WEEK 1 Plot and Structure of a Creative Nonfiction Text

By now, I hope you realized that “Cinderella” is a work of fiction and fiction means
that it is a literary work based on a writer’s creative imagination; therefore, it is not
real. Its basic elements are:
1. Characters – This refers to a person or animal or anything personified who plays
a role in a story. In one story, there can be one or many characters with different
personalities and attitudes.
2. Setting – It represents the physical location and the time (past, present, future)
and also the social and cultural conditions in which the characters exist.
3. Plot – This refers to the events that happen in a story. Typically, you find an
introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. But plots may also
follow a different pattern especially for longer fictions.
4. Conflict – This could be a challenge or a problem around where a plot is based.
Without conflict, a story will not have a purpose or trajectory.
5. Theme – This is an idea, belief, moral, lesson, or insight. It’s the central argument
that the author is trying to make the reader understand. It is the “why” of a story.
6. Point-of-view – This refers to who is telling the story. It could be a first person (I)
or third person (he/she/it). It may be limited (one character’s perspective), multiple
(many characters’ perspectives) or omniscient (all knowing narrator).
7. Tone – This is the overall emotional “tone” or mood of the story such as happy,
funny, sad, depressed, etc.
8. Style – This is “how” things are said and is achieved through word choice,
sentence structure, dialogue, metaphor, simile, etc.

The narrative essay “Long Distance” that you read is an example of a Creative
Nonfiction. As opposed to works of fiction, creative nonfiction writing is based on
true accounts and factual events but uses the techniques and strategies of fiction
writing. To quote from Gutkind (1997), “Creative nonfiction combines the authority of
fact…It demands spontaneity and an imaginative approach, while remaining true to
the validity and integrity of the information it contains.”
Creative nonfiction covers a large field and comes in different types and forms. This
may even be classified under prose or poetry. However, the focus of this module
centers on prose and these may be subcategorized into the following:
1. Essay – Traditionally, this is defined as a form of writing expressing a writer’s
opinion which may be written formally or informally. However, as a creative
nonfiction, it has taken many forms and kinds as well. Examples of these include
magazine features, newspaper columns, interview story, etc.
2. Profile – This is an in-depth article or essay that concentrates on one person or
place. Examples of these are character sketches and travel narratives.
Note: The “Long Distance” which you read above is an example of a travel narrative.
3. Literary Journalism – This is writing in a personal way about the facts in a news
event.
4. Personal Narratives or Life Stories – This may be divided into autobiographical
narratives (e.g., memoirs, journals, etc.) and biographical narratives (e.g., character
sketch, interview stories, etc.).
Now that you know what creative nonfiction is and how it differs from fiction, we
would now focus on two elements that make up this form of writing, and these are
PLOT and STRUCTURE.
Remember that plot refers to a sequence of events that has a beginning, middle,
and an end. It is a pattern of actions, events, and situations showing the
development of the narrative. Structure, on one hand, refers to the organization of
the plot and other elements to make the narrative sensible and interesting.
To help you further in verifying your answers to the questions above and to assist
you in the succeeding activities, take note of the following kinds of structures.
1. Chronological Structure – It refers to an arrangement of events in linear fashion
as they occurred in time.
2. Explanation-of-a-process structure – This is the best structure for a “how-to
article” since it tells readers what to do step-by-step.
3. Flashback structure – A plot that begins at some point in time and then moves
back into the past.
4. Parallel structure – This type has several stories running side by side, with
occasional cross-cutting convergence. It is a technique that may have been
influenced by the cinema.
5. Collage or mosaic structure – It involves a pasting together of small fragments,
which all together build up to the total picture of what happened. This technique
creates a sense of immediacy and speed.
6. Diary or log book structure – This type is a variation of the chronological
structure and gives a sense of immediacy to the narrative and making the narrative
seem more personal.
7. Question and answer structure – This is a logical choice for interview stories
which allows the reader to hear the subject’s voice without the awkwardness of
having to repeat “he said” or “she said” before every direct quotation.
8. Frame, or the story-within-a-story structure – It is a good structure to use when
you wish to tell two stories where the actual physical journey is paralleled by an inner
journey.

WEEK 2 CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERIZATION

Character is one of the important elements of creative nonfiction.
Unlike in fiction writing, characters in nonfiction are actual people including
the writer himself/herself.
Characterization is a writer’s tool, or “literary device”, that occurs any time the
author uses details to teach us about a person. This is used over the course of a
story to tell the tale. (literaryterms.net)
There are different ways of “creating,” developing, and revealing characters. Let us
explore each method and technique.
1. Direct Description – This is perhaps the most common. If you were the writer, all
you need to do is describe the character from your point of view through details that
you are familiar with.

