Writing a non-fiction narrative was a new experience for me. Until then, my genre had been non-fiction, focusing on historical biography. Both genres require structure and research, and telling someone story, but I Am Sasha also required developing the main character’s voice as distinct from mine. He was the narrator so he had to share his inner thoughts, feelings and reactions, manifested in dreams in his narrative. This is called interiority and adds depth to character. I also had to develop the outer, describing how Sasha looked physically so the reader could picture him. I tried to do this through his gestures, dialogue and actions. Dialogue reveals personality traits of the character, communicates emotion and draws the reader into a story. It also provides expository information to advance the plot, of course.
Before developing the characters, dialogue and narration, I needed to plan the sequence of events inside the story of Sasha surviving war by masquerading as a teenage girl. The plot needed a structure and a character arc. It made sense to me to split I Am Sasha into three parts.
Part One deliberately begins slowly, focusing on Sasha’s idyllic early life before WWII. It builds momentum into the crescendo of Part Two with Sasha assuming and struggling with a female identity in order to survive. In Part Three the arc descends as Sasha adapts to his new post-war life, resuming his true male identity and forming relationships with women as he matures into a man.
I Am Sasha required a lot of research. My starting point was my grandmother Larissa’s memoir. Then, I read other memoirs of Holocaust survivors, diary accounts, newspaper articles and consulted secondary sources on the history of the Holocaust and WWII. I researched all the places that my grandmother mentioned in her memoir and any small details I could find about them. For example, I used real detail of sweets sold in Zalewski’s confectionary shop like marzipan fish and lemon slice in aspic to create an authentic scene. I wanted to make the places come alive through detail.
Students wanting to write narrative non-fiction can develop their craft through plot structure; character arcs; dialogue and thorough research.
Anita Selzer is author of “I Am Sasha,” shortlisted for the NSW Premiers Young People’s History Prize. She is presenting Workshop MW1.09 at the 2019 AATE National Conference in Melbourne.
https://www.vate.org.au/2019aateconference/