Full Description
This title offers a complete resource for life writing - one of the key genres studied within creative writing. "Writing Your Self" is a comprehensive resource for anyone interested in exploring personal material in their writing. It examines how a wide range of successful writers approach personal material and the different modes and techniques they use. The first part of the book focuses on a wide range of universal experiences including childhood, identity, adult relationships and loss as well as more specific issues such as exile and displacement, physical and mental illness and abuse. Throughout the book, a wide range of writers discuss their own experiences and how they have tackled this material in their writing. Part Two offers a series of techniques and a wide range of practical exercises and examples. Part Three discusses the writing process, moving to finished pieces of work in different genres and the question of publication. Bringing together writers with a broad range of valuable experience, this is the definitive resource for exploring life writing and offers an exciting range of possibilities, examples and techniques for approaching personal material.
Contents
Introduction; Part I; 1. Childhood and Relationships with Parents; 2. Identity; 3. Adult Relationships; 4. Abuse; 5. Displacement and Disability; 6. Illness; 7. Mental Illness; 8. Caring and Coping; 9. Loss; 10. Facing Death; 11. Spirituality; Part II; 12. Getting Started, Image Exploration and Basic Techniques; 13. Accessing Memories, Secret Letters, Monologues and Dialogues, Visualizations; 14. Fictionalizing, Transforming Personal Material, Dreams, Drawing as a Starting Point; 15. Keeping a Journal, Writing a Memoir, Shaping Work; 16. Finishing Work; Conclusion; Bibliography; Notes about Contributors; Acknowledgements; Index.
