Creative Nonfiction

Definition: A true story that uses the devices traditionally associated with fiction in the telling of that story.

Devices:

Description – Use vivid images to fully describe scenes, people, furniture, and

anything else of importance

Dialogue – show conversations to create a realistic sense of the life of your

characters

“Inner” Point of View - see the world through the eyes of your characters

Basic Plot:

Frame – Think of this as the “plot” sequence, or the order in which you tell the story. For instance, you might begin at a point just before the main conflict, then describe and show the conflict, and finish the story by filling in background. Or you might just go chronologically. Frame also includes decisions on where the story begins and ends, in addition to how the story unfolds.

Scenes – These are the basic building blocks of creative nonfiction. At its most basic level, a scene is a brief, micro-story, or rather, scene is a coherent event, a happening. Something happens. By stringing together scenes, we weave the tapestries of our stories.

Information, or Teaching Element – Finally, the reason a reader is reading the work is to learn something. You are teaching the reader a skill, informing the reader of new knowledge (that is, new to the reader), etc. Information appears within and between the stories.

A Few Don’ts:

Do not make yourself heroic in the work; no one wants to read the work of a person who believes that the whole world is screwed up, and you are the only sane voice.

Do not make up anything, and using your own judgment, avoid “changing names to protect the innocent” if possible.