Four Lessons on the Shifting Line Between Fact and Truth

Every creative nonfiction writer eventually runs into the same questions. How much can I reconstruct? Can I combine two conversations into one? What if I don't remember exactly what happened?

There is no single answer, because creative nonfiction is not a single form. A piece of literary journalism makes a different promise to readers than a memoir does, and a speculative essay makes a different promise again. This course maps the whole spectrum, so you know which promise you are making and how to keep it.

We will look at the entire truth spectrum, from journalism-adjacent nonfiction, through personal narrative and memoir, into speculative nonfiction, and the fictive slip into magical realism.

Learn how to keep the nonfiction promise to readers while weaving fact, truth, and imagination into your creative work.

Who this course is for:

Memoirists, personal essayists, and creative nonfiction writers at any stage who want to write with more freedom and more confidence about where the lines are. It is also useful for fiction writers drawing on real events and people.

What you get:

This self-led course includes four video lessons, about 30 minutes of run time, each with a full text transcript for each lesson and downloadable lesson handout with terms, examples, and writing prompts.

By the end of this course, you will understand the ways to use fiction techniques, speculation, imagination, and literalized metaphor in your creative nonfiction writing, while still maintaining the promise of the genre and honoring your truth.

What people are saying

“Lisa is a wonderful instructor. I’ve already learned so much from her, and her teaching style makes the material easy to understand. I highly recommend her workshops and courses!”

— Miho

“Nothing could be improved. I loved this class so much! I am excited to look at other classes you do.“

— Sophia

Although I read countless books and attended writing workshops, I often found the advice too subjective to put into practice. What makes Lisa’s teaching different is that she explains not only what works, but why it works.

— Naomi

Your instructor

Lisa Hayes-Minney has spent thirty-five years as a writer, editor, and educator. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and a BA in Written English (minor in journalism). A published essayist, her work appears in magazines, literary journals, and anthologies. She has worked as a copywriter, technical writer, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, and small press publisher, and was named the 2022 WV Librarian of the Year.

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