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Help please: places for personal essays "vs" creative non-fiction
Hello all,
I'm looking for publications that publish personal essays; venues that don't demand non-fiction essays be written in the creative non-fiction, narrative form. Unfortunately the publications I want to get into Brain,Child, Literary Mama, etc. all want strong narrative non-fictions. In Literary Mama's "what we DON'T want...." list they write:
"Pieces that read like columns or intellectual reflections on personal experiences."
What they DO want:
# Illustrative anecdotes or vignettes.
# Compelling narrative.
I feel my pieces read like what they don't want - intellectual reflections on personal experiences, as societal commentaries wrapped around my personal experiences because my interest and background is strongly tied to psychology, social issues, the implications behind the lives of women, mothers, transition, identity, the evolution of humans.
I read 95% non-fiction and my writing comes from my attraction to making social commentary but in essay form. e.g. I just wrote one called "Funny Girls" with the posit that stark, gross and irreverent humor in women is powerful because.....and Brain,Child said "while clearly and thoughtfully written, and the editor enjoyed reading....they want set scenes alternating with exposition...."
When I write my essays I'm not naturally drawn to write a "story," to scenes, dialogue, vignettes etc. Is this a classic sign of inexperience or just my natural leaning?
Chicken or egg?
Perhaps I don't have enough experience with this genre to like CNF, or maybe I just don't like writing it? I also feel my memory to pull up stark details is weak, e.g. pulling imagery out of past events is not my strong suit. While I can bring up and tweak and write metaphors, I don't easily recall the minutia of an event; I'd have to make it up, "the color of her loose dress, a checkered red and white knee length cotton wrap looked like she'd grabbed her mother's dirty tablecloth and carelessly wrapped it around her just to cover up...." I'd have to make that scene up because I'd never remember what my friend wore, her mother etc. I'd remember that her mother made her feel inadequate etc, etc. because of her own insecurities etc.....
I wouldn't remember her dress and the color, or want to focus my writing on that...only that the girl was angry and bitter because of the expectations put on her by a mother born of the 1950's June Cleaver era who dropped out of college when her mother insisted she and Dad could no longer support two kids in college and so her brother had a better chance of "making something of his life"....etc, etc....
I've tried mind mapping and all those good tools, but I find mapping etc doesn't help me much. I just like to start with a posit, write and re-write, re-write.....
What publications, print and ezines welcome personal essays that read like commentaries, "intellectual reflections?" And, is creative non-fiction a "better" essay or just a different form? It seems CNF has become the popular form of essay for the literary motherhood publications, why because we are drawn to CNF? Because it pulls the reader into the story with rich dialogue and detail?
I need a home to focus my writing style, or to find a writing style and then find a home.
Thanks SO much for your feedback : )
and btw, if anyone would critique my "Funny Girls" essay I'd be grateful.
Laura
I'm looking for publications that publish personal essays; venues that don't demand non-fiction essays be written in the creative non-fiction, narrative form. Unfortunately the publications I want to get into Brain,Child, Literary Mama, etc. all want strong narrative non-fictions. In Literary Mama's "what we DON'T want...." list they write:
"Pieces that read like columns or intellectual reflections on personal experiences."
What they DO want:
# Illustrative anecdotes or vignettes.
# Compelling narrative.
I feel my pieces read like what they don't want - intellectual reflections on personal experiences, as societal commentaries wrapped around my personal experiences because my interest and background is strongly tied to psychology, social issues, the implications behind the lives of women, mothers, transition, identity, the evolution of humans.
I read 95% non-fiction and my writing comes from my attraction to making social commentary but in essay form. e.g. I just wrote one called "Funny Girls" with the posit that stark, gross and irreverent humor in women is powerful because.....and Brain,Child said "while clearly and thoughtfully written, and the editor enjoyed reading....they want set scenes alternating with exposition...."
When I write my essays I'm not naturally drawn to write a "story," to scenes, dialogue, vignettes etc. Is this a classic sign of inexperience or just my natural leaning?
Chicken or egg?
Perhaps I don't have enough experience with this genre to like CNF, or maybe I just don't like writing it? I also feel my memory to pull up stark details is weak, e.g. pulling imagery out of past events is not my strong suit. While I can bring up and tweak and write metaphors, I don't easily recall the minutia of an event; I'd have to make it up, "the color of her loose dress, a checkered red and white knee length cotton wrap looked like she'd grabbed her mother's dirty tablecloth and carelessly wrapped it around her just to cover up...." I'd have to make that scene up because I'd never remember what my friend wore, her mother etc. I'd remember that her mother made her feel inadequate etc, etc. because of her own insecurities etc.....
I wouldn't remember her dress and the color, or want to focus my writing on that...only that the girl was angry and bitter because of the expectations put on her by a mother born of the 1950's June Cleaver era who dropped out of college when her mother insisted she and Dad could no longer support two kids in college and so her brother had a better chance of "making something of his life"....etc, etc....
