Looking for inspiration for your Creative Nonfiction Book? Check out the titles on these two lists!
Author: Nicole E Woolaston
I'm a writer, artist and guitarist from NY. I love punk rock, anime and manga. I'm the author of the "Fortune's Wing" and "Valentine" series, & "Our Lady of Righteous Rage".Green Day and Jack White are my inspiration. Check out my blog and feel free to ask me questions about my books!
NaNoWriMo: Creative Nonfiction
Greetings, folks! It’s still November, so it’s still NaNoWriMo. I hosted a Creative Nonfiction Workshop on Nov 14, for seven people (not bad for an introvert who doesn’t like speaking in front of groups, eh?)
We had a wonderful discussion about what CNF is, and we looked at some examples. Memoirs are among my favorite forms of CNF. I read Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine when I was in middle school, and back then I had no idea it was actually a memoir from the author’s childhood. Stephen King, one of my favorite authors, uses a lot of his personal experiences in his writing. “The Body”, the short story that was adapted into the film, Stand By Me, is an example of this. When King was a child, he and his friends really did discover a dead body.
Of course, not every CNF book is completely honest. Take for example, A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, published in 2003. This moving piece of literature about a man who overcomes alcohol and drug addiction won the hearts of readers all across America, including Oprah Winfrey. Oprah invited James to be a guest on her show. Eventually, someone did a little research, and exposed James as a fraud. Most of the info in the book was either made up or exaggerated. Instead of spending weeks in jail, he apparently only spent a few hours, and so on.
Should CNF be honest? I’d like to think so. But the title of the genre is tricky. Creative makes you think along the lines of things that are made-up, while Nonfiction leads you to believe, the information is completely true. Put them together, and they almost sound like an oxymoron. CNF is telling a true story in a way that is engaging. It’s almost like the difference between a story on your local news channel, vs a story on Dateline. Your local news will be very cut and dry, and straight forward. They give you the facts, and then they move on to the next story. Dateline, on the other hand, draws you in, and makes the details of the story more interesting. Sure, facts are still facts, but they’re being presented in a way that makes them interesting, and not just mere facts.
If you’re considering writing a CNF of your own, here’s a list of great books to look at from Bookriot.com :
Have a happy NaNoWriMo!
NaNoWriMo: Copyright Disclaimers
NaNoWriMo is open to all writers, who are in the process of completing a novel. It doesn’t matter if you are planning to seek a traditional publisher, or if you’re … Continue reading NaNoWriMo: Copyright Disclaimers
Do You Know About Worldcat.org?
Let’s say you head to your local public library, in search of a particular book. However, you discover your local library doesn’t own a copy of the book you want. What should you do? There’s a few options. You could try and purchase a copy of the book online, via Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or another website. Or, maybe check with a different library. The best option, may be this one: have your library check the World Catalog.
Most public libraries participate in a program known as Inter Library Loan, or ILL. Some academic libraries participate as well. This allows libraries to receive materials from libraries outside of their city, state, and in come cases, country. Maybe you use the Queens Public Library in New York, and you need a copy of Of Mice and Men, and they don’t have one listed in their catalog. Perhaps a local library in Atlanta, Georgia has a copy to spare. Queens can use the ILL system to borrow the book from the library in Atlanta, so that you can borrow it from Queens. Pretty sweet, right?
This is where the World Catalog comes in. It lists materials available at libraries all over the world. So, if you’re looking for something, but can’t seem to find it at your local library, you may want to ask your librarian to check the World Catalog, to see if its available elsewhere. The borrowing time may differ from that of your local library, but at least you’ll have access to what you need.
Check out the World Catalog when you have time!
New Addition to the Hampton Public Library!
As a writer, I think of my books in terms of being my “children”. I watch them grow; them start out as ideas, then they become stories, then they become … Continue reading New Addition to the Hampton Public Library!
