Money for Nothing
An Interview
with author Kevin Holdsworth

CNF: What pleases you about the way your essay turned out? Are there ways in which it fell short of your original goals?

Holdsworth: I think the story has emotional truth.  I wish it hadn’t taken so long to get it right.

CNF: How did the essay develop, both in your initial thinking about it and in the revision process? What happened in the writing that you didn't expect would happen?

Holdsworth: Well, it took fifteen years to write and went through numerous versions.  The challenge seemed to be figuring out a way to make the parts fit together, tinkering with the narrative sections and moving them around.

CNF: How does your experience writing creative nonfiction depend upon or depart from your work in other genres?

Holdsworth: At one time the story had a poem toward the end of it.  I wanted to say the same things in prose, and the result was actually shorter than the original, reversing the normal ratio.

CNF: Can you speculate about creative nonfiction as an emerging genre in American literature? Where do you see it going?

Holdsworth: You know, this kind of story works only when it’s based on real occurrences. In a dead friend or relation story of this sort, you have the option of going for a surprise, dramatic ending, or announcing the end at the beginning and going from there.  In both cases, you have to make a reader care, or the story won’t work.  Experimenting with technique or genre just makes sense in trying to achieve that end.

CNF: What advice do you offer new writers?

Holdsworth: Keep at it.