34 Comments
Oct 4Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

This was incredibly helpful and beyond insightful! Going to take your salient tips into my editing session today. Thank you for your wisdom here.

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author

Thank you!

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Oct 4Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

Alexander Chee was so right — thanks so much for sharing your stellar/astute/helpful insights with us. These tips are great for writers going through their early drafts with an eye to revising their protagonist-self as a character. Would love to have you join us for a Memoiring convo in the future!

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author

So glad you liked! Yes, happy to join for a conversation...deep in writing my next memoir!

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We’ll find a time that works for your schedule! I’ll reach out shortly. Thank you.

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Oct 4Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

Meghan, you are generous -- sooner or later you will probably make your content paid-only (everybody is entitled to monetize their content), but this article is gold. Thanks.

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Oct 4Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

This was great. I think you've identified what's so frustrating about AI writing: its blueprint is your 'telling' paragraph. Its goal is to actively stomp out any trace of authorial voice.

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author

ha, good point...I'm writing an essay about AI and creativity so have been thinking exactly about this.

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Meghan, I only stumbled upon your work today, and it is so insightful and helpful as I pick up my abandoned memoir and take it in an entirely different direction.

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author

Thank you! Good luck...

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Love this! I’m teaching a Longform Feature Writing class this semester, and we’re focused on personal essay writing at the moment. The reflections and lessons you shared feel especially relevant to me and the lessons I’m trying to convey to students!

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This is super helpful, as I've struggled with just how much of myself I should let be really true ans seen when I'm writing an every day essay. Looking forward to making some notes and getting a new piece started!

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Oct 5·edited Oct 5Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

Really helpful. Several things resonated...my memoir is coming out and after reviewing the ARCs I remember struggling through much of this in rewrites and edits. Particularly the balance between sharing perception and staying too long in the narrator's head could be challenging...there were times two sentences was too long and times when a page was needed...it seemed to depend on how developed the perception was? I love the part about risk...over and over that was the wall I faced, and it was surprising that the real risk wasnt in what I revealed but in speaking of what I really thought about it. Before writing and facing that fear, I hadn't known it existed. I am from a drama prone Southern family, we overshare grotesqueries gleefully but never ever share what it means to us and the world.

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I love this wisdom about letting the reader shadow the character -- that's so helpful. Thanks for this!

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Oct 4Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

So helpful and apt. I'm starting a long piece on family secrets over three generations, and realizing I need to make myself more present, almost as an observing character: your example and advice is right on point.

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Oct 4Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

SO helpful. Especially about seeing the writer character perceiving on the page--my tendency has been to edit those parts out. So much to work with here. Thank you!

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Oct 4Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

This is incredibly clearly articulated, thank you

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Oct 16Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

This is so helpful!

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Meghan, this is the most concretely helpful thing I’ve read in, well, a very long time, about how to write a more compelling and persuasive personal essay. Thank you! I live in New Haven part-time and hope to bump into you so I can say thank you in person.

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author

so glad to hear it! I'll be doing regular Craft Talk posts that aim to offer this level of concrete specific advice. See you in NH sometime!

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and loved your book, The Invisible Kingdom; I should read it again!

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Inspiring, grounded, and practical. Many thanks.

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author

🙏🏻

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Oct 7Liked by Meghan O'Rourke

Excellent tips, Meghan. I’m going to reread the opening chapter of my draft with your words in mind.

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