Writing War: A Guide to Telling Your Own Story - Paperback

by Ron Capps (Author)

Writing War is the curriculum for seminars and workshops provided by the Veterans Writing Project. Written by a veteran for veterans, active and reserve service members, and military family members, Writing War details the elements of craft involved in fiction and non-fiction writing. Beginning with the basic questions "Why do we write?" and "What's different about writing the military experience?", the book includes chapters on scene, setting, dialogue, narrative structure, character motivation and development, beginnings and endings, point of view, revision, writing about trauma, and making time in a busy life for writing. Writing War includes detailed examples demonstrating each element of craft. All examples used in the book were written by writers who are also veterans. It is written to be accessible to beginning and more experienced writers.

Author Biography

Ron Capps served in the U.S. Army, Army Reserve and National Guard for a combined 25 years. He is a combat veteran of Afghanistan and served on peacekeeping duty in the Darfur region of Sudan and in Chad. Ron's memoir Seriously Not All Right: Five Wars in Ten Years, was published by Schaffner Press and is available at Amazon and other major book stores. He is a graduate of the MA in Writing and the Master of Liberal Arts programs at The Johns Hopkins University. His professional writing and commentary appear in TIME Magazine and Foreign Policy, and have appeared in Monday Developments, Health Affairs, The American Interest, on Pacifica Radio, the BBC World Service and NPR's All Things Considered. His literary writing has appeared in the journals JMWW, Riverlit, Prime Number, and the Little Patuxent Review, and has been anthologized by Press 53 and Military.com. His essay Yellow was mentioned as notable in Best American Essays of 2012. Ron founded and directs the Veterans Writing Program. He wrote the curriculum and teaches for the National Endowment for the Arts' Operation Homecoming expressive and creative writing programs at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.