Tell Not Show: Why (and How!) to Use The Reflective Voice

REGISTER NOW  $25

Nonfiction writers talk about the importance of “showing.” But “telling” is equally important.

“There’s the voice that tells the surface story,” writes Michael Steinberg in his essay, “Finding the Inner Story in Memoirs and Personal Essays,” “and another, more reflective voice that comments, digresses, analyzes, and speculates about the story’s events—in other words—a voice or narrative persona that looks to find a human connection or larger meaning in his/her personal experience.”

Nonfiction writers are often good at creating rich descriptions, vivid scenes and compelling backstory. Where they often get stuck is their “So what?”, or what Vivian Gornick calls “the thing one has come to say.” In this session, we will focus on this essential voice in our creative nonfiction and memoir — the voice that “tells.”

Variously known as “reflective voice,” “sense-making,” and “musing,” this voice provides a narrative with essential meaning, heft, and gravity—the lesson learned, the theme grappled with, the idea that emerges—from the distance of passed time and the benefit of wisdom. We’ll examine exemplary writing to understand reflective voice and how to deploy it for the best effect. We will leave time for an in-class exercise to practice writing in this mode.

In this presentation, you will:

• EXPLORE the key elements of reflective writing via examples from masters in the craft
• DISCOVER how to tap into your perhaps unrealized reflective voice
• LEARN HOW to enhance your narratives with reflective writing

This webinar is ideal for writers who…

• worry their memoirs and essays lack a “so what?”
• want to develop their reflective writing skills
• are skilled at writing scenes, but less skilled at creating a sense of meaning

Closed captioning is available.
All registrants receive the recording.

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

ETHAN GILSDORF is a writer, teacher, performer, and the author of the Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Esquire, Wired, Salon, O the Oprah Magazine, Brevity, Electric Literature, Poetry, The Southern Review, among other publications, and named “Notable” by The Best American Essays. He teaches workshops in essay, creative nonfiction and memoir at GrubStreet in Boston, where he leads the Essay Incubator program,  and at LitArts RI. He is also on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program at Lasell University

Questions? Please email info@craft-talks.com