SKU: 48623718659

Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma

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Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from TraumaSome of the country's most admired authors including Andre Dubus III, Mark Doty, Marianne Leone, Michael Patrick MacDonald, Richard Blanco, Abigail Thomas, Kate Bornstein, Jerald Walker, and Kyoko Mori describe their treks through dark memories and breakthrough moments and attest to the healing power of putting words to experience. What does it take to write an honest memoir? And what happens to us when we embark on that journey? Melanie Brooks sought

Some of the country's most admired authors--including Andre Dubus III, Mark Doty, Marianne Leone, Michael Patrick MacDonald, Richard Blanco, Abigail Thomas, Kate Bornstein, Jerald Walker, and Kyoko Mori--describe their treks through dark memories and breakthrough moments and attest to the healing power of putting words to experience.

What does it take to write an honest memoir? And what happens to us when we embark on that journey? Melanie Brooks sought guidance from the memoirists who most moved her to answer these questions. Called an essential book for creative writers by Poets & Writers, Writing Hard Stories is a unique compilation of authentic stories about the death of a partner, parent, or child; about violence and shunning; and about the process of writing. It will serve as a tool for teachers of writing and give readers an intimate look into the lives of the authors they love.

Authors profiled in Writing Hard Stories Andre Dubus III, Sue William Silverman, Michael Patrick MacDonald, Joan Wickersham, Kyoko Mori, Richard Hoffman, Suzanne Strempek Shea, Abigail Thomas, Monica Wood, Mark Doty, Edwidge Dantict, Marianne Leone, Jerald Walker, Kate Bornstein, Jessica Handler, Richard Blanco, Alysia Abbott, and Kim Stafford

Insights from Writing Hard Stories

"Why we endeavor collectively to write a book or paint a canvas or write a symphony...is to understand who we are as human beings, and it's that shared knowledge that somehow helps us to survive."--Richard Blanco

"Here's what you need to understand: your brothers or family or friends] are going to have their own stories to tell. You don't have to tell the family story. You have to tell your story of being in that family."--Andre Dubus III

"We all need a way to express or make something out of experiences that otherwise have no meaning. If what you want is clarity and meaning, you have to break the secrets over your knee and make something of those ingredients."--Abigail Thomas

"What we remember and how we remember it really tells us how we became who we became."--Michael Patrick MacDonald

"The reason I write memoir is to be able to see the experience itself...I hardly know what I think until I write...Writing is a way to organize your life, give it a frame, give it a structure, so that you can really see what it was that happened."--Sue William Silverman

"After a while in the process, you have some distance and you start thinking of it as a story, not as your story...It was a personal grief, but no longer personal... It's] something that has not just happened to me and my family, but something that's happened in the world."--Edwidge Danticat

"Tibetan Buddhists believe that eloquence is the telling of a truth in such a way that it eases suffering...The more suffering that is eased by your telling of the truth, the more eloquent you are. That's all you can really hope for--being eloquent in that fashion. All you have to do is respond to your story honestly, and that's the ideal."--Kate Bornstein

"You can never entirely redeem the experience. You can't make it not hurt anymore. But you can make it beautiful enough so that there's something to balance it in the other scale. And if you understand that word beautiful as not necessarily pretty, then you're getting close to recognizing the integrative power of restoring the balance, which is restoring the truth."--Richard Hoffman

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 02/07/2017
ISBN: 9780807078815
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.66lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2016
Publishers Weekly 10/31/2016
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SKU: 48623718659

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Kyle Williamson
Louisville, US
★★★★★ 5
In law there is always another way
Format: Kindle
I finished this book having completed all but one course for my law degree. It is a goldmine of techniques and outlines the modus operandi of how Judges and Lawyers ideally operate.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2026
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Joey
Louisville, US
★★★★★ 5
Good for 1Ls to know
Format: Paperback
Very useful
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Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2025
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SweetB
Chelsea, US
★★★★★ 5
For law students
Format: Paperback
Great resource for literal thinkers entering law school.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2024
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Diane
New York, US
★★★★★ 3
Needs to be more concise to weed out extraneous crap in your arguments
Format: Paperback
It’s very wordy and could be a lot more concise and be even more effective. “Getting to maybe” is not an exercise in dissertations but finding the right points to create an effective argument. There are better resources out there.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2026
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Larry Holt
Lowell, US
★★★★★ 2
This book made me angry
Format: Paperback
I was excited about this book. Many law-related blogs and forums highly recommended this book. It's a "must read" for law students, they said. I was angry when I read the introduction. I was angrier when I began reading the chapters. What happened to brevity? Law students are already swamped with course readings. Why write a book intended to be read by law students in such a long and voluminous way? Much of the text can be removed. "Get to the point," I found myself telling the author as I read page after page. I hated it. It is the rare law student who will pick up this book for its narrative value. The typical law student will pick this book for its value on navigating through law school exams, not for its story-telling. Yet that student will be left disappointed. I wish the author would have considered writing a "Get to the Point" book, which would serve as a shorter version of 'Getting to Maybe.' Perhaps it is not too late. "Get to the Point" could serve as an alternative or accompanying version, maybe? I ask that the author considers this.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2025

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