November is NaNoWriMo
Hello fellow writers! November is upon us! So is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). This is the perfect time to start a new novel, or perhaps, finish one you’re currently … Continue reading November is NaNoWriMo
The Finale of Lucia and the Saints
Everything has a beginning and an ending. The same is true for my novella series, Lucia and the Saints. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but here it goes: the sixth and final volume of the series will be available next week. Yes, folks. The series is coming to an end.
The first volume was released on July 5, 2019. Readers were introduced to a young John Rafferty, when he was attempting to become a business man. This is not the John Rafferty we know (and potentially hate) from the Valentine series. Older Rafferty is cruel, vicious and uncaring. Younger Rafferty can be a bit of a wuss.
But forget Rafferty for a moment. The main character is Lucia. Everything that happens, and every character in the world of Valentine can be traced back to Lucia. She’s bold and outspoken, and thirty times braver than Rafferty. Truthfully, between the two of them, she should be running the Syndicate.
I used to think prequels were useless. However, writing this series has given me a deeper appreciation for prequels. It’s interesting to find the connections between characters and events from the other series. With Lucia and the Saints: Volume Six, there’s a pivatol moment in which Lucia makes a decision that affects the lives of every other character in both the Valentine series and the Valentine Apart series.
The entire series is available in ebook form. I will release the paperback versions by the end of the year.
Thank Goodness I Still Have CS5!
I love using Amazon’s KDP. Seriously, I do. All of my books have been published (or re-published) via Amazon. However, when they combined Create Space with KDP, a terrible thing happened. Some of the templates for the cover designs, were removed. Unfortunately, this made things harder for me, because I prefer to have the books in a single series share a common cover design. But, all is not lost! I still have Adobe Photoshop CS5 on my old laptop!
I acquired CS5 when I was in art school. Becuase I was a student, I was allowed to purchase the program at a discounted price. While my old laptop nolonger runs as fast as it used to, CS5 is still installed. I have used it over the years, to create some of the images that appear on some of my book covers. With the loss of some of the templates in KDP, I turned to CS5 to create the entire cover for the upcoming The Age of the Daughter and Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep. They’re not perfect, but at least everything will still be uniformed.
Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Lucia and the Saints: Volume Five
There are so three reasons I’m excited about the release of my latest creation, Lucia and the Saints: Volume Five. (1) It’s my 30th published book! (2) It’s the second to last in the series, and (3) It helped me get over my writer’s block, and get out of my dry spell.
Volume Five is the step before the conclusion of the Lucia series. It also brings us closer to the next Valentine series, Valentine R. Should you read Lucia before Valentine R comes out? Not necessarily, but it may help to understand the story a little more. Whenever I write a companion or “spin-off” series, I try to make it stand alone. So, you can read it along with the original series, or you can read it by itself. Lucia works the same way. You can read it, without reading any of the Valentine books first, but it you do read both series, you will recognize the connections between the two.
Volume Five sees the Lady Saints in action. They’re about to do something that will earn respect from several of the businesses in their area, and reveal another side of Lucia. The girls have a better understanding of who they’re working with, but they’re about to learn even more. Plus, an important person in Valentine’s life will be introduced.
Lucia and the Saints: Volume Five is available in ebook form, on Amazon. Look for it in paperback form by the end of the year.
I’m Over My Dry Spell
I went through a bit of a dry spell after I published my last ebook. Lucia and the Saints: Volume Four came out on August 2 of this year, and I haven’t released anything since then. My plan was, to keep on writing and publishing. But, sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to. I didn’t feel like writing, even though I have a ton of material to work on, and books that I need to finish. Experiencing a dry spell was not a good thing.
Last week, I forced myself back into writing. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is literally around the corner, and I’m hosting an event at my local library. This means, I need to get myself back in gear. I need to finish editing my mother’s latest book, A New England Serial Killer, and finish Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep and Lucia and the Saints: Volume Five and Volume Six. The good news is, I’m nearly finished with editing Mom’s book, almost ready to edit Jo Fuentes, and Lucia Five will be ready by Saturday. So, the dry spell has ended!
