Turning Real Life into Authentic Fiction

Research & Forensics • Writing Craft
2011
Featuring Clare O’Donohue, Gail Lerner, Gianrico Carofiglio, Keir Graff, Lou Berney, Rick Mofina

This audio session is available to KNU members.

Explore Membership Options

ABOUT THIS SESSION

Real life experience can be a powerful storytelling tool when used well. This panel challenges the idea of simply writing what you know and shows how careers, unexpected backgrounds, and lived experience can add authenticity, texture, and originality to fiction.

MORE LIKE THIS


Writing Edgy Crime Fiction That Pushes Boundaries
Caro Ramsay, D.M Pulley, Lori Roy, Nicole Christoff, Scott Nicholson
2015
Writing Domestic Suspense
Alafair Burke, Carla Buckley, Carter Wilson, David Bell, Heather Young, Laura McHugh
2018
Writing Regional Fiction and Nonfiction
Debra Gaskill, Judy L. Murray, Laura Kemp, Mary Adams Belk, Peggy O’Neal Peden, Robin Yocum
2022
What Life Is Really Like on Death Row
Greg Laird
2025
Writing Without an Outline
Amy Rivers, Kerry Peresta, Linda Thorne, P.D. Halt, R.G. Belsky, Rich Zahradnik
2019
Building a Novel from Big Picture to Scene Level
John DeDakis
2021
How to Write Sex Scenes That Serve the Story
Don Bruns, Honora Finkelstein, Kelly Nichols, Kristy Montee, Maggie Toussaint, Rhonda Pollero, Susan Smiley
2007
Power, Strategy, and the Art of the Villain
T.O. Paine
2025