WEBINAR | Using Research in Creative Nonfiction and Fiction: How Facts Enhance Creative Work
February 12 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm EST
“Sometimes it’s not enough simply to peer intently into your own soul. Sometimes you have to look out the window and see the world in all its complicated glory.” ~ Philip Gerard, The Art of Creative Research: A Field Guide for Writers.
For Creative Nonfiction and Fiction Writers
For many writers, “research” got separated from our creative impulses sometime in high school. We associate sources and quotes with credibility rather than inspiration. We assume that poets, essayists, and novelists operate purely from their muse, that it’s only imagination that produces art.
But research is an important but often overlooked collaborator and powerful tool in the writing process. Even in this squishy age of “truthiness” and “fake news,” writers can enhance their fictional narratives, poetic images, and personal stories with chosen facts, carefully uncovered and discovered.
In this webinar, we will examine how writers such as Anthony Doerr, Sabrina Imbler, Adam Hochschild, Sandra Tsing Loh, Hilary Mantel, Robert Pinsky, Sarah Vowell and Ellen Austin-Li use “creative research” in their work, and to what effect. We’ll discuss the ways “fact” can help you reach your truth — whether you’re writing historical fiction about the 18th century or trying to accurately capture a hazy family memory — and how to make facts and data come alive on the page.
We’ll look at preparing a research plan for your own projects, balancing research and writing time, and how not to get lost in the research. We’ll also go over research and reporting tools and skills, including interviewing, fieldwork, and using archives.
In this webinar, you will:
- DISCOVER the many ways in which research can be used in creative writing
- LEARN about research methods and techniques
- EXPLORE how research can be applied to their own projects
- UNDERSTAND how to integrate facts seamlessly into narrative without overwhelming voice, scene, or momentum
- DEVELOP a flexible research plan tailored to your genre, project stage, and writing goals
This webinar is ideal for writers who:
- wonder how to navigate fact versus fiction
- are curious about how to integrate research into their projects
- want their work to feel grounded, credible, and vivid
- feel intimidated by research but suspect it could strengthen their writing
- are working on projects that require accuracy without sacrificing imagination
Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER
Ethan Gilsdorf is a writer, teacher, performer, and a huge nerd. He is the author of the award-winning memoir Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. His work appears in the New York Times, Washington Post, Esquire, Wired, Salon, O the Oprah Magazine, Huffington Post, Brevity, Electric Literature, Poetry, and The Southern Review, among other publications, and is named “Notable” by The Best American Essays.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.
