As some of you may know I am studying Creative Writing and English Language at University and as I have now started my 3rd year I am tackling the scariest thing known to all undergraduates…The Dissertation!
After debating whether or not to write a collection of poetry I was encouraged by a number of tutors to follow an idea I came up with in my 2nd year. I agreed and am now looking at writing a book (not the entire book for my dissertation of course) about the conception and history of the vibrator.
My plan is to write a book proposal for my dissertation so that I will have something to send to a publisher once I have finished.
I have never written non-fiction before, other than a few music/event reviews and this is the scariest thing I have faced yet. I will have to learn how to research my subject area, how to sort the interesting bits from the dull and how to construct the book itself; the voice, style and angle.
At the moment I am at the extensive reading phase of the research. All my books look like beautiful orange and pink butterflies with all the mini post-its I have adorned the pages with. It does make me feel like I have got a lot of work done. But in truth, I haven’t as yet. I need to write. Get things down on paper. Find a narrative angle and find a voice for the book. This makes me scared to try to put anything down on paper…which is silly.
I know that this is what I must do though, to start the process off properly and to get the creative chaos flowing.
If any of you are non-fiction writers or avid readers of non-fiction then I would love to hear what you think about the writing process, or what you like best about reading non-fiction? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Vicki Bartram 