by Sarah Chauncey | May 25, 2017 | Memoir, Nonfiction, Resonant Storytelling, Writing
Write like you speak is one of the most foundational component of engaging nonfiction writing. For many emerging writers, though, this is a challenge. When readers talk about a writer’s “voice,” they’re talking about a host of things: syntax, word choice, metaphors,...
by Sarah Chauncey | May 18, 2017 | Nonfiction, Publishing, Resonant Storytelling, Writing
This post is primarily for authors of practical nonfiction. However, vulnerability and bringing oneself on the page is an essential tool for connecting with readers regardless of your nonfiction genre. In some types of writing it’s optional (if you’re writing an...
by Sarah Chauncey | May 11, 2017 | Memoir, Nonfiction, Resonant Storytelling, Writing
Coming soon! A worksheet and course on characterization in nonfiction and memoir. To make sure you’re notified when these resources become available, please subscribe to the Resonant Storytelling Substack. I’ve written about engaging the senses to bring your...
by Sarah Chauncey | Jan 25, 2017 | Counterintuitive Guide to Life, Creativity, LOIF, Memoir, Mindfulness, Nonfiction, Resonant Storytelling
One of the foundations of inner peace for me is realizing that I am not my thoughts. In order to do that, though—and this is pretty much the core of everything I practice and write about—I had to learn to observe my thoughts, to recognize that the thoughts exist on...
by Sarah Chauncey | Jan 18, 2017 | Counterintuitive Guide to Life, Memoir, Nonfiction, Resonant Storytelling, Writing
Nearly every blockbuster movie of the past 40 years (and possibly before that) has been deliberately structured around something called the “monomyth,” also known as the Hero’s Journey. Star Wars. The Matrix. The Lion King. So were Dan Millman’s book The Way of the...
by Sarah Chauncey | Sep 9, 2016 | Counterintuitive Guide to Life, Memoir, Nonfiction, Resonant Storytelling, Spirituality, Writing
A while back, I wondered about the origins of the phrase “woo-woo” (often shortened, including by me, as “woo”). In my mind, I heard the sound produced by a theremin—an instrument used to create ‘outer space’ sound effects for 1950s and 1960s sci-fi movies—and in the...