Personal Narrative is personal and First-person Narrative is fictionally so

There is a need to clear up any confusion about the difference between a personal narrative and a first-person narrative.

     Personal narrative usually refers to a true story or recounting of events, giving form and interpretation about one's personal experience and perspectives on it. Personal narratives are nonfiction, also called memoir or autobiography (when the story covers the life, not one central time of life).  The one who experienced the events is telling the story, a personal story of immense personal proportions, enough to push the writer to tell it. One of my favorites is the very experienced and illustrious writer, now deceased, Eudora Welty, whose works are a remarkable legacy. Her personal narrative is her memoir, One Writer's Beginnings.

     First-person narrative usually refers to the perspective of the teller of a story told as fiction. The observer and/or participant of the novel, for example, is telling the story. The Sense of an Ending is fiction written in first person. I cannot comment further, not having read it. Maybe I will soon. You can read about in on Amazon.com, where there are numerous reviews. 

     Otherwise, fiction requires a straight narrative told by  the "hidden" speaker, the writer. One follows words to follow multiple characters and events. Unlike the first-person, there are few limitations on time and place and characters involved.

     Some fiction writers show the main character's perspective in straight narrative, telling the character's thoughts and impressions. After all, the writer knows the character. Other character perspectives can be shown, in one book or story, usually in separate chapters or sections.

Copyright (c)2011 Jean Purcell and Opinari Writers. Permission to quote or use with attribution.






Copyright (c)2011 Opinari Writers Network

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I Changed My Mind: Editing Personal Narrative Books

by Jean Purcell
editor@opinebooks.com.
Jean's new blog, Your Personal Book, for personal narrative writers.
Follow Jean on Twitter @opinaripeople

Fuzzy image of my book's clear cover. 

Someone asked me to help their friend's important personal story become a book. My first thought was to say, "No." However, I took it on. 
    My instinct to say "no" was due to my experience writing a personal experience story. These are true events that have deeply affected a person's life, perspectives, often with transformational effects.
    Over a period of 14 years, including five years "off," I finished my personal narrative book, with editing, book analysis, and publishing help from others. I have written all my life and have enjoyed it. I love to organize thoughts and to plan, so that helped, eventually.
   Philip Ralli of Highland Books UK contracted with me for the first publication, and I was thrilled. Philip gave the story the breakthrough introduction the book and author needed. The editor did a great job, too, and said that the manuscript was in good shape. (I credit both the book critique person and editor that helped me before Philip ever saw the book, for giving the shaping-up that helped me enormously in the process.)
     The personal narrative book I recently edited began as a  project for hire. Later, Opine decided to publish it. It is that good. We publish only books we like enormously, and those are the ones that come also at just the right time for us and the authors.
    Personal narrative books must have these basics:
(1) a compelling story interpreted profoundly, as it deserves
(2) a skilled writer/author
(3) a highly cooperative author when editing gets down and dirty;
(4) editing that guards the writer's voice
(5) awareness by author and editor that the emotional roller coaster that some true stories have will not destroy the writer who gives the work its due time, without rushing it or avoiding it.

   Refugee Was My Name is the recently published personal narrative published by Opine Publishing. The author is Mogama (Moses Garswa Matally), an amazing Liberian teacher and pastor now living in Kentucky USA. His book's development had all of the basic elements needed for its success and the author's future sharing of his story, to benefit many readers far beyond the refugee experience, as well as those who have gone through it in Liberia and other places.

Copyright (c)2011 Jean Purcell,Opinari Writers,Opine Publishing
Opine Publishing-Books that Last fills a select niche for Christian books with enjoyable, thought-provoking, and memorable reading. Opine Publishing's niche is books for today and for many tomorrows.