I've tried mind mapping and all those good tools, but I find mapping etc doesn't help me much. I just like to start with a posit, write and re-write, re-write.....
What publications, print and ezines welcome personal essays that read like commentaries, "intellectual reflections?" And, is creative non-fiction a "better" essay or just a different form? It seems CNF has become the popular form of essay for the literary motherhood publications, why because we are drawn to CNF? Because it pulls the reader into the story with rich dialogue and detail?
I need a home to focus my writing style, or to find a writing style and then find a home.
Thanks SO much for your feedback : )
and btw, if anyone would critique my "Funny Girls" essay I'd be grateful.
Laura
Tags: commentary, creative, essays, non-fiction, personal, social
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lanita Andrews on -
Laura,
I was a little stumped with the same problem when I first decided I wanted to start writing 'for real'. The personal essays I read by preference read nothing like the CNF pieces that I read for the sake of learning how to write them. I assumed it was my lack of experience, but I’m not so sure anymore that that is the case. I think maybe there are more opportunities in CNF because newer publications prefer them, and it’s easier for un-established writers to get a piece in with a newer publication. That being said, I’m still reading more traditional pieces, which means people are still writing (and publishing) these pieces. Unfortunately, I do believe by limiting your style, you are hugely limiting your options. I've learned that I like both, but still do prefer what I have thought of as a more traditional personal essay.
I gave in and started focusing more on storytelling. The funny thing is that even that differs from one publication to the next. For example, Chicken Soup books seem to be just a story, they don't read at all like what I thought would be considered a personal essay, then there is A Cup of Comfort, which is what I would consider a mix of story and essay, then you read the personal essays from somewhere like Memoir(and) and they are mostly story, but unsentimental, and they don't follow the same structure I am familiar with when I think of the term 'reads like fiction'. Then there is Narrative; not only does it not follow (what I believe is) a traditional story structure - no climax or resolution in most of the stories I've read there - but also, I'm not even sure when I'm reading fiction or non-fiction half the time, because they publish both and don't always specify and you can't tell from the story itself.
So I think it's really important to cater each individual piece to the needs/prefferences of the editors you are sending them to. Anyway, I think that the glossy’s still publish a great deal of more traditional essays, but good luck getting in there. Also, I think newspaper columns still accept quite a bit. Those are the two places that are publishing new work where I still read traditional pieces. But hey, what do I know. I’m still new to all of this.
Good luck and I hope you get some really great responses to this question because I’m dying to hear what a more experienced writer has to say on the subject. -
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Permalink Reply by Laura G Owens on -
Lanita
Thanks for your response. I'm just not entrenched enough in this world to know if the trend is CNF because that's what readers want (regardless, I still want to write what my passion steers me to), or because quality essay work these days in essay writing falls under CNF. I'd have to think the latter is too limiting, some of the finest essayists are not doing CNF, Anne Lamott is one of my favorites and her work always weaves some societal, feminist or motherhood thread but is not so narrative, IMO. David Sedaris is a humorist and social commentator as well with his work right?
Chick lit was wildly popular as have been all things motherhood "angst" (and I love that raw mom writing), and vampires (not a fan of fantasy). The trends in publishing dictate our available platforms but I feel drawn towards commentary essays that present a posit and close with some new insight.
But just because I'm not a fan of fantasy doesn't negate the huge trend towards it, and the writers doing it tell a GREAT story I hear. So good writing is good writing, personal essay or CNF..but as you say, there are few places to publish the traditional essay it seems.
I think people like a good story that pulls them in and leads them towards some ah-ha. Social commentary essays or just personal anecdotes that weave a posit (motherhood tied into how girls have pressure to be a certain way today) read more like a newspaper piece, which I happen to enjoy. That style comes more naturally to me than to sit down and think of a scenario, a scene that I bring to life with vivid detail of clothing, setting, time place and dialogue, but I haven't tried writing that style so maybe.......
Laura -
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Permalink Reply by Lanita Andrews on
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Yah, I thought it was going to be more difficult than it is to write CNF. I'm not really a big fan either, though. I don't mind those that have a nice balance, but those that are all, or nearly all story just don't do it for me. As for my favorite to read (this isn't a very intellectual choice, but I love him) is Joel Stein. As soon as I receive a new issue of Time, I turn to the last page to read his essays. He just cracks me up, and there is very little anecdote in his essays. So I guess it's like any profession, maybe you have to do the grunt work before you can really start doing things the way you've always hoped.
