Dr. Shahed Yousaf, author of Stitched Up: Stories of life and death from a prison doctor, with some invaluable advice when it comes to writing narrative non-fiction.
I am a writer and a doctor who works in prisons and I’m passionate about the therapeutic aspects of literature and getting people writing. I had a life-changing meeting with the Irish-Caribbean writer Kit de Waal, who during our conversation effectively gave me permission to write about my life. This encounter is detailed in the epilogue of my book Stitched Up: Stories of Life and Death from a Prison Doctor, published by Penguin in 2022.
I promote literacy and encourage people who do not see themselves as writers, I give them permission to write. I write novels and narrative non-fiction which is fact-based writing using elements of creative writing to embellish the experience. As a genre, this includes autobiography, nature, travel, blogging, food and lifestyle, fashion, most of the content we consume on a daily basis.
Unlike fiction, narrative non-fiction must be rooted in truth. The creative process cannot distort the facts. The truth matters. More so now when we are told we live in a Post-Truth world. To write a true account we need to do our research, even if we are writing about our lived experience. Memory is fallible. There is a difference between misremembering and misleading. My book, Stitched Up, was autobiographical and in writing it, I referred back to my diaries. I also interviewed people who know me to confirm details.
Writing Exercises
I find writing exercises are really useful for getting started. For instance, write for five minutes from one of the following prompts. You don’t need to write in a literal way e.g. I am from Galway. Think more broadly than that e.g. I am from the squished down cheese and onion crisp sandwich on a wet Friday afternoon, the football poster I had on my bedroom wall as a teenager, the music I listen to that has me dreaming of swimming in the sea at night.
Home is…
I am from…
I live in…
Think of a pivotal historical moment during your lifetime. What were you doing at that time? Write for five minutes about what you were doing as a piece of history occurred. Were you aware of it? How did you respond to it, if so? Did you hear about it on the radio, at a good time, at a bad time etc? As you write reflect on how you can situate the personal alongside the historical.
If you are thinking of writing a memoir or autobiography, answer the following questions for yourself:
Why do you want to tell this story?
Why are you the right person to tell this story?
Why is this story relevant now?
These are questions you’ll need to answer in your covering letter. Why this story? Why you? Why now?
The ethics of representing real lives in narrative non-fiction
You do need permission if you are identifying people in your writing. I wrote about a doctor and his patients. Preserving patient confidentiality was the prime consideration. All of the patients I wrote about in Stitched Up were composites. They were based on types of people I had met and types of scenarios. The family, friends and colleagues described wanted to be in the book. In fact, some colleagues were disappointed not to be in it. Even with the ones who gave their verbal permission, I was advised by my publisher to get a formal written permission document. I shared what I had written and gave them the right to veto – I wasn’t intending to hurt people, and there were people and certain scenarios I decided to keep off the page.
Setting the right tone in narrative non-fiction
Stitched Up is set in a prison and I also discuss my work as a GP for homeless people. It is hardly a barrel of laughs, but tone is vital. Who would read it and why? I wanted it to be informative but not a textbook, hard-hitting but not ceaselessly grim. It needed to be a true reflection of me and my working environment. A fine balance of the dark and the humorous. One of my friends read the book recently and asked if it was a comedy? Hard hitting books that deal with serious topics do not have to be devoid of joy; sensitivity is essential or it will be crass. No one should laugh at misfortune – if in doubt, laugh at yourself.
My journey to publication
I began writing as an act of catharsis, to get things off my chest. Then came flash fiction, and short stories, which I submitted for competitions. I also wrote novels and some narrative non-fiction work. My career as a writer was boosted by entering short story competitions and I would recommend it. Entering, and hopefully gaining some success in competitions helps to build your writing CV. This is important when you start reaching out to agents and publishers. They want to know that you are serious about writing.
Finding an agent is difficult. I did a lot of research; the best advice is to find writers you admire and see who represents them. It took years to finally sign with an agent, the late Simon Trewin, and from then the process was speedy. I had a publishing deal within weeks and Stitched Up was published the following year. With every new book it can feel like you are starting the entire process again – maybe that is a good thing, it avoids the sense of repetition. My next book Living the Dream; A Day in the Life of a Prison Doctor, is a twelve-hour shift in real time, each chapter is an hour in a busy and bizarre day. Comparisons have been drawn with the hit show The Pit; with higher stakes and more drama. I hope that it finds a readership in the near future.
I’ll keep writing and so should you. This is your permission to tell your story, doctor’s orders.
(c) Dr. Shahed Yousaf
About Stitched Up: Stories of life and death from a prison doctor
Told from the inside out, this is a harrowing, humorous and hard-hitting tale of life behind bars by a prison doctor who has seen it all. Literally.
Dr Shahed Yousaf spends his time running between emergencies – from overdoses to assaults, from cell fires to suicides – with one hand perpetually hovering over the panic button. Being a prison doctor is not for the faint-hearted.
An outsider on the inside, in Stitched Up he introduces us to a cast of unforgettable characters, including killers, con men and auto-cannibals. To Dr Yousaf, they are patients first and prisoners second – because any one of us could end up on the wrong side of the law.
Dedicated to caring for people on the margins of society, he tells us honestly and compassionately what it’s like to be their doctor in a system that’s chronically overcrowded, drastically under-resourced and all too easy to ignore. But while the system is failing, he and his colleagues are doing their very best to prop it up. In stories that are frequently harrowing, sometimes humorous and always hard-hitting, we discover how difficult it is to be locked up – but that there is still hope for all those who dare to care.
Order your copy online here.
And see here for Really Useful Links on writing narrative non-fiction.
