Green Mountain Book Festival Panel: Nonfiction - 12/12/22

Write The Book: Conversations on Craft

Fall 2022 Green Mountain Book Festival panel on Nonfiction, moderated by Shelagh and featuring authors Brian Michael Murphy, Sandra Matthews, Jessica Nordell, and Erik Shonstrom.

This week’s Write the Book Prompt is to try your hand at writing a nonfiction essay about something that has lately been on your mind: perhaps a news item, a weather event, or a personal experience. Include details and facts that you find through research, and present them as objectively as you can. Decide if you might like your opinions and personal experiences into the piece; does that feel organic to the work? If you are writing about war and you have experience serving in the armed forces, that may feel entirely right. If you are writing about climate change and you survived a hurricane, that could likely inform the piece. Consider ways to frame the work that fit thematically with the subject. For example, if you are writing about weather, imagine how various weather patterns might inform a structure for what you are attempting. Finally, watch for places where perhaps your research upends your expectations and takes you in an unexpected direction, something our panelists discussed during the Green Mountain Book Festival. What can you do then? Can this perhaps improve the piece? How?

Good luck with your work in the coming week, and tune in next week for another prompt or suggestion.

Music Credit: Aaron Shapiro

760