Writing Creative
Nonfiction
What does this make you remember?
Write at least one
paragraph about it.
“Writers are the custodians of memory, and memories
have a way of dying with their owner.”
WILLIAM ZINSSER
What is Creative Nonfiction?
Real life
Remember Reflect
Research
Creative Nonfiction is about true stories, well told. While fiction supposes artifice,
nonfiction supposes truthfulness. It includes
texts about factual events that are not only for
educational purposes. The four R's of Creative
Nonfiction are:
Creative Nonfiction Subgenres
according to Sheila Bender
Personal Essay - personal narrative in which the author writes about a personal incident or experience that provided significant personal meaning or a lesson learned.
Sudden Nonfiction - personal essays that are fewer than 750 words.
Memoir - a book-length personal essay that tells about a writer's large part of his/her life.
Journal Form - a brief record of daily happenings or someone's observations, thoughts, and feelings.
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Creative Nonfiction Subgenres We Know
Blog articles
Magazine articles
Soft news articles / feature articles (life, people, history, sports, travel, arts, science and technology)
Devotional essays Biography
Family history
The Research Process
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/primary-
sources/#:~:text=Here’s%20a%20quick%20list%20of
%20some%20common%20types,Legal%20document s%20%28birth%20certificates%2C%20contracts%2C
%20etc.%29%20More%20items
First, clarify:
Is this my story or
another person's story?
Primary Sources vs. Secondary Sources
Project:
"Write a 5000-word eBook about Manny Pacquiao."
How will you gather
information?
Project:
"Write an article about Jesse
Robredo’s life as a public servant."
How will you gather
information?
Project:
"Write about the history of Mang Inasal."
How will you gather
information?
Interview Guidelines:
Prepare relevant open-ended questions. Be ready for on-the-spot follow-up questions.
Set the interview in a quiet place with a private space.
Start by establishing rapport with the interviewee.
State your purpose.
Don't forget to turn on your recorder.
Along with the recorder, jot down notes about the interviewee's gestures and emotions while narrating the story as well as your insights on his/her answers.
Let the interviewee lead the 'conversation.' Dig deeper. Ask for more details.
Clarify facts and ask which information should stay off-the-record.
Angle - find an interesting angle; bring institutions, places, and objects to life with men, women, and children
Warmth - human connection; don't just state facts—convey emotions & thoughts Truth - small and specific story, one time frame, one version of remembered truth Detail - details make art; the facts must make a point
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The Writing Process
List three possible
topics/stories you can
write about this.
List three possible
topics/stories you can
write about this.
List three possible
topics/stories you can
write about this.
Based on all the facts you've gathered, look for the 'story' it actually tells (angle).
How will you start it in an interesting way?
(hook)
What are the emotions it conveys? (warmth) Tap the reader's senses. Make the story alive and moving.
Clarify the facts.
Make sure you have given it justice. Make sure you have accurately preserved it. Make sure it makes a mark.
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Shaping Your Work
Jim Gallien had driven four miles out of Fairbanks when he spotted the hitchhiker standing in the snow beside the road, thumb raised high, shivering in the gray Alaska dawn. He didn't appear to be very old: eighteen, maybe nineteen at most. A rifle protruded from the young man's backpack, but he looked friendly enough; a hitchhiker with a Remington semiautomatic isn't the sort of thing that gives motorists pause in the forty-ninth state.
Gallien steered his struck onto the shoulder and told the kid to climb in.
The hitchhiker swung his pack into the bed of the Ford and introduced himself as Alex.
"Alex?" Gallien responded, fishing for a last name.
"Just Alex," the young man replied, pointedly rejecting the bait. Five feet seven or eight with a wiry build, he claimed to be twenty-four years old and said he was from South Dakota. He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and "live off the land for a few months."
An Excerpt from Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Information gathered from interview:
"Grade school . . . it had to be the total solar eclipse. In fact, the Grade 2 teachers already asked us to get this glass and put it over fire so
that you know, it’s like tinted. I think at 2pm, we were up there in the quadrangle, and it was
totally dark."
KEEP IN MIND:
Angle Warmth
Truth
Detail
Brian picked a piece of glass and put it over the candle’s flame as the teacher instructed. Every surface that touched the fire turned black—tinted, almost impenetrable by strong streaks of light. When their glasses were ready, the teacher gathered them at the door and led them up to the school's quadrangle. They were to witness a rare occurrence in the history of the world, and they’d see it through the blackened glass to protect their eyes. It was 1955.
It was about two in the afternoon when it began. In the sky, Brian saw how the glory of the sun was slowly blocked by the untimely moon, creating a bright rim. As it did, chickens settled under trees to roost, makahiya leaves closed, and total darkness spread over the city. People in their houses switched on the lights as they were greeted by a sudden eventide. For some, the total solar eclipse was spectacular but eerie.
The complete darkness lasted for a few minutes. At once, when the midday sun peeked and governed the sky again, cocks crowed as if it was a new morning. The city breathed with light again. Little did Brian know that as he watched this light-dark-light phenomenon, so did the years-long total solar eclipse of his life begin.
- Excerpt from a family biography written by Elaine Marie Factor (Disclaimer: Names were changed in the excerpt to keep the client's privacy)
Pick a subject and topic.
Research.
Write about it.
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Let's Practice!
