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List of contents
The Hammer Overture
Part 1. Lighting the Flame
1. “Body and Soul”: Writing Fiery, Holistic Prose
2. “Thanks for the Memory”: Bringing the Past to Life
3. “Ghost Riders in the Sky”: Writing What Haunts You
4. “Behind the Mask”: On Revealing the Sequined Self
5. “Voices inside My Head”: The Multitudinous Sounds of Voice
6. “The Long and Winding Road”: Some Thoughts on Narrative Structure
7. “Come Together”: Strategies to Craft an Essay Collection
Part 2. Feeling the Flame
8. “Respect”: Confessional Writing as Resistance
9. “You Don’t Own Me”: On Writing Controversial or Disturbing Literature
10. “Do You Want to Know a Secret?”: I Love Confessional Writing
11. “Look through Any Window”: Memoir with a View
Bonus Tracks
Sue’s EZ Rules to Write By
On Trifles: Things You Might Not Think to Write About
AfterWord
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1. Deconstructed Essay
Appendix 2. Additional Writing Prompts
Appendix 3. Strategies to Write a Query Letter
Appendix 4. Two Sample Book Proposals
Appendix 5. A List of Useful Websites
Brief Notes on Chapter Titles
Notes
About the author
Sue William Silverman is an award-winning memoirist, essayist, and poet of eight books, including
Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction (made into a Lifetime TV movie) and
How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences (Nebraska, 2020). She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Summary
Acetylene Torch Songs is a guidebook for writers who want their honesty, social engagement, and intimacy to reach beyond the page and transform the lives of readers with searing, indelible, and unquenchable words.
