I really liked "Breaking Clean," until I found out the typewriter scene was not true. It was such a powerful moment, and to have it undercut with fabrication was as painful as the scene itself (for me anyway).
In our salon session, we discussed non-fiction writing and its purpose for the reader, at least in essay format. Brian (sorry if I misspelled your name by the way) mentioned for him one purpose is to present some sort of life lesson or truth. Personally, I agree with that.
From my limited experience with it thus far, I think any non-fiction work offers an "aha"concept for the reader. Hopefully, the reader is guided there and discovers the concept on their own, because they are shown it rather than told it. My concern is, if the author is not completely truthful in their journey, how is the reader supposed to take something more personal away from the story?
With the typewriter scene, when I thought it was real, I empathized so strongly that I felt like part of myself was smashed and broken. That moment made it crystal clear what the family's expectations of the narrator were, and what she actually wanted. To have that crushed added validation for her leaving, and hopefully showed anyone in a similar situation that was the right thing to do. However, since that didn't happen, I'm suddenly thinking: her situation wasn't that bad. Granted, I'm glad she left to pursue her own hopes and dreams, but I'm curious what actually drove her to do that if it wasn't her typewriter getting smashed.
I've approached this in a round-about way, but my point is, the lesson is it requires such an emotionally shattering moment to drive someone to leave an unhealthy situation. If the reader things it has to be as dramatic as a typewriter being smashed, that may be what they look for rather than a more subtle "aha" moment. Or at least, as a reader, that's what I'd take away.
In our conference meeting, Kidder's quote about stopping believing his own stories if he fabricated parts of them really resonated with me. I feel a strong foundation of truth must be created before connecting with readers. Therefore, I hope to uphold that standard in my writing throughout the semester.
Good post. Undoubtedly, one of the things that makes "nonfiction' powerful for many is the idea that "this actually happened." I've always been interested in this. Why do we find this so powerful, especially when other genres like fiction can more easily create worlds that include the interior lives of characters, something that is exceedingly hard to do in nonfiction?
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