500 Books that Last

*Not All Roads Lead Home

I am interested in what others think about books that last. Two of my favorites are Surprised by Joy (C. S. Lewis) and The Mourner's Comforter (C. H. Spurgeon), for highly personal reasons*.
  What makes a fiction book last? Is it the characters or the story? Is it both? Some of us read lots of fiction, including mysteries, yet later we cannot remember the title or details of the story line. These do their job as enjoyable reads only. For the moment. And that's OK. (See 5 Fiction Series that Help Me Escape link below.)
     What might last for one person, does not for another. Generally, however, good books have a wide, shared readership. What five books would you put on a list of 500 top books that last?  

Image via Wikipedia

 
Copyright (c)2011 Opinari Writers

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Woodward and Bernstein Editing Skills for Watergate

Cover via Amazon

The writers that do not need editors keep journals and private writings for themselves or to share in letters, e-mails, or blogs.

Writers that need editors are columnists, article writers, book authors and any other writer, such as in-house writing for organizations or business...anyone whose work is for publication.

Reporters have editors, of course, and we take for granted that this includes the best, prize-winning reporters. Two reporters untangled the Watergate story that kept the political world in Washington, DC, glued to their features in The Washington Post. Every day. For months. 

Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein became more famous when their book about Watergate, All the President's Men, came out of film production starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.  

Remember who was Bob Woodward's most consistent and frequent editor?

Writers know words and thoughts and how they should fit together for specific genres to create reliable and interesting reading. Editors know these things too, perhaps in more detail, and definitely with the unique advantage of objectivity. Editors, therefore, bring what works to help bring readers to the easy chair, sofa, table or computer, Kindle or Nook, with attention glued to a writer's words and pages, whether nonfiction or fiction.  

Editing goes beyond grammar, spelling, and structure of language...sentences and paragraphs. Part of good editing is the ability to analyze writing projects, especially books, for direction and flow from beginning to end. 

No matter what genre a book fits into, readers expect some enjoyment or satisfaction from the process, even from the most serious book topics. There must be redeeming aspects within a work. In fiction, this can come through minor characters. However it comes, it is essential. These and other ingredients an editor looks for, with an objective eye. The good writer has more inside him or her, usually, than a manuscript displays before editing. Editors seek to help uncover that yet-to-be-expressed skill or insight that the writer can yet reveal.  

All of us love to finish a book feeling satisfied, even if shocked by how the story ended or how it was resolved. We want to feel that the writer did not set us up, but gave an adventure of imagination, people (real or fictional), and story. 

Remember who edited much of Bob Woodward's writing at The Washington Post when he and Carl Bernstein were hounding the Watergate story? Remember how Bernstein started their relationship, in fact, by taking an article out of a pile and editing it...at his typewriter, of course?

This brief overview of how editors can help writers improve might encourage a writer out there to welcome an editor, rather than dread "what might happen to" the work. What could happen could be even much better than the writer realizes...and that will come to the surface through a good writer-editor relationship. The editing process can enrich the skills and lives of both. 

Copyright (c)2011 Opinari Writers Network

"YOU FORGOT ABOUT WEBCAM AND NOW YOU'VE GONE VIRAL!"

Image via Wikipedia

You're at your laptop or PC,

working in business clothes, jeans,

PJ's, or au naturel.

Your Webcam is On!
You've Gone Viral!

Did you know your laptop has a Webcam,
that tiny space of lens at the top?
OK, You know about it. You think it's off. But, can you be sure?

Is the light working as it should?

Want to disable your Webcam? 

HERE'S WHAT I DO:  

Search from Windows-for the

Device Manager;

Click Continue, when prompted

for Microsoft Management Console;

Select Imaging devices for

(HP or other)Webcam;

See General/Driver/Details tabs;

Under General, see Device Status;

Click Disable (or Enable) Device

to disable or enable it;

Click OK

Remember if your Webcam has been enabled or disabled.

Don't depend on the light.
Another solution: tape a piece of paper over the webcam lens.

Copyright (c)2011 Opinari Writers Network-Jean Purcell