Sue William Silverman’s Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir (The University of Georgia Press, 2009) is a guidebook for people reclaiming mastery of personal circumstances through their expression in writing (as she’s done previously in Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, and Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey Through Sexual Addiction). Her new book is an effort at giving courage to aspiring writers and helping them navigate the ethical pop-ups that go along with being a writer of nonfiction, like using actual people and places as your characters and settings. Sue’s book also offers advice on how to market a work of autobiography to publishers, agents and prospective readers.
Besides being associate editor of the journal Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction, Sue is a faculty advisor at my alma mater, Vermont College of Fine Arts, “a haven for writers” to whom Fearless Confessions is dedicated with gratitude and thanks. I befriended several great writers at VCFA, both among the faculty (Christopher Noel, Larry Sutin, others) and the student body (Amy Greene, Christy Clothier, others). Sue was never my advisor, but I was fortunate enough to take part in a workshop she co-hosted during my time there. A friend and fellow VCFA alumnae, Deanna Benjamin, says this about the book: “Through clear, thoughtful explanations of such subjects as language, point of view, plot structure, and even the task of making memoir public, she uncovers the often daunting but assuredly achievable realm of writing the personal story,” and Mike Hemery, whose essay, “After The Dash”, appears in the collection as one of several good examples of personal essay/memoirs from Sue's classmates and associates, had this to say about its practical applicability: “Prior to utilizing Sue's method I was having little success with publishing, but within one year after heeding her advice within this book I landed eight publications . . . There is no other resource that is as comprehensive and helpful for new and experienced writers as this book. A must have for anyone who is even thinking of telling his or her story."
When I first heard the term “creative nonfiction” I thought it of it as one more stupid marketing ploy in the commercialization of literature as it slips out of fashion, you know that old ballgame. When I read the description and found I was already doing it, that, in fact, it was what I’d been doing all along, “using literary techniques to create factually accurate narratives”, I was even more outraged. I still don’t like that term. Why don’t they call it Creative Truth instead, I used to wonder. That sounds better. But nah, nobody knows what the truth is, so that wouldn’t really work either. I’m currently 130 pages into my favorite novel by myself about my life so far, and have been wondering whether to change all the names (including my own) or just a few facts, or just a few names, or just change everything make a clean breast—swoosh! (see, it’s circular logic). With everything going digital lately, I’ve been including website links as they come up in the characters’ conversation and lives, which procedure I’ve been thinking of as staying ahead of the curve, (you know, in the change from printed page to digital), but if I fictionalize the whole thing, I can’t use the same links, or any links at all, and the whole truth and fiction thing comes up again: Is there truth? Is there fiction? and—this book came at the perfect time for me, if you see what I mean.
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