Creative Nonfiction Module 1 Lesson 1 and 2 A piece should never just tell the reader something or

summarize—this is what research non-fiction does.

A Fench word genre means classification of the
variety and diversity of text or writing we encounter every Activity 1. Pick one of your answers from the given
day. There are many texts (varied), but they also differ from questions and recreate it into a poem that you would like to
one another (diversity). Such differences enable one to make share.
1. Has a book ever changed your life? If so, which
a classification based on certain criteria or standards than in
one and why?
turn make them assume similarity. Without such
classification, we might get confused and lose our way in a 2. Has a relationship ever changed your life?
world surrounded by words. When, how, why?

Genre is like a map that helps us navigate a world of 3. Describe a friendship you wish you had. Why?
words. It does this by helping us find what we want to read, 4. Describe a friendship you wish you had never
and by letting us know what to expect from what we are had. Why?
reading. If you enter a building without knowing what is
5. What is the angriest you’ve ever been? When?
inside, you might be confused if someone suddenly hands
you a menu. But if your map tells you the building is a Where? Why?
restaurant, you would know what to expect. 6. At what moment in your life thus far have you
felt the most powerful? Describe the incident,
Creative nonfiction should (1) include accurate and
well-researched information, (2) hold the interest of the recalling how it made you feel and why.
reader, and (3) potentially blur the realms of fact and fiction 7. At what moment in your life did you feel a
in a pleasing, literary style (while remaining grounded in
fact). sense of wonder and awe. Describe the
incident, recalling how it made you feel and
In the end, creative nonfiction can be as
why.
experimental as fiction—it just needs to be based in the real.
8. What would you like most to change about
At the backyard of an abandoned house. Do you know that yourself? Why?
it’s haunted? It is said that a family has been killed at that
same spot during the 1900’s. 9. What would you like most to change about the
future world? Why?
Content of creative nonfiction:
10. What would you most like to change about the
It's important to clarify that the content of creative world’s past? Why?
nonfiction does not necessarily have to come from the life or
the experience of the writer. Say, for instance, the writer is Activity 2. Your Timeline
using techniques from literary journalism to create a portrait Make a timeline from the year of your birth up until
of a person interviewed. The writer may choose to write a now. Research local, national and international
portrait of the interviewee through an omniscient events have happened in your lifetime. Then also
perspective, meaning the writer wouldn't be in the piece at add on other dates that have been significant in
all. your life.

On the other hand, nonfiction writers often choose

to write about topics or people close to them (including Activity 3. Write an essay in the form of a letter in which you
themselves). As long as the piece deals with something real, confess something.
or something based on the real, the writer is allowed to take
the piece in any direction he or she wishes.
(Note: Answers should be written in another piece of
In creative nonfiction, writers attempt to observe, bond paper.)
record, and thus shape a moment(s) from real life. Writers
thus extract meaning through factual details—they combine Different “types” of creative non-fiction writing:
the fact of detail with the literary extrapolation necessary in
rendering meaning from an observed scene. Due to the fact that creative nonfiction is an ever-evolving
genre of writing, it is difficult to define set types:
At the same time, successful creative nonfiction attempts to
overlay fact with traditional conceptions of dramatic o The Memoir:
structure. While rendering meaning from an observed scene,
a piece should suggest a beginning, middle and end that A memoir is a longer piece of creative nonfiction that
clearly conveys the conflict and the characters, and pushes delves deep into a writer's personal experience. It
the action toward some sort of closure. typically uses multiple scenes/stories as a way of
examining a writer's life (or an important moment in a
In effect, creative nonfiction attempts to project a dramatic, writer's life). It is usually, but not necessarily, narrative.
literary framework upon everyday existence, rendering it
enjoyable, enlightening and potentially meaningful.

While writing creative nonfiction, writers should dwell on

sensory details and "show show show."
A memoir is a partial story of the author’s life. Memoir is o Autobiography
the French word for memory. To write a memoir is to
write what you remember. In a memoir, you become the An autobiography is the complete story of the author’s
narrator and the main character. You are the central life. As a term, autobiography is a combination of three
force of the life story as you recount what happened in Greek words: autos (self ), bios (life), and graphe
the past and what it means to you in the “now.” In a (writing). Simply defined, autobiography spans the life of
memoir, you assume the first person point of view. You the writer from birth to the present. Early childhood has
are the “I.” already prepared us to tell an autobiography.

