"Alive" and "Westbury Place"

First and foremost, I've got to admit that "Alive" had me on the edge of my seat through its duration. "Alive" was brief, but extremely introspective and thought provoking. There's some of those "truth seeking" elements here, too.

I really like the fact that the author is an ex-police officer.  This person obviously has some unique experience to draw from, and as a writer I sometimes feel that that's something I don't have enough of.  To write, you need to have gone through something, right? I feel like there's something there which I could dig up, but it can't be forced, right?

Maybe that's why there's so many crappy fantasy writers. No real world experience? Good writing skills? No worries, there's a spot for you next to R.A. Salvatore and Kevin J. Anderson! And, if made up worlds aren't enough and you want to pretend your fantasy land is real after all, you could always just start blogging from a marxist/libertarian perspective.

Anyway, the author of this story used real world experience and introspective reflection to come to an understanding- albeit a jaded, paranoid one- about life in general. Experiences do shape our understandings, and that was the point of both "Alive" and "Westbury," though who knows if the respective authors would agree.

That's pretty much the goal of Creative Nonfiction- to discover how one's experiences have led them to a certain understanding- is it not?

On a side note, I can't believe how quickly my idea of what's creative nonfiction is changing. I look back at my first post with a little bit of embarassment now.