Review of Creative Nonfiction: Write Truth with Style by Susan Orlean on Skillshare

To give you a better idea of what the course covers, here is a summary of the lessons:

1. Introduction
   • In this video, Susan Orlean introduces herself as a writer and talks about creative nonfiction as a foundation for good writing in different genres. She also shares an example piece, “The American Male at Age 10,” which will be used in the course.
2. Subject: Finding Your Topic
   • In this lesson, Susan shares her tips on how to find a compelling story idea for nonfiction writing, emphasizing the importance of curiosity and the need to actively seek and follow story ideas from everyday experiences and observations.
3. Subject: Finding “The American Male at Age Ten”
   • Susan explains how she found the subject for her story “The American Male at Age Ten” and how important it is to generate ideas constantly.
4. Research: Preparing for Reporting
   • Susan shares her three-part research process: reporting, thinking, and writing. She also suggests entering the story unprepared and using simple note-taking tools during reporting. A reporter’s notebook and a pen are all you need.
5. Research: Reporting
   • In this lesson, Susan provides practical advice on the research and reporting phase of nonfiction writing, like having to-do lists to organize the process and ensure you cover everything you need for your story.
6. Research: Organizing Notes
   • This section is about the importance of the thinking stage in nonfiction writing. Susan covers the process of reviewing notes and highlighting key sections and shares a wonderful technique to replace writing outlines with the help of index cards.
7. Writing: Elements of a Story
   • Susan discusses the essential elements of a story and analyzes them in her work. She teaches you how to write an eye-catching lead and how to maintain dialogue and quotes to a minimum to improve your storytelling.
8. Writing: Dialogue and Quotes
   • This lesson is about the significance dialogue and quotes hold in non-fiction storytelling and how to know if a dialogue or quote is worth being included in your story.
9. Writing: Description
   • Susan suggests using descriptions sparingly but making them bright and vivid to balance with the other elements of the story.
10. Writing: Expert Opinion
    • Susan recommends paraphrasing expert opinions and using them to add depth to the narrative without boring the readers.
11. Writing: Conclusions
    • Susan shares her secret to writing great conclusions: avoid simple recaps; you need to evoke emotions and leave the readers wanting more.
12. Editing: Revising
    • This lesson is about the importance of revision in the writing process. Susan recommends reading your work aloud, a tip I’ve heard from multiple authors teaching on Skillshare, like Simon Van Booy and Roxane Gay. Susan also suggests maintaining a daily revision routine and seeking external feedback to avoid making obvious mistakes.
13. Editing: Collaborating
    • Susan talks about how editors, friends, and workshops can provide you with valuable feedback and help you improve your work.
14. The Ongoing Work of a Writer
    • In the final section, Susan encourages you to develop further as a writer by reading and imitating your favorite authors and having a notebook to write down your ideas as well as everything that makes you feel inspired.