A memoir is deeply rooted in one’s personal experience, The Autobiographical Memory

which makes it similar to autobiography. In fact, memoir
and autobiography are sometimes used interchangeably. Around the age of three or four, you begin to build
William Zinsser, an American writer, literary critic, and the “autobiographical memory.” You start by telling
teacher (2001), writes a clearcut distinction between the others about some life experiences, and these are
memoir and autobiography: “unlike autobiography, ‘filed in your store of memories.’ During
which spans an entire lifetime, a memoir assumes the adolescence, you start shaping your identity by
life and ignores most of it.” telling others what you want to be upon growing
up. It is during teenage years that you start to
If your life is a cake, a memoir is only a slice of that cake. become ‘author of your life story.’
As with a cake, you can cut your life into more that one
slice, thus coming up with several memoirs. Each slice As you become a young adult, you are more aware
represents a different time in your life. of changes in your life. These changes develop into
significant life events in the story of your life. In
Memoirs Of My Life And Writings [an excerpt] turn, these significant life events become part of
Edward Gibbon your immediate past, and you have a sense of how
they have influenced your present life.
…As soon as the use of speech had prepared my infant
reason for the admission of knowledge, I was taught the In middle age, when you have lived half of your life,
arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic. So remote is the you begin to reflect on your failures and
date, so vague is the memory of their origin in myself, accomplishment. By this time, you begin to think if
that, were not the error corrected by analogy, I should your story line fits with how you planned it in the
be tempted to conceive them as innate. In my childhood past and how it turned out in the present. For
I was praised for the readiness with which I could some, life may have become better than before. For
multiply and divide, by memory alone, two sums of others, it might have turned out worse, and it might
several figures; such praise encouraged my growing inspire them to change their story line by making
talent; and had I persevered in this line of application, I their life better.
might have acquired some fame in mathematical studies
By the time you reach old age, or nearing the end of
After this previous institution at home, or at a day school your life, it will become clear to you that your life
at Putney, I was delivered at the age of seven into the story has a beginning, a middle, and ending.
hands of Mr. John Kirkby, who exercised about eighteen
months the office of my domestic tutor… One day o Biography
reading prayers in the parish church, he most unluckily
forgot the name of King George: his patron, a loyal Biography, derived from the Greek bio (life) and graphia
subject, dismissed him with some reluctance, and a (written account), also includes the time and place the
decent reward; and how the poor man ended his days I particular person has lived. In short, the biographer’s
have never been able to learn… A man who had thought subject does not exist in a vacuum. The subject has lived
so much on the subjects of language and education was in a particular time and place, which shaped who they
surely no ordinary preceptor: my childish years, and his were and why they became such a person. Steve Jobs
hasty departure, prevented me from enjoying the full lived during a time of computer and technological
benefit of his lessons; but they enlarged my knowledge innovations, in a place now associated with both: Silicon
of arithmetic, and left me a clear impression of the Valley. In high school, he saw classmates who were
English and Latin rudiments… either into arts and literature or electronics. He decided
to embrace both; he read science and technology,
My studies were too frequently interrupted by sickness; Shakespeare, novels, and poems. The biographer’s task,
and after a real or nominal residence at Kingston School therefore, is to bring the readers to the time and place
of near two years, I was finally recalled (Dec. 1747) by of the subject. Though chronological order (birth, work,
my mother’s death, in her thirty-eighth year. I was too death) marks the passage of life, a chronological order of
young to feel the importance of my loss; and the image events will not show the journey of one’s life. What it
of her person and conversation is faintly imprinted in my shows are simply facts with no story being told.
memory…

The curiosity, which had been implanted in my infant

mind, was still alive and active; but my reason was not
sufficiently informed to understand the value, or to
lament the loss, of three precious years from my
entrance at Westminster to my admission at Oxford.
Instead of repining at my long and frequent confinement
to the chamber or the couch, I secretly rejoiced in those
infirmities, which delivered me from the exercises of the
school, and the society of my equals…
 Essay o Argumentative/Persuasive Essay

