There's a half-conscious state you enter when you're actually generating prose, and you are simply a better writer in that place. In fact it's the only place where you even are a writer.
John Jeremiah SullivanRead
Creative non-fiction is such a liberating genre because it allows the non-fiction writer, whether he or she be journalist or essayist, to use all of the techniques of the fiction writer and all of the ideas, creative approaches, that fiction writers get a chance to use, but they have to use it in a true story.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creative non-fiction combines the storytelling techniques of fiction with factual writing, allowing for greater artistic expression in true narratives.
In this quote, Lee Gutkind emphasizes the unique freedom that creative non-fiction offers writers, enabling them to employ the narrative tools and imaginative approaches that are typically reserved for fiction. This genre allows writers to craft compelling, engaging stories while maintaining a commitment to truth, thus blurring the lines between fact and art in literature.
Themes
Creative Non-FictionWritingArtistic ExpressionTrue StoriesLiterary Techniques
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, a facilitator can use this quote to inspire students to embrace creativity in their non-fiction projects.
Similar quotes
From dancing around to Michael Jackson and Madonna as a kid to having my mind blown by the first sounds of punk and indie rock, to getting to play my own songs and have people listen, music is what got me through.
Carrie BrownsteinRead
Let no one imagine that in owning a recording he has the music. The very practice of music is a celebration that we own nothing.
John CageRead
A truly good movie is enjoyable too. There’s nothing complicated about it.
Akira KurosawaRead
Egos are an occupational hazard in acting, but I don't have much of one, and my husband doesn't have much of one, so it's good.
Viola DavisRead
Too often, if you look back through the history of representation and you take the work of African-American artists, the work is on such a modest scale that it becomes sort of inconsequential.
Kerry James MarshallRead