What Do You See Now Reflection in Creative

What Do You See Now? Reflection in Creative Nonfiction

Vivian Gornick The Situation and the Story ¡Every work of literature has both a situation and a story. The situation is the context or circumstance, sometimes the plot; the story is the emotional experience that preoccupies the writer: the insight, the wisdom, the thing one has come to say.

Story is… ¡The facts of what happened. ¡Can sound like reportage or a deposition if there’s no insight offered in either delivery or details.

Reflection is… ¡The foundation of the personal essay and of memoir. ¡It is a gift to the reader. It allows the reader to see themselves in your story.

The Necessity of Reflection ¡While everyone loves a well-told story, “the…reason people care relates to what the writer has made of the experience and how the author’s discovery often rings true for a wide readership. ”

Confessions of a Former Fat Kid by Isaac Fitzgerald

Questions of Reflection ¡Why do I want to write about this particular topic/event/circumstance in my life? ¡Who was I before this event happened to me? ¡Who am I as a result of it? In other words, how do I see the world through the lens of what happened to me? ¡How do I feel about the people I’m writing about? Have these feelings changed over time? Have they not? Why? ¡What are my physical/emotional reactions around my topic? How fresh is the “wound? ”

The Story ¡How we met ¡Her gift giving ¡Visiting her in London ¡“Aunt” Katy to Tain ¡The honor of being a bridesmaid at her wedding ¡Being with her for surgeries, chemo ¡Her emotions and my own during her illness

Love ¡What does it mean to be on the receiving end of that kind of love? ¡The challenges of such love: to be open to pain, to know it can put you in a place to receive a call and hear a beloved say, “Come to me. I’m dying. ”

Fairness ¡How I’m often thinking about what happened to Katy wasn’t fair. ¡Is this really about my frustration that I couldn’t help her, couldn’t make it better? ¡Accepting she was on a very particular journey. ¡Faith questions.

Legacy ¡I don’t want her to totally disappear. ¡What does it mean that I even feel impelled to talk about here? ¡Why am I thinking this way? ¡Is this a way of processing, accepting, moving toward my own death?

Questions of Reflection ¡Why do I want to write about this particular topic/event/circumstance in my life? ¡Who was I before this event happened to me? ¡Who am I as a result of it? In other words, how do I see the world through the lens of what happened to me? ¡How do I feel about the people I’m writing about? Have these feelings changed over time? Have they not? Why? ¡What are my physical/emotional reactions around my topic? How fresh is the “wound? ”