literature

Writing Non-fiction (Bonus Day 3)

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Published: Feb 5, 2014

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Literature Text

^{The January challenge in Souljournalists is to write a nonfiction piece based on a daily theme except for days where we were free to select our own topic. Pretty simple, right? Not really. I was on the verge of backing out on these prompts due to lack of ideas: resolutions, objectivity in art and landscapes. The most difficult week is the second week when we had to write about home and places of worship.

I would have loved to write from a distance, where I don’t pour out personal experiences and where my emotions do not interfere with my prose. I failed on numerous accounts. Reading them now, they are confessions, not philosophical essays. They are diary entries, not artistic vignettes. If I could rewrite them one by one, I would make them more precise, more informative, more worth your time.

The process has revealed to me the joys and stressful moments of writing nonfiction. I may have spilled too much, or too soon but what can I do now that they’re out there for public scrutiny? May I never be pressured to remove any of them from deviantart. After all, I signed up for this challenge to express myself outside of poetry and abstractions. Who knows? I may do it again sometime.

It is cathartic. At first, there were hesitations but when I began to plunge into the waters, I feel I could swim into the past and back to the present, recapturing memories I’ve been suppressing, experiences I’ve been forgetting and mistakes I’ve been disowning. I am somehow free. It is unexplainable.

Along the way, I discovered gems from others who also tried this journey, stories written from their hearts. My heart can’t ever be objective. It feels what it feels and it creeps its way into what I write, fiction or not. Sincerity is what I value the most when reading nonfiction. I hope that I was able to accomplish layers of sincerity on my own pieces.

© february 5, 2014}