Handling the Truth

This memoir-writing guide offers essential tools for anyone ready to transform personal memories into compelling narrative, exploring the crucial distinction between recollection and invention. Kephart masterfully unpacks the language of truth, providing concrete writing lessons and vivid examples that illuminate the craft of personal storytelling. She guides aspiring writers through the delicate process of shaping lived experience without sacrificing authenticity, making the intimidating feel achievable.

What sets this guide apart is its profound respect for the emotional weight of memory and its insistence on writing as an act of discovery, not just reportage. It’s an invaluable resource for young adults and new writers seeking to understand their own stories, offering a compassionate yet rigorous framework for handling life's raw material. Readers will finish feeling equipped not just to write, but to see their own past with new, more truthful eyes.