William Faulkner said, “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” A good editor knows that this process is sometimes painful to the author because their words are their babies. How, then, is an editor to approach nonfiction trauma manuscripts when an author’s words are their nightmares?
memory
Memory and Truth: How to Classify Nonfiction Titles
By Rachel Palmer
If that’s the case, why does nonfiction allow something as unreliable as memories? The idea is that the writer is truly recounting the memory, not whether or not it actually occurred. The experience is born out of the memory of the event. A memoir is a recounting of memory. It has to be a truthful recounting of only what’s remembered and what is researched.
The Power of Stories: Narrative Psychology in Publishing
By Megan Doyle
Beyond the ability to hold an enthusiastic reader’s rapt attention or gain a bestseller’s widespread audience, stories have a power that most people take for granted. They contribute to the way we perceive and process our own experiences. Psychologists who study this power call it narrative psychology. Narrative psychology is described as a burgeoning field […]