How I Wrote a Memoir: Part XV

How to Write about Real People Anonymously

After my developmental editor read my essay collection, I sent him a couple extra pieces involving a Very Important Person I left out of the manuscript. I’d written the pieces for a workshop, shared them with the workshop, received feedback, and rewritten them. Then I’d set them aside, knowing if I included them in the manuscript—with the specific details I’d shared—several people would ascertain his identity, which I considered a deal-breaker.

Conversations from the Archive
Bread Loaf Lecture Series

Peter Ho Davies
The Art of Revision: The Last Word
Nine Revision Tips

Signal Fires, Dani Shapiro

Writing and Secrets: On Writing into What We Don’t Know

Conversations from the Archive
October 2013
Pen on Fire Speaker Series with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Corona Del Mar, California

Still Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life, Dani Shapiro