On Saturday I heard Ira Glass, the host of the radio show "This American Life", speak. If you haven't heard his show, each week he interviews people as they tell stories from their lives and then puts several together around a theme. He does a little commentary and uses music to set the tone of the story. (He's also in the second season of a tv version on Showtime. I haven't seen it.)
Glass talked a lot about the power of storytelling and the "narrative arc" that his program follows. He also had some words of encouragement for writers and artists along the lines of "Yes, your work is going to suck for a long time, but if you keep at it eventually it will get better." (He even played one of his early radio shows to demonstrate how far he's come.)
I guess I thought about our class because he's been so successful in creating a non-fiction format that is entertaining and informative. Several people in Monday's section talked a little bit about taking a creative non-fiction class. I'm curious to hear more. What did you read? What types of writing did you do? (Any creative children's literature, by chance?)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment