In an essay at Glimmer Train, writer Katherine Vaz discusses an assignment that is given to every student at her university: to write about “the most important thing ever to happen to me.” Immigrants may have breathtaking and heartbreaking stories, she notes, but what about the average student, a “So Cal surfer guy”? Vaz asks:
What’s the nature (or even the point) of truth-telling here? [One student] wrote that the most important thing ever to happen to him was…the night he and his pals got drunk and knocked down the mailboxes in the neighborhood. The easiest thing would have been to dismiss him out-of-hand. But I asked him if this was indeed what he wanted to write about—he did—so I asked him to tell me more about that night.
What Vaz discovers is that the act of writing each story can be a vital exploration about the nature of truths you might not even know you carried. Read the entire essay.
Also this month in the Glimmer Train bulletin:
- Why I Shouldn’t Be a Writer by Courtney Knowlton
- How to “Write Science” Without Becoming a Lecturer by Stefani Nellen
- Daily Momentum: A Little Progress Goes a Long Way by Andrew Roe
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
[…] view post at https://janefriedman.com/going-beyond-truth-telling-personal-essay/ […]
Vaz’s essay made me cry, Jane. I’ve never had a “Killing Fields” event like the young man from Cambodia, nor am I a surfer dude from California (though my middle-class upbringing from Texas sounds similar to #2). The whole essay conveyed the central truth in the the final line … why stories matter.
That took my breath away. Thanks for sharing.
What a powerful essay. As a widow with school aged children, my writing will be about what my husband and I went through in dealing with his cancer diagnosis and living in the aftermath. I hope to inspire readers to live intentionally. As a faith based writer, my purpose is to encourage other widows that there is life to be LIVED, not just survived, there is hope to be found, and (because) there is a God who is faithful.
With that said, I’ve noticed myself dealing in the minutiae of details. Which day did this happen? How many weeks passed between this event and that? How exactly did such and such play out? I believe this came from a desire for integrity.
I already understood my story is about our experience and the takeaway. But this essay helped clarify that my focus needs to be on working through the relational, mental, emotional and spiritual struggles rather than the specific details.