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founding
Mar 16, 2022·edited Mar 16, 2022Liked by Alison Acheson

When I write non-fiction it naturally turns into mini-memoir, but I have a hard time organizing the material and it slows my ability to post on Medium. I might not have mastered fiction, but I'm confident I'm on the right track. Deep POV and narrative voice confuses and spooks mid-experience writers & it takes practice to know when it's right. When I'm in a group, I go bonkers when I get copy-edited. I don't want typos, but when the flame is on errors happen.

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When I've taught grad workshops, I ask the other participants not to copy-edit -- that's the teacher's job (though if the writer wants otherwise, they could say).

This is a reminder to me that it really is necessary for a writer to say something about their needs, wants, expectations!

Organizing material for nonfiction/memoir... even for shorter pieces. How to gather the threads. Writing a full first draft (as in, throw all ideas into the mix!), then culling. Sometimes having confidence that there will be another piece in which to use the material you are cutting, can be useful.

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