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NOTA
BENE
BY AMY COOK
INVIGORATE YOUR WRITING
Lessons from Creative Nonfiction
Y
ou may not think creative writing
has a place in our search-for-truth
profession, but the more you
engage your audience, the better you can
convince them of your argument. Adding
some color to your writing can help you
do that. “Creative” doesn’t mean making
things up. It has to do with how the writer
conceives ideas, summarizes situations,
defines personalities, and describes places
says Lee Gutkind, author, professor, and
editor of
Creative Nonfiction
magazine. It’s
simply “true stories well told.”
The CBA is onboard with this concept,
recently sponsoring a CLE “Storytelling
for Lawyers,” featuring Keith Grant of the
Lake County Public Defenders Office. He
noted that humans are natural born story-
tellers, telling tales around the campfire for
eons. His October talk focused primarily
on verbal communication but many tips
apply to written as well. You can’t get away
from your client’s case, he said, but you
can focus on the story of your client’s case.
There’s a difference between reporting what
took place and telling the most interesting,
engaging version of what happened. “You
want a sense of place, of character, of move-
ment.” Grant said.
Set the Scene
When you catch an adjective, kill it. Kill
most of them, then the rest will be valuable.
–Mark Twain
In general, use simple, straightforward
words. Another favorite Twain-ism: Don’t
use a five-dollar word when a 50-cent word
will do. However, there can be occasions for
more colorful words. Describe what hap-
pened. What did people see, hear, smell,
taste or touch? Don’t just say the alley was
smelly, what did it smell like? If a noise
was loud, was it howling, screeching, or
rumbling? Don’t just tell us what she said:
did she shout? Was her voice trembling?
Did the man walk or did he stagger? You
want reader buy-in. Make the readers feel
they are a part of this story.
Tell Us (Only) What We Need to Know
Leave out the parts that readers tend to
skip.
–Elmore Leonard
Grant advised to avoid prologues and
introductions (The evidence will show…).
To the extent you can, skip the backstory.
Lawyers are thorough. But does the audi-
ence need to know the police officer’s train-
ing or just what the officer found? Grant
said we get caught up in what we think the
audience needs to know. Instead, figure out
what is essential to your story and then
connect the dots. Before writing, chart how
you are going to get from the starting point
to the final destination where there is only
one possible ending: Your argument wins.
Tell your story to your friends or col-
leagues. Pay attention to when they get
bored–you need to know where you are
losing your audience. For each element of
your narrative, ask: Why is this significant?
Why might it matter to your reader? What
will they learn from the experience? How
did this event change someone’s life?
Hook ‘Em
The best way get your reader into the
action as soon as possible is to have a hook.
“The faster you involve the reader in the
scene, the more successful you’ll be,” says
Gutkind.
Grant also discussed the need for a
hook and pointed to the Tim O’Brien
book, “The Things They Carried” which,
of course, is not really about the objects
Vietnam War soldiers carried. It’s the
story behind the things: the can opener,
the matches, the pocketknives, the bible,
the chewing gum. The list of “things” is
the hook that introduces and reveals his
characters.
Find Your Voice
The search for your “voice” when writ-
ing business and legal documents can be
difficult. This kind of writing tends to be
formulaic. If you’re stuck or your writing is
sounding dry, Grant advised to write your
first draft quickly like you’d write an email.
It will loosen you up.
Your voice is unique but you can make
some choices depending on the situation
and audience. Choose light and humor-
ous–or serious and grave. Do you want to
be personable or reserved? Impassioned or
controlled? Plainspoken or elaborate?
Use Repetition and Rhythm
Some writers are afraid to repeat the same
word and cast about desperately–and awk-
wardly–for synonyms. However, repetition
can work for you when used creatively. It
can hammer home a point–exactly what’s
needed in persuasive writing.
Consider this passage from Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s
I Have a Dream
speech:
But one hundred years later, the
Negro still is not free. One hundred
years later, the life of the Negro is
still sadly crippled by the manacles
of segregation and the chains of
discrimination. One hundred years
later, the Negro lives on a lonely
island of poverty in the midst of a
vast ocean of material prosperity.
One hundred years later, the Negro
is still languished in the corners of
American society and finds himself
an exile in his own land. And so
we’ve come here today to dramatize
a shameful condition.
continued on page 57
Amy Cook isManaging Editor of
theCBARecordand runs a legal
communications firm.
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