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Tables of Contents for True Stories
Chapter/Section Title
Page #
Page Count
Acknowledgments
ix
ABOUT TRUE STORIES
1
14
What about we
3
1
What about truth
4
4
To our readers
8
5
To teachers
13
2
GETTING STARTED
15
40
You are a writer
17
2
Dare to take yourself seriously
19
1
You are your own best subject
20
2
Ways writers write
22
3
Jot down random ideas
25
1
Finding good subjects
26
8
More on how writers collide with, stumble on, and sniff out subjects
34
7
Hot topics
41
2
Tackle your best subject now
43
1
No life is boring
44
2
Write to discover, not to rehash
46
7
The no-critics-allowed notebook
53
2
HOW-TO TECHNIQUES
55
116
Why learn craft
57
2
Leads
59
7
Titles
66
3
Using conflict, tension, and questions
69
5
Finding an angle into your subject
74
4
Be specific
78
5
Create an experience for your reader
83
2
When to show and when to tell
85
2
Scenes
87
16
Playing with time, or the day grammaw died
103
5
Expanding time
108
2
The nursing home
110
5
Compressing time
115
4
Use and misuse of chronology
119
3
Leaping ahead or back in time
122
3
Stringing a subject along: a way to look at structure
125
4
Finding meaning
129
9
Endings
138
3
Writing about people
141
6
Writing about places
147
4
Exploring with metaphor
151
3
Using your life as you write about reading
154
8
Passion on the page
162
9
ADVICE ABOUT PROCESS
171
40
Take risks and fail: all writers belly flop
173
2
Writing habits: ``one God damned word after another God damned word''
175
3
Voice
178
6
How to revise
184
8
A reviser's checklist
192
4
Editing
196
1
Radical surgery
197
7
Fine-tuning
204
7
ETHICS AND THE WRITER'S LIFE
211
32
Writing as reflection
213
1
Tell the truth
214
3
Finding the courage to tell the truth
217
3
Breaking the rules
220
1
Stretching the boundaries of nonfiction
221
6
Revealing other people's secrets
227
4
Bypassing writer's block
231
5
Writing workshops
236
4
Protect your right to write
240
2
Keep the faith, keep going
242
1
THEIR STORIES
243
38
``The Painting Lesson''
245
3
Emile Birch
``Tracks''
248
2
Alan DeCosta
``To Paris, Please''
250
7
Sybille Goldberg
``Backstroke''
257
2
Donna J. Kuethe
``Saying Kaddish for Peter''
259
4
Michael Lowenthal
``Canning Jars''
263
4
Sandell Morse
``Mildred's Snowdrops''
267
5
Hillary Nelson
``Visitation''
272
3
Pat Parnell
``A Father's Eyes''
275
3
Stephen Schultz
``Rabbit Doll''
278
3
Pat Wilson
Recommended Reading
281