{"id":162492,"date":"2025-04-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/townhouse\/?p=162492"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T09:00:00","slug":"the-crown-of-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The crown of my life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I yap on a lot about novels in these emails: I\u2019ve written plenty of novels; I like writing them; the vast majority of you guys are writing them too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019ve also written non-fiction: Five books under my own name, but I\u2019ve been quite involved in ghost-writing or similar with several others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So: I like non-fiction too. And, within that, I like creative non-fiction: writing narratives that are essentially true, but using broadly the same set of literary techniques that a novelist brings into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m bringing this up now, because we have a new course available: a 6-part a 6-part video course on an Introduction to Creative Non-Fiction<\/a><\/strong>. The course is led by Sam Jordison, a writer himself, but also the founder of the quite brilliant Galley Beggar Press<\/strong><\/a>. The course is free to our lovely Premium Members, naturally, but you can buy it for \u00a399 if you really want to. (But why<\/em> would you want to? You can get everything in Premium Membership for \u00a3150.) More info here<\/strong><\/a> if you want it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the memoirs I\u2019ve worked with most closely, two come to mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is West End Girls<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 a memoir by Barbara Tate. She grew up before and during the War. She had a terrible, flibbertigibbet mother and was mostly brought up by a stonily cold, icily respectable grandmother. So she emerged into the world of post-war London, a young and now-independent adult who had never really experienced love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then \u2013 in 1948 \u2013 she met a glamorous, exotic, beautiful and warm woman, Faye, with whom she instantly bonded. Faye just happened to be one of the most hard-working and successful prostitutes working in Soho and she needed a maid. Barbara became that maid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara\u2019s book tells the story of that friendship. The author was in her 80s when the book came to us. It was vastly long and discursive. It didn\u2019t really know what story it was meant to be telling. With a younger author, we\u2019d have simply given guidance and let her do the work. Given Barbara\u2019s age, I essentially took on the work myself, cutting out the excess material and stitching the remaining parts back together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara had gone on from maid-ing in Soho to achieve plenty in her life, but when I told her that we\u2019d sold her book for good money to a major publisher, she was thrilled. We sat in her sunny Ealing garden and she waved a cup at me and said, \u201cHarry, this will be the crown of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That book went on to be a beautifully well-published bestseller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another book I especially remember was Please Don\u2019t Make Me Go<\/strong><\/a>, a story with a lousy cover and a weedy title (both chosen by the publisher to line up with the Misery Memoir kitsch, then very much in vogue.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author, John Fenton, was a tough, smart man. His book was a brutal, brilliant account of his time in a young offenders\u2019 institution \u2013 he\u2019d been sent there, on the basis of no actual offence, by a dad who just wanted rid of him. The book ended with an astonishing climax: just as things were going to go very badly indeed for the young Fenton, he managed to break into the office of the man who ran the place and found material so compromising that the outcome flipped in an instant, from very bad to very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And? My conclusions from working with those books?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply that pretty much every technique that applies to a novel applies also to non-fiction, of the kind we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dialogue? Yes, John and Barbara both wrote dialogue that could easily have lived in fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scene construction? Definitely the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characterisation? Yes, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the structure of the story itself? Yes, yes, yes. That\u2019s key. Both the books I\u2019m thinking of had this astonishingly novelistic structure \u2013 and in both cases with endings that just linger in the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, personally, I think it\u2019s OK if non-fiction writers nudge their facts into shape a little. I don\u2019t mean outright lie, but I do mean shape. Omit something if it occludes the structure you\u2019re building? Skip over some things, bring others into much greater prominence? Yes to all that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build your story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do warmly recommend Sam\u2019s course. (The guy is something of a publishing genius and it\u2019s just brilliant that we can bring a bit of him to you.) But also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason why I talk so much about novels in these emails is that pretty much everything I talk about applies to you non-fictioneers too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build your story. Write well. Have fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FEEDBACK FRIDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re writing creative non-fiction, then let\u2019s have the opening page of your book, or any chunk that represents a kind of manifesto for the book people are about to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as you’re ready, log into Townhouse and post your work here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those who are completing the Introduction to Creative Non-Fiction<\/a><\/strong> course too, don’t forget to complete the lesson assignments and share your work in the course forum<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not writing non-fiction, then you\u2019ve got the week off. And a Happy Easter to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Til soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I yap on a lot about novels in these emails: I\u2019ve written plenty of novels; I like