Sarah Saffian: The Politics of Writing About Loved Ones, Eleventh Hour series, Iowa Summer Writing Festival, Iowa City, Iowa, June 11, 2013

Saffian, Sarah

Prairie Lights (Iowa City, Iowa)
WSUI (Radio station : Iowa City, Iowa)

2013-06-11

Biology Building East (Iowa City, Iowa)

A novelist has it easy—his characters, sprung from his imagination, don't talk back when they're not happy with the way they're depicted on the page. But what if your character is your ex-husband, your twin brother, your mother? Are familial loyalty and literary integrity necessarily at odds? How can we most effectively navigate this touchy terrain, to maintain our real-life relationships without compromising the stories we need to tell? In this lecture/discussion, Sarah Saffian discusses such prickly issues as: the possibility of multiple "truths"; altering identifying characteristics; inviting loved ones into your writing process (or not); the pros and cons of allowing relatives to read your manuscript, and how much to revise per their comments, if at all; determining if what could hurt others truly advances the story. Whether you're in the midst of a memoir project or are just contemplating one and scared off by this very conflict, Sarah guides you toward exploring forms of expression that you can stand behind both as authors and as brothers/daughters/friends.

Authors
Writing

2010-2020

United States -- Iowa -- Iowa City

00:58:59

2013-06-14

Educational use only, no other rights given. U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this digital object. Commercial use or distribution of the object is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.

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