The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction

I've used this book twice now in a 300-level undergraduate introduction to narrative nonfiction and it is a complete textbook that can stand alone or be paired with supplemental anthologies, depending on the instructor's focus. The Truth of the Matter is uniquely suitable for teaching nonfiction writing in both English creative writing sequences and in journalism programs interested in joining the nonfiction narrative revolution. Dinty Moore devotes first third to explaining the genre and its building blocks. Beginning and intermediate writers find these concise chapters valuable for giving them just what they need to craft personal essays, memoirs, and literary journalism. Moore shows the difference between standard "just the facts" reportage and the deeper narrative nonfiction that graces literary journals and magazines such as The New Yorker. There's also an astute discussion of structure, including of such innovative forms as collage and braided essays, with examples of them included in the anthology section. As a former journalist turned essayist and memoir writer, I loved the inclusion of Tracy Kidder's trenchant "Making the Truth Believable," in which Kidder explains his fidelity to external reality and shows how choosing the wrong point of view can lead a writer into dishonesty. As a strict constructionist myself--the creativity is in the discovery of truth and in its presentation; you don't make things up--I appreciate this as well as Moore's own emphasis throughout on honesty. The book's anthology includes four conemporary concise essays and such classic conventional-length essays as "Notes of a Native Son" by James Baldwin; "The Courage of Turtles" by Edward Hoagland; and "The Search for Marvin Gardens" by John McPhee. Great contemporary essays that give students access to their own material include Tony Early's "Somehow Form a Family"; Philip Gerard's "What They Don't Tell You About Hurricanes"; Lucy Grealy's "Mirrorings"; and Terry Tempest Williams's "The Clan of One-Breasted Women." I highly recommend this book for students and teachers. It is a deft guide to a popular genre that can be confusing in its variety.

Dinty Moore's The Truth of the Matter would be worth ever cent just for the anthology selections, which feature the best of the best narrative non-fiction writers. Putting down these wonderful stories is difficult but also worthwhile because the step-by-step instructions, assignments and revision techniques featured in the first part of the book are the most helpful I've ever discovered. Mr. Moore, like any good writer, is able to "show" vs. "tell" writers how to apply the techniques that matter.