of applying to USC’s MFA program at the time, and who better to ask than the MFA student/professor who formally introduced me to Madeleine L’Engle’s writing? I had so much fun interviewing her and writing the article, and I knew that was something I wanted to do with my writing in the future. My business writing professor loved it and gave me an A on the piece.
Travel Writing
Visiting New York City for the first time was amazing, but I have to admit that there was nothing more gratifying than returning home to write about it. Just like with writing the interview article for my business writing class, there was something in writing about my trip to the city that felt…right. I felt at home writing about what I’d experienced there in a way I’ve seldom felt. It was in rereading these posts and reminiscing about the trip that I realized nonfiction came more naturally to me than any other form of writing. Recounting the steps you took in a foreign place and structuring them into a narrative account of what you saw, heard, smelled, felt, and touched is like reliving the scenes, but better understanding what you witnessed.
Letters
I’ve always been fascinated with the letters writers have written to each other in the past. There are a slew of literary relationships published out there that I want to read: Scott and Zelda, Eudora and Maxwell, Amy Clampitt. It’s no wonder I’m in a letter-writing frenzy these days, myself. Well, it’s more of an email writing frenzy, because there are no envelopes, stationary, stamps, and couriers involved, but it still holds the same meaning. Although, I would love to actually correspond with someone through handwritten letters one day. I don’t think letters actually need to be sent to someone in order to be letters, they just need to be addressed to someone. I’ve written several letters addressed to people who never actually got their letters. For me, writing letters to someone is a way of journaling. Sometimes, it’s enough just to get the words out on paper like you’re talking to the person, and being that I’m much better conversing with people through the written word rather than the spoken word, there is something intriguing and poetic in letter writing. They can be intimate, they can declare action, they can request reform and movement. Letters can be anything you want them to be: poems, stories, confessions, and so on. It is in the address that makes all the difference.
What forms of writing do you like best?
