Class 1

Looking at the essays in the text, I found these similarities: 

Personal realizations - even in finding a new way to relate with experience (Portrait is an example, as the man finds new ways to describe his own body parts - also, in Musing, Ebert relates to the discipline of writing in a new way)

An ability to self-analyze and self-diagnose one's own emotions and reactions - Out There is a great example of the author describing her reactions to a situation, then describing her reaction to her reactions

They offer up evidence of the author's own fragility - this is present in each story - fear, uncertainty, self-doubt, self-loathing, depression, etc...

In each story, the author seems to recognize the starkness, the ordinariness of something and transform it to something extraordinary in their eyes -an object of wonder or some kind of greater commentary on their own life (in Out There, the 3,999 mile drive, for example - or the entire text of Portrait)

In addition, each seem to take pains to show both positive and negative aspects of their experience...for instance, the contrasting reactions between the pharmacist and the husband in Some Things or Ebert insisting that while he lost the power to speak, his writing improved)


The essential features of creative nonfiction appear to be the willingness to find extraordinary features of ordinary life (easier in some cases than others) and the ability to describe their experiences in a way that communicates the author's self-analysis and their own realizations in the process of that self-analysis.  In addition, as discussed, the authors are writing something factual about their own experiences and reflecting on it for an audience.

Sometimes there, sometimes not:
Level of trauma: The experience in Out There & Some Things was psychologically traumatic - contrasted with the lack of trauma in the outside world...the idea of feeling displaced or unnatural in the natural world because of what had happened - Musing was traumatic but in a more passive than active way, Portrait was not traumatic

Detail: In Some Things, the author was extremely sparse with detail...Out There fleshed it out as a typical narrative. By nature, given the story, Portrait was far more intimate with the detail.  Musing was much less about the detail surrounding the author in the external world and much more about his internal thought process

Identity: Interestingly, in 3 of the stories, when the authors identified themselves, they identified as writers - not some other preoccupation.  But they didn't always self-identify

Manner of dialogue: In some stories, the author speaks directly to the reader, as if they are the individual at other end of a conversation.  In others, the author is clearly part of a wider audience

Ending: It's not always a happy ending - or even much of an ending at all.

The differences between long & short essays include the level of detail, the ability to flesh out scenes as opposed to offering snapshots, the ability to raise and lower the energy or pacing of the story (or simply stick with one speed), the ability to tell the reader what they should conclude about the author's self-analysis as opposed to just suggesting it and the ability to use the scene or landscape as part of the narrative.  It's more difficult to effectively use the backdrop (scene, characters, etc) as a part of the story if the story itself is brief.