Regarding your comment about not remembering the details - I had the same thoughts, but found if I just started writing, treating it more like a journal entry than an assignment at first, little details do come up. The trick is not to look for specific details, let them come to you. I recently wrote a piece about a past love and our first kiss and I was shocked at the details I ended up remembering - I thought of the beanie I wore, and that reminded me that it was Autumn and the Santa Anas were fierce that night. I thought about how he pulled over in this barren field and it reminded me how the dust came up and I breathed it in when when I got out of the car. I remembered the words he spoke, words I hadn't thought of in probably 10 years. But don't ask me what he was wearing, because I don't have a clue. My point is, don't look for the details, let them come to you. You might just be surprised. Then maybe, once you've published some of those CNF pieces you're not so fond of, you might find a few more publishing oppurtunies for the type of essay you really enjoy. -
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Permalink Reply by Christa Mastrangelo on -
I too have been stumped and also wondering about things like writers interviews. Anyone have thoughts about submitting those?
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Permalink Reply by Laura G Owens on
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Christa ,
I've written an email interview before, very easy for my Suite101 content, posing questions that would lead the reader to understand the topic (maternal depression).
Great points Lanita -
Yes the stream of conciousness I guess just comes, thus the idea of just writing, and exercises like mind mapping etc leading to the next memory etc. I tend to be one of those writers who is WILLING to do all the exercises, strategies to get better, but I don't. Instead, I feel like my natural method to improve is to think about the topic, let it take on a life of it's own, and just write, improve, write improve and READ (more than I do) to get the voices in my head of talented essayists. Just read an essay from the Sun yesterday (wonderful magazine of broad literary talent, fiction, non, poems) and it was a rich CNF essay by Poe Ballantine, not my writing style but LOVED his piece.
I like my essay writing to feel organic, rising from the dead so to speak, and please so I don't sound like a hand on brow diva :))) I do believe in doing the work, paying dues, its' just that I don't want to do CNF writing, I want to do personal essays, intellectual reasoning on social commentary (wah, wah whines Laura, LOL).
I like your thought about scene details just coming and not to get caught up in the worry of if they DON'T come. Thank you.
Interesting, does CNF writing need to pre-empt other? Is it a stepping stone? I imagine fine CNF work is incredibly difficult and not higher or lower, but just different? I feel I need to write style the way I lean and that is essays of social commentary with anecdotes thrown in.....which of course limits me and brings me back to.....
What publications welcome these for newer writers?
Laura -
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Permalink Reply by Lanita Andrews on
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It's funny that you mention the Sun, because that was one I was thinking where you can submit a more traditional piece. They may also publish CNF, but I know I've read more traditional pieces as well. Also, I think some of the Woman's magazines publish more traditional essays, I'm thinking Woman's Day, Good Housekeeping, and such. I haven't checked out there submission guidelines in a long time because I've been focusing on venues that are easier to get into, so I can't tell you for sure, but you could check out their websites.
Two places you should check out-
*a blog called Excuse Editor. If you subscribe, they send you a newsletter once a month with contests. Many Lit magazines and popular anthologies hold their call for submissions as a contest, and many of those show up on the newsletter. You'll have to weed through the list, but in time, you should be able to find something there.
*Writing World has tons of articles. It has more practical info for writers than any other resource I've come across, and if you go through their articles on non-fiction, there is at least one list of places that publish unsolicited essays. -
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Permalink Reply by Laura G Owens on
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Thanks so much; I'll check them out. And yes, The Sun's Readers Write etc, offers up that opportunity : )
Laura -
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Permalink Reply by Christa Mastrangelo on
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Where is your Funny Girls essay, btw? I'm a little new to this...
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Permalink Reply by Laura G Owens on
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Hi Christa
Thanks, I'm still working on it but would like to post here soon : )
Laura -
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Permalink Reply by Nandini P on -
Laura,
I am in exactly the same predicament as you. Have you been able to get published?
I would love to read your Funny Girls. Also, do you have a blog?
Nandini -
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Permalink Reply by Laura G Owens on
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Hi Nandini
I spend most of my time writing online/print articles, blogging, but essays are my first love (which begs the question why don't I spend more time on my first love?) money, building a platform, fear? etc.
Thank you for asking : )) I'm about to post my "Funny Girls" essay tomorrow or this weekend; I've revised it to add some narrative that ties in.
I have an essay titled, "Knocked Out" on Motherhood Movement online, several essays in Mothers & More Forum, and I received an honorable mention for an essay titled "Freedom by Inches" for skirt! My folder is full of several lovely rejections from Brain, Child mag, the last being pretty positive as far as rejections go, good feedback but editor said it's not quite their style, narrative with exposition.
I write straight essays and not creative non-fiction with heavy dialogue. Not sure if this is "wrong" but it seems CNFiction is what these editors want, an essay that reads like a story, bringing the reader into the world, not my personal essay/commentary with posits and a conclusion. I think narrative essay writing has become wildly popular because it's a nice read when you can draw the reader in with anecdotes, dialogue, rich descriptives...
blogs:
http://skirt.com/laurao
http://lauragowens.wordpress.com/
Websites:
http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/laao
http://lauraowens.wordpress.com/
Laura -
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