Creative nonfiction
Stories, courses, and advice for writers
I’ve always loved writing and reading, but my discovery of creative nonfiction—travel writing, personal essays, memoir, literary journalism, and more—is what got me started on the path of becoming a professional writer and editor.
The third edition of Tell Your Story Walking, a print/online collection of creative work by Syracuse University honors students and alumni.
Fiction can deliver vividly imagined scenes and plot lines, but there is a special power to a story that is not only well told but has the clear ring of personal truth. The writers are laying themselves on the line.
So it has been particularly gratifying to become a teacher of creative nonfiction myself at Syracuse University.
Since 2011 I’ve taught a course called Tell Your Story Walking in the Crown University Honors Program, in which students write about their homes, families, and travels.
In 2020, I introduced another honors class in which students edit and produce a magazine and website, not coincidentally titled Tell Your Story Walking, featuring creative work by fellow students—not just writing but visual art, multimedia, and more.
I took the title Tell Your Story Walking from a song by Deb Talan of the Weepies, who in turn adopted it from Jonathan Lethem’s novel Motherless Brooklyn. I used the phrase for my class because of my conviction that the best writing is not stationary, not navel gazing, but a process of discovery and engaging with the world.
You can find a few of my short pieces below, along with some writing advice.
Stories and advice
A great practice to adopt if you want to write—whether prose or poetry or songs, fiction or nonfiction.