# Happy Thoughts **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** reactions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337 "2021-03-12T01:16:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**Author:** ![Bro](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/bro/32/81473_2.png) [@Bro](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Bro)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/586 "2022-01-30T15:38:08Z")
fiction: “Declaration” (950 words) was sent to Andromeda Spaceways. creative nonfiction: “Blood Under My Fingernails” (2,080 words) was sent to Nashville Review. I don’t think the SOA Spec Fiction Contest will be doing anything for another year or so. I have several prize-winning stories in those contests over the years. But haven’t entered since… let me think… 2015 maybe? ---
**Author:** ![JFG](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/jfg/32/8801_2.png) [@JFG](https://community.goactuary.com/u/JFG)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 5:30pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/587 "2022-01-30T17:30:19Z")
What is creative nonfiction? ---
**Author:** ![Lucy](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/lucy/32/8802_2.png) [@Lucy](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Lucy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/588 "2022-01-30T18:34:40Z")
A non-fiction story, probably. I consider it creative non-fiction every time i write up a report of an interview. I like to draw a picture of the person. As distinct from writing a memo that says, “i recommend we change our model in the following way for these reasons.” ---
**Author:** ![NerdAlert](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/nerdalert/32/683_2.png) [@NerdAlert](https://community.goactuary.com/u/NerdAlert)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/589 "2022-01-30T18:48:12Z")
I believe it’s a type of nonfiction that is distinct because it is written to be entertaining, while still factual. Like if you were relaying a story to someone of something that happened to you, you’d emphasize certain aspects, use interesting phrasing, try to make it lively. Contrast that with something like the front page of the newspaper. Its purpose is to be factual and as succinct as the reader wants it to be; if you stop reading after the first or second paragraph, you’d have at least 90% of the necessary information. A lot of memoirs or essays are creative nonfiction. The purpose is as much in how the story is told as what the story is about. ---
**Author:** ![soyleche](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/soyleche/32/42_2.png) [@soyleche](https://community.goactuary.com/u/soyleche)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/590 "2022-01-30T18:52:27Z")
Does it have anything to do with “alternative facts”? ---
**Author:** ![Lucy](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/lucy/32/8802_2.png) [@Lucy](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Lucy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/591 "2022-01-30T21:16:34Z")
That’s nonfiction ---
**Author:** ![NerdAlert](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/nerdalert/32/683_2.png) [@NerdAlert](https://community.goactuary.com/u/NerdAlert)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/592 "2022-01-30T22:02:56Z")
There’s a new Kevin James movie out on Netflix! ---
**Author:** ![OldTimer](https://community.goactuary.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@OldTimer](https://community.goactuary.com/u/OldTimer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/593 "2022-01-30T22:17:02Z")
Halfway through it. ---
**Author:** ![Bro](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/bro/32/81473_2.png) [@Bro](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Bro)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 2:58am UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/594 "2022-01-31T02:58:46Z")
[https://creativenonfiction.org/](https://creativenonfiction.org/) It’s a type of narrative that isn’t really article (here’s a thesis, here are points to support it), it isn’t review, it’s more like a dramatic retelling of something that happened. “Blood Under My Fingernails” was written as a reaction to the experience of scattering my wife’s ashes on the beach in Hawai’i, and finding the dust under my fingernails afterwards. What was that dust? Blood, and bone, and sinew, etc. It’s not exactly narrative (this happened, then that happened, then the other thing), but there are narrative bits in it. It’s not only personal reflection, though there are personal reflections in it. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/spacelobster/32/38216_2.png) [@SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SpaceLobster)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/595 "2022-01-31T12:28:55Z")
I brought a camp stove so we could have fish and chips while ice fishing yesterday. ![IMG_20220130_130150](https://community.goactuary.com/uploads/default/original/2X/4/4e90f558991f4587640d1a13a29c640c689af6b6.jpeg) They were shall we say, heavy on the potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Lucy](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/lucy/32/8802_2.png) [@Lucy](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Lucy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/596 "2022-01-31T12:29:45Z")
Didn’t catch anything? ---
**Author:** ![SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/spacelobster/32/38216_2.png) [@SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SpaceLobster)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 1:22pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/597 "2022-01-31T13:22:07Z")
no fish, no covid. Buddy caught a few small ones. I told him that they were embarrassing, throw them back. ---
**Author:** ![BG5150](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/bg5150/32/38521_2.png) [@BG5150](https://community.goactuary.com/u/BG5150)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/598 "2022-01-31T14:03:56Z")
> [@SpaceLobster](#): > > I’m taking four random UWaterloo students ice fishing tomorrow. They’re pretty pumped on discord :). > I sure hope we get some fish lol. How did you randomly choose them? ---
**Author:** ![SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/spacelobster/32/38216_2.png) [@SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SpaceLobster)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 2:06pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/599 "2022-01-31T14:06:49Z")
Posted on reddit, first four to dm me. I guess that’s not random. ---
**Author:** ![tommie.frazier](https://community.goactuary.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@tommie.frazier](https://community.goactuary.com/u/tommie.frazier)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/600 "2022-01-31T15:08:38Z")
fifth one’s friends told them they avoided abduction and being disposed of in a hole in the ice. ---
**Author:** ![tommie.frazier](https://community.goactuary.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@tommie.frazier](https://community.goactuary.com/u/tommie.frazier)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/601 "2022-01-31T15:11:21Z")
Pace yourself lady! Maybe watch it in short increments ---
**Author:** ![SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/spacelobster/32/38216_2.png) [@SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SpaceLobster)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/602 "2022-01-31T15:22:20Z")
I cracked a joke about going swimming or something. Humour didn’t come through I guess, since one of them actually brought a change in clothes with the intention of going for a polar swim. ---
**Author:** ![1695814](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/1695814/32/38506_2.png) [@1695814](https://community.goactuary.com/u/1695814)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/603 "2022-01-31T16:47:05Z")
Were they from Finland? ---
**Author:** ![SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/spacelobster/32/38216_2.png) [@SpaceLobster](https://community.goactuary.com/u/SpaceLobster)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/604 "2022-01-31T16:54:18Z")
Tunisia actually. So, no concept of what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![Marcie](https://community.goactuary.com/user_avatar/community.goactuary.com/marcie/32/8789_2.png) [@Marcie](https://community.goactuary.com/u/Marcie)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 5:53am UTC](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337/605 "2022-02-01T05:53:18Z")
All 4 were from Tunisia? That sure doesn’t seem random. [Previous page](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337.md?page=29) [Next page](https://community.goactuary.com/t/happy-thoughts/2337.md?page=31)