This summer I took part in a webinar through The Writing Barn called "Taking Risks when Writing Non-Fiction". I learned that in order for your NF work to stand out, sometimes you need to TAKE RISKS. Risk taking can come in many forms:
- Topic risks ( political, sad, overdone, gross, etc) - Style/Structure Risks (poetry, rhyme, repetition, different POVs, lists, etc) - Financial/Time consuming risks - Emotional subjects - Potentially getting "scooped" and - the living subject risk I didn't realize it at the time when I was taking the webinar, but I was already taking a risk with my current NF PB Bio WIP as I am writing about a living subject. As a public figure, I thought she was fair game. All summer, I've been trying to reach out to her and her siblings to see if I could ask some questions about her youth, as I haven't found much about her as a girl in my research. Well, spoiler alert... no one got back to me. Then... something amazing happened. I had also reached out to a friend of hers. A close friend and partner of hers. Well, one day I happened to check my spam mail and boom. There it was. An email response back from Resource X-- who could not have been more nice and supportive. This close friend of hers happened to be an author of some of the books I GREW UP READING. It was INCREDIBLE for me. I got to thank her and share that I have passed on down some of her books to my own daughter to read. She was an amazing resource I was excited to utilize for my story. Then, something terrible happened. I received a letter in my mailbox from a law firm representing my subject, asking that I stop reaching out to her friends and family and that she doesn't want a story written about her. That she values her privacy. I was bummed. Super disappointed. I had spent all summer researching and reaching out to primary sources. More over, I believe in the story that her life has to share. So, in this writing journey, there are risks and rewards. My risk taking led to connecting with an author who I admire. For now, I will set that project aside. I don't want to start it out with such negativity. (An official cease and desist letter-- I guess that means I'm a real NF writer then, right?) But, I don't regret the risk taking and hope in the future my risks can take me on an unexpected journey again.
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