What Dinty W. Moore Knows

Oronte Churm over at insidehighered.com has published a wide-ranging interview with Brevity editor Dinty W. Moore on subjects that include panic, desire, writing brief, John and Yoko, and the every-popular truth in memoir equation  An excerpt:

“Simply put, my belief is that a memoir writer, or creative nonfiction writer, has a pact with the reader that goes like this: ‘Memory is faulty, but I’ve done my damnedest. I’ve fact-checked where possible, wracked my brain where appropriate, sat outside my old house on Memory Avenue for a while and tried, tried, tried, to get it right, and this is what resulted. I’m not faking it, ginning it up for book sales, grinding an ax against my parents, or in any other conscious way deceiving the reader—or myself. I’ve worked hard to access my memory and get an honest version here. But yes, I admit some of it may be influenced by memory’s tricks.’  That’s all you can do, that’s all I expect of a writer.”