Creative Nonfiction

Is also known as
Literary Nonfiction
or
Narrative Nonfiction
• is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives.

• It contrasts with other Nonfiction, such as Academic or Technical Writing or Journalism, which is also rooted in
accurate fact, but is not written to entertain based on writing style or florid prose.

• In some ways, creative nonfiction is like jazz—it’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and techniques, some of which are
newly invented and others as old as writing itself.

• For one text to be considered creative nonfiction, it must be factually accurate, and written with attention to
literary style and technique.

• the primary goal of the creative nonfiction writer is to communicate information, just like a reporter, but to shape
it in a way that reads like fiction.

• It can be an essay, a journal article, a research paper, a memoir, or a poem; it can be personal or not, or it can be
all of these.

• The words “Creative” and “Nonfiction” describe the form.

• The word “Creative” refers to the use of literary craft, the techniques fiction writers, playwrights, and poets
employ to present nonfiction—factually accurate prose about real people and events—in a compelling, vivid,
dramatic manner.

• The goal is to make nonfiction stories read like fiction so that your readers are as enthralled by fact as they are by
fantasy.

• The word “creative” has been criticized in this context because some people have maintained that being creative
means that you pretend or exaggerate or make up facts and embellish details.

• This is completely incorrect. It is possible to be honest and straightforward and brilliant and creative at the same
time.

• "Creative” doesn’t mean inventing what didn’t happen, reporting and describing what wasn’t there. It doesn’t
mean that the writer has a license to lie. The cardinal rule is clear—and cannot be violated. This is the pledge the
writer makes to the reader—the maxim we live by, the anchor of creative nonfiction: “You can’t make this stuff
up!” 

Literary Genres
 FICTION
 POETRY
 DRAMA

What is Fiction?
• classification for any story or setting that is derived from imagination

• an act of creative imagination

 Fiction Includes:
• novels • fairy tales

• short stories • fairy tales

• fables • epic; and

• legends • narrative poetry,

• Myths • plays (including operas, musicals, dramas, puppet

plays, and various kinds of theatrical dances)

6 Major Elements of Fiction

Character

Plot

Point of View

Setting

Style

Theme(s)

1. CHARACTER
 is any person, animal, or figure represented in a literary work.

Types of Character:
Protagonist

Antagonist

Dynamic

Static

Round

Flat

Characterization
 is the representation of persons (or other beings or creatures) in narrative and dramatic works of art.

2.PLOT
 Series of events in the story

3.POINT OF VIEW
 determines things like tense and how much the reader gets to see.

• First-person (I, my)

• Second-person (you, your)

 • Third-person/narrator(she, hers)

4. SETTINGS
The context in which the story takes place

5.STYLE
• the way a writer writes.

• the technique that an individual author uses in his writing.

• It varies from author to author, and depends upon one’s syntax, word choice, and tone.

• It can also be described as a “voice” that readers listen to when they read the work of a writer.

Types of Style
Expository or Argumentative Style

Descriptive Style

Persuasive Style

Narrative Style

Expository or Argumentative Style

 Expository writing style is a subject-oriented style. The focus of the writer in this type of writing style is to tell
the readers about a specific subject or topic, and in the end the author leaves out his own opinion about that
topic.

Examples:

• Our headache medicines will give you relief for ten hours, with only one pill – and without any side effects. Try it
today.

• Tax raising strategy is wrong because it will cripple businesses. We should reduce taxes to boost growth.

The Pleasures of Imagination

(By Joseph Addison)

“The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are not so gross as those of sense. … A man of polite
imagination n is let into a great many pleasures … A man should endeavour, therefore, to make the sphere of his
innocent pleasures as wide as possible, that he may retire into them with safety … Delightful scenes, whether in nature,
painting, or poetry, have a kindly influence on the body, as well as the mind, and not only serve to clear and brighten the
imagination, but are able to disperse grief and melancholy …”

• This is an example of expository writing style, in which the author describes advantages of imagination with facts
and logical sequence, and tells his delight of imagination. Then, he discusses its benefits and finally gives
opinions in its favor.

Descriptive Style

 In descriptive writing style, the author focuses on describing an event, a character or a place in detail.
Sometimes, descriptive writing style is poetic in nature in, where the author specifies an event, an object, or a
thing rather than merely giving information about an event that has happened. Usually the description
incorporates sensory details.
Examples:

• The deep blue color of the cat’s eyes is like ocean water on the clearest day you could ever imagine.

• The soft hair of my cat feels silky, and her black color sparkles as it reflects sunlight.

• This painting has blooming flowers, rich and deep blues on vibrant green stems, begging me to pick them.

Summer Shower
(By Emily Dickinson)

“A drop fell on the apple tree,

Another on the roof,
And made the gables laugh,
The breezes brought dejected lutes,
And bathed them in the glee;
And signed the fete away.”

This poem gives an example of descriptive style. Ms. Dickinson describes a summer rainstorm in detail, with beautiful
images, so that the readers can visualize this storm in their own minds as if it is actually happening.

Persuasive Style

 Persuasive style of writing is a category of writing in which the writer tries to give reasons and justification to
make the readers believe his point of view. The persuasive style aims to persuade and convince the readers.

Examples:

• Our headache medicines will give you relief for ten hours, with only one pill – and without any side effects. Try it
today.

• Tax raising strategy is wrong because it will cripple businesses. We should reduce taxes to boost growth.

Narrative Style

 Narrative writing style is a type of writing wherein the writer narrates a story. It includes short stories, novels,
novellas, biographies, and poetry.

Examples:

• She hears a hoarse voice, and sees a shadow moving around the balcony. As it moves closer to her, she screams
to see a gigantic wolf standing before her.

• “I think it’s a good ide,.” said Jenny.

“You can imagine the outcomes!” retorted Emma, pushing the door open.
Reluctantly, Jenny followed.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

(By Mark Twain)

“Pretty soon it darkened up and begun to thunder and lighten; so the birds was right about it … and here would come a
blast of wind that would bend the trees down and turn up the pale underside of the leaves …”