Can we write the *right* dialogue in creative nonfiction?

In my Rutgers class this week, we're discussing writing dialogue in creative nonfiction pieces. One topic is how to deal with the issue of whether you've gotten the words right -- especially someone else's words which appear between quote marks -- and how to define what right means in creative nonfiction dialogue. Sometimes my writing life and my teaching life dovetail in unexpected ways.

Last night I was doing research for an essay in which I wanted to quote a celebrity. It was something he had once said while on stage and the clip has been shown numerous times on TV, as well as on YouTube and zillion websites. I thought it would take me only 2 minutes, and at first, it did.

I pulled up the video footage from the original broadcast, on an official YouTube channel, wrote down what I heard and figured that was that. Then I wondered. What I'd written just seemed a little too grammatically correct. What he'd said was clearly not scripted, and what I'd transcribed didn't sound as spontaneous as he appeared to have delivered the lines. I listened a few more times, but I still *heard* it the same way.

So I went searching for a written transcript of the event, which took longer, but finally found three different, credible sources. Guess what? All three had a slightly different version of what he'd said. One matched mine, the other two did not. Yet all conveyed exactly the same gist of his words, the meaning was clear and identical in all three versions...but the exact words were not.

Did it matter?

It made me think about how we creative nonfiction writers (not media reporters) record and then later write dialogue. We strive hard to get it "right". We agonize. We use everything at our disposal to not only get the words onto the paper we believe others said, but to be sure the meaning is clear too. Sometimes, the latter trumps the former. But in the end, we usually have only our faulty memories to fall back on. And even when we have more, it's still not an exact science.

Consider my little investigation. There was a video and audio recording. Those who had first transcribed it to written words were experienced reporters. And yet, who was "right"? The audio, even on the original clip from the broadcaster who first aired it, was just the slightest bit fuzzy. Maybe because when performers speak into the mic instead of singing, they hold it at a slightly different angle. Also, he was rushed and sounded out of breath after just finishing a long song and dance routine and was wiping his face with a towel. I'll bet if I asked someone who had been in the audience what he'd said, I'd get a different "quote"too.

All the time, I learn something new about writing and about how we nonfiction writers go about reconciling the need to be truthful with the human error built-in to the enterprise.

I used the version which I felt most matched the tenor of the performer's message. That's often the best we can do.

Writing Education Resources Near and Far

New Jersey writers have a wonderful resource in the Rutgers University Writing Program Extension (a/k/a continuing education), which offers in-person, online, hybrid, and one-on-one writing classes and coaching situations, some three dozen in all. These include classes in fiction, business writing, poetry, creative nonfiction, basic foundational writing, grammar reviews, journalism, writing for children, grant- and scriptwriting.

Registrations for the upcoming Spring sessions are ongoing. The two classes I’ll teach this time around are Memoir and Creative Nonfiction Writing (hybrid – 4 Saturday morning classes on campus in New Brunswick, 4 weeks online); and Writing and Selling Nonfiction Pieces (5 Wednesday evenings on campus).

I’ve lived in New Jersey nearly my entire life and yet I didn’t even know about this program until several months before I was invited to teach in it. Shameful, I know. But my point is this: We are often conditioned – as either writers/students or writers/teachers -- to begin the hunt for local writing education resources and opportunities with community, county and smaller colleges. But it may be that there are hidden gems within the much larger university systems, as well. Many highly reputable institutions now also offer writing courses completely online. UCLA’s catalog of online classes, for example, presents a richly varied mix.

Self-Promotion Dept: Rutgers Writing Class

From the department of shameless self-promotion:

I'm proud to let you know that beginning this September, I'll be teaching creative nonfiction through the Rutgers University Writing Program Extension, which offers a rich and varied roster of in-person, online and "hybrid" writing courses covering journalism, technical and business writing, writing foundations, and creative writing (fiction, poetry, and CNF)

You can find my class here; it's one of the "hybrids" – three in-person class sessions, and five weeks of online instruction, critique, support, and interaction. My class focuses on the craft of writing and revising memoir, personal essay, and other creative nonfiction. I'm so very excited to have been invited to join the accomplished faculty of this dynamic program which reaches adult writers who span the range from beginners to ready-to-publish.

I'm slightly embarrassed that as a (nearly) lifelong New Jersey resident, I was unaware until quite recently, of the valuable resource the Rutgers WPx classes offer to writers not only in the Garden State, but elsewhere, through their online offerings. The entire list of classes starting in late September can be found here.