writing them; the vast majority of you guys are writing them too. But I\u2019ve also written non-fiction: Five books under my own name, but I\u2019ve been quite involved in ghost-writing or similar with several others. So: I like<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":98318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29292],"tags":[29213],"class_list":["post-162492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-harrys-friday-email","tag-harry-friday-email"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJericho Writers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The crown of my life – Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I yap on a lot about novels in these emails: I\u2019ve written plenty of novels; I like writing them; the vast majority of you guys are writing them too. But I\u2019ve also written non-fiction: Five books under my own name, but I\u2019ve been quite involved in ghost-writing or similar with several others. So: I like\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-18T09:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry Bingham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JerichoWriters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JerichoWriters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry Bingham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry Bingham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f531ec178a2b069ca3debe26c60e5a\"},\"headline\":\"The crown of my life\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-18T09:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/\"},\"wordCount\":890,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Harry-Feedback-Fridays-Forum-Townhouse-Image-Header-7.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Harry Friday Email\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Harry\u2019s Friday email\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/\",\"name\":\"The crown of my life – Jericho Writers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Harry-Feedback-Fridays-Forum-Townhouse-Image-Header-7.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-18T09:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Harry-Feedback-Fridays-Forum-Townhouse-Image-Header-7.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Harry-Feedback-Fridays-Forum-Townhouse-Image-Header-7.png\",\"width\":1950,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The crown of my life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\",\"name\":\"Jericho Writers\",\"description\":\"Getting you published\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Jericho Writers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cropped-footer-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cropped-footer-logo.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Jericho Writers\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/JerichoWriters\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jerichowriters\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/jericho-writers\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCcs1qhjwLR6bQYDR2x3PbOw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f531ec178a2b069ca3debe26c60e5a\",\"name\":\"Harry Bingham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Harry Bingham\"},\"description\":\"Write novels and non-fic. I've published trad & self-pub. Love both. Best known for my Fiona Griffiths crime series. Oh yes, and I'm the capo di tutti capi at Jericho Writers.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/author\/harryjericho\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jericho Writers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The crown of my life – Jericho Writers","og_description":"I yap on a lot about novels in these emails: I\u2019ve written plenty of novels; I like writing them; the vast majority of you guys are writing them too. But I\u2019ve also written non-fiction: Five books under my own name, but I\u2019ve been quite involved in ghost-writing or similar with several others. So: I like","og_url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/","og_site_name":"Jericho Writers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters","article_published_time":"2025-04-18T09:00:00+00:00","author":"Harry Bingham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@JerichoWriters","twitter_site":"@JerichoWriters","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harry Bingham","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry Bingham","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f531ec178a2b069ca3debe26c60e5a"},"headline":"The crown of my life","datePublished":"2025-04-18T09:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/"},"wordCount":890,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Harry-Feedback-Fridays-Forum-Townhouse-Image-Header-7.png","keywords":["Harry Friday Email"],"articleSection":["Harry\u2019s Friday email"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/","name":"The crown of my life – Jericho Writers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Harry-Feedback-Fridays-Forum-Townhouse-Image-Header-7.png","datePublished":"2025-04-18T09:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Harry-Feedback-Fridays-Forum-Townhouse-Image-Header-7.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Harry-Feedback-Fridays-Forum-Townhouse-Image-Header-7.png","width":1950,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/the-crown-of-my-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The crown of my life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/","name":"Jericho Writers","description":"Getting you published","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization","name":"Jericho Writers","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cropped-footer-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cropped-footer-logo.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Jericho Writers"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters","https:\/\/x.com\/JerichoWriters","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jerichowriters\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/jericho-writers\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCcs1qhjwLR6bQYDR2x3PbOw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f531ec178a2b069ca3debe26c60e5a","name":"Harry Bingham","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg","caption":"Harry Bingham"},"description":"Write novels and non-fic. I've published trad & self-pub. Love both. Best known for my Fiona Griffiths crime series. Oh yes, and I'm the capo di tutti capi at Jericho Writers.","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/author\/harryjericho\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}