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I tutor and teach research and writing for SASC; and lately I write nonfiction. I never wanted to write nonfiction. I went to school for creative writing and wrote magical realism-short stories mostly. But true-life stories kept falling in my lap and the more I tried to ignore them or fictionalize them, the stranger or more monstrous they grew, blowing themselves up to ridiculous proportions in their demand to be told. So magical realism turned from genre to lifestyle; and strange happenings hover like that thundercloud that hangs over Winnie the Pooh.
Because this is how stories come to me, I am pressed to ask myself questions about personal responsibility a lot; it's so much easier to play a character in scripts that have been written than to write the part of action hero and live up to it. But I feel my job as a writer is to remain as aware as possible in an effort to see the magic in everyday realities; the lies in truths both present and past; and the truth in fiction.
» The Truth about Willy |