Essays are stories about life and living. French This type of essay is designed to change the reader’s
philosopher Michel de Montaigne wrote the book mind.
The Essays, which became a genre of writing. He
o Literary Journalism:
started writing in academic language— formal,
abstract, and detached— then became more and
Literary journalism uses the techniques of journalism
more personal. So personal that he even talked (such as interviews and reviews) in order to look outside
about what he did inside the toilet. of the straight forward, objective world that journalism
creates. It uses literary practices to capture the
Named after a French word meaning to try or to scene/setting of the assignment or the persona of the
attempt, the essay is an attempt at understanding person being interviewed. It can often be narrative or
an aspect of the world through a life experience of heavily imagistic. Another important aspect of literary
the writer. When you are writing an essay, you are journalism is that it often stretches the idea of "objective
trying to figure out, shaping your inner thoughts facts" in order to better reflect real life and real people.
In other words, while journalism is about being
into words.
completely objective, literary journalism says that people
can't be objective because they already have their own
As an essayist, you put yourself though a trial of subjective views about the world. Therefore, by taking
trying to think by yourself, and coming up with a the "objectiveness" out of the journalistic process, the
personal truth about life. The essay is the outcome writer is being more truthful.
of your attempt to understand something.
o Travel Writing/Travelogue
Central to the essay is the “I” whose personal
experience and understanding of it seeks to convey Refers to stories about movement around the world
a truth beyond the personal. The “I” shapes the and the world’s movement around us. Travel evokes
movement to far away and foreign places.
text and invites the readers to join the essayist in
Travel stories are one of the oldest and most universal
the act of making sense of the world. The heart of
literary genres.
the essay lies in “what I think.”
o Food Writing
The essay is the written expression of that which Refers to writing stories about food. You’ve probably
you understand. This understanding may come in heard the expression ‘food for thought.’ It means being
the form of a personal essay, expository essay, fed not by food, but by ideas. From the Old Germanic
narrative essay, or argumentative/ persuasive word fodjan and Old English fedan, which means to
essay. Let’s get to know these essays and the nurture or sustain, food is our metaphor for something
model sample for each. that needs feeding or nourishing in us. Our mind needs
food as much as our stomach.
o The Personal Essay:
o Blog
A piece of writing, usually in the first person, that BLOG noun [short of Weblog] (1999): a website that
focuses on a topic through the lens of the personal contains an online personal journal with reflections,
experience of the narrator. It can be narrative or non- comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
narrative-it can tell a story in a traditional way or
improvise a new way for doing so. Ultimately, it should Justin Hall was not yet a blogger when he started
always be based on true, personal experience. blogging because the word “blog” was not yet actually
formed as such. Hall is credited with creating the first
Writing a personal essay lets the writer be intimate with personal blog at http://www.links.net.
the readers. The personal essay confides, confesses, and
opens up the writer’s joys, sorrows, frustration, or Writing thrives on an audience. Social media tools have
anger. The readers enter the mood, atmosphere, or the made that audience ever-present. One such media tool
nature of the writer’s privacy. is the blog, which gives your writing a chance to be read.
All you need is a computer, internet access, and of
course, your writing. Blogging thrives on writing.
o Expository Essay
A blog makes the writer active. Feedback from blog
An expository essay informs or explains an idea to the readers becomes a useful tool to improve your writing
readers. skills. Share buttons (to Twitter or Facebook) widen your
audience including publishers that might become
o Narrative and Descriptive Essay interested in your writing samples.

To narrate is to tell a story. But storytelling is just one

side of narrative. The ancient Sanskrit word gna, which Reading and Writing in Creative Nonfiction
means “know,” became the Latin words for knowing
(gnarus) and telling (narro). Narrative, therefore, is both A good writer is also a voracious reader.
knowing and telling. We absorb knowledge and express
knowledge through a narrative, a story. This is because a
story always stimulates us to think. To ask what
happened is to wish for a narrative.
While it is true that your real life experiences as well as those Line 3: Son/daughter of …., Brother/sister of ….
of others can provide you with ideas and material about your Line 4: Lover of (three people or ideas or a combination)
next short story or creative nonfiction piece, there is also no Line 5: Who feels (three sensations or emotions)
denying that the wisdom of the ages contained in books can Line 6: Who find happiness in (three things)
help you become a better writer. Line 7: Who needs (three things)
Line 8: Who gives (three things)
Reading inspires you and broadens your experience. It shows Line 9: Who fears (three things)
you things that you have never seen before and, perhaps, Line 10: Who would like to see (three things)
will never experience in real life. Reading lets you live other Line 11: Who enjoys (three things)
people’s lives. By reading you can be a knight, a sailor, or a Line 12: Who likes to wear (three things)
superhero. More importantly, reading shows you the tricks Line 13: Add something you want to say
that writers have invented and used in writing their Line 14: Your last name only
masterpieces. You can borrow the techniques and tricks you
learn from books and apply them to your own work. Activity 5. Holiday Meal
Write an essay after compiling a list of details that
The books that you read can become your inspiration or made a holiday meal in your family unique. Include not just
model in writing a story in a particular genre. They can also the food but who was there, the atmosphere, conversations.
help you avoid clichés and stereotypes, and let you see Have you captured the flavor of your family?
things in a broader perspective; hence, help you write stories
with a new twist or angle. Learning by reading novels, short Activity 6. My Travels
story collections, and nonfiction anthologies is a form of self- Write a specific story about a trip you’ve taken. An
discovery that shape you. example is Amanda Field’s “CairoTunnel”.

Activity 4. Autobiographical Poem. Write an

autobiographical poem with the following guide.
Line 1: Your first name
Line 2: Four adjectives that describe you