As a ‘wanna-be’ writer I’m always looking for ways to actually ‘be’ a writer. I have no problems with the injunction of most how-to books, including this one, that to become a writer you have to read widely. It’s the writing part I have trouble with.
Writing True Stories asks the question ‘What is it like for anyone to be in the world?’ and through a wealth of practical advice and lots of writing exercises explores possible answers. The book is divided into two sections and in Getting Started, Patti Miller gently introduces the reader to writing biographical, memoir or personal essays by telling us we don’t need to plan from A to Z before starting to write.
The act of writing is much more important than where you begin. The work may start with a memory or idea that has some powerful personal resonance and you may build on this, digging up new memories and ideas related to it. Alternately, it may fizzle out. Miller speaks of ‘composting’ the writing which I took to mean: a) write something, leave it to mature, perhaps add more and something wonderful may emerge OR b) decide you don’t like the idea, toss it into the compost and move on. According to the author, both can be useful strategies. The Getting Started section offers several workshops including Finding your voice, Structure, and Narrative all of which have a wide range of practical exercises to develop writing skills.
The second section of the book is Masterclasses and covers topics such as Research, Difficulties of truth‑telling, and Where to now – Publishing? I know from bitter personal experience that one can so easily be distracted from writing by following an exciting thread of research – it’s like unravelling a ball of wool! Miller’s advice is to keep writing while doing your research otherwise you’ll end up with a mountain of details with no notion of how to arrange it all on the page.
I think the workshop on the Difficulties of truth-telling is particularly valuable as we are all familiar with memoirs which air all the dirty laundry in public. Painful and difficult memories may need to be told as we have seen in recent child abuse investigations. However, the author urges writers to be aware of the motivation behind revealing all. Ask yourself if it’s truly vital to the story or will it hurt or embarrass someone. Or is it merely an opportunity for revenge or an expression of jealousy?
The book concludes with some brief advice on commercial and self-publication. Clearly for commercial publication the biography or memoir needs to have a broad appeal but I know of several people who have written their family history and self-published the manuscript to share with their relatives. If you want to try your hand at Writing True Stories then I can highly recommend this book to assist you.
Reviewed by Jan Kershaw
Rating out of 10: 8
Released by: Allen & Unwin
Release Date: July 2017
RRP: $34.99
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