Example from “Old Man by the Sea” by Earnest Hemingway

“The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The
brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on
the tropic sea were on his cheek … Everything about him was old except his eyes
and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.”
2. Action and Reaction – We may also get to know a character’s personality,
attitude, beliefs, etc. in the way they behave in a story and in how they react to
situations and to other characters.

Example from “Why Don’t We Complain” by William F. Buckley Jr.

“I myself can occasionally summon the courage to complain, but I cannot, as I have
intimated, complain softly. My own instinct is so strong to let the thing ride, to forget
about it – to expect that someone will take the matter up, when the grievance is
collective, in my behalf – that it is only when the provocation is a very special key,
whose vibrations touch simultaneously a complex of nerves, allergies, and passions,
that I catch fire and the reserves of courage and assertiveness to speak up. When
that happens, I get carried away. My blood gets hot, my brow wet. I become
unbearably sarcastic.”
3. Other Character’s Opinion – Other characters in the story may also offer us
hints about a person’s characteristics in a story.

Example from “The Overcoat” by Nicolai Gogol

“No respect at all was shown him in the department. The porters, far from getting up
from their seats when he came in, took no more notice of him than if a simple fly had
flown across the reception room.”

4. Dialogue – A character’s dialogue can show what kind of person he/she is. The
character’s choice of words, manner of talking, the emotions conveyed, etc. say a lot
about a person.
In Earnest Hemingway’s short story, “A Soldier's Home”, there is a poignant scene
between a mother and her son. Krebs, who is also referred to as Harold by his
mother, is a young man who just returned from the war, and he is feeling out of place
and empty. His mother has made breakfast for him, and this is part of their
conversation:
“God has some work for everyone to do”' his mother said. “There can't be no idle
hands in His Kingdom.”
“I'm not in His Kingdom,” Krebs said.
“We are all of us in His Kingdom.” Krebs felt embarrassed and resentful as always.
5. Monologue – This refers to a character’s inner thoughts. It is often used to reveal
a character’s secret thoughts or intentions. In prose fiction, inner monologue is used
more typically to reveal a character’s private impressions, desires, frustrations, or
dilemmas. This can be applied to nonfiction as well.

Example from “I Am a Filipino” by Carlos P. Romulo

“I am a Filipino. In my blood runs the immortal seed of heroes – seed that flowered
down the centuries in deeds of courage and defiance. In my veins yet pulses the
same hot blood that sent Lapu lapu to battle against the alien foe, that drove Diego
Silang and Dagohoy into rebellion against the foreign oppressor… That seed is
immortal. It is the self-same seed that flowered in the heart of Jose Rizal that
morning in Bagumbayan when a volley of shots put an end to all that was mortal of
him and made his spirit deathless forever…”
REMEMBER: It does not mean that a writer must stick to one technique of character
development. The writer may combine the different ways of character development
so long as it suits the creative nonfiction material.
 WEEK 3 POINT OF VIEW
Point of View refers to the narrator of the story, the vantage point from
where readers observe the events of the story or the writer’s special angle of
vision, the one whose perspective is told (Aguila, 2017).
There are two kinds of approaches that could influence the point of
view: the Objective and the Subjective. These approaches are the angle or handle
you may choose to tell a story. This is your “take” on a subject.
The subjective approach is a view from the inside. It is influenced by the writer’s
personal feelings, taste, and opinion.
The objective approach is a view from the outside. It is not influenced by personal
feelings and opinions in considering and presenting facts.
There are three basic kinds of Point of View (POV) that you may use when narrating:
1. First Person Point of View – This POV uses the “I” and “we” pronouns (and
other related pronouns) because the story is told from the perspective of the
narrator. It is his/her voice that speaks to the readers. Many writers of creative
nonfiction use this POV because, as you know by now, a nonfiction is a true account
based on a writer’s experience.
*Let us use the fairytale, Hansel and Gretel, in the succeeding examples to make the
concept clearer.
Example:
“Hansel walked ahead of me. I made sure I dropped breadcrumbs behind me as I
went, since my bumbling brother couldn’t be counted on to find his way home from
the outhouse, let alone from the middle of the woods.”
NB: In this example, the narrator, Gretel, is the speaker. She is narrating her
thoughts and feelings directly to the readers. Therefore, as readers, we are looking
at the story from the eyes of Gretel and interpreting it from her point of view.
2. Third Person Point of View - The third-person point of view belongs to the
person (or people) being talked about. Third-person pronouns such as he, him, his,
himself, she, her, etc. are used in the entire narration. This kind of POV can be
likened to a camera as the narrator who is recording events as they unfold and
watching people or things as they move. As readers therefore, we hear the voice of
the narrator and understand the narrative from his/her perspective.
There are two kinds of the third person point of view:
a. Third Person Omniscient – Here, the narrator knows all the thoughts and
feelings of the characters and he/she reveals this to the reader.

Example:
“Hansel walked ahead of Gretel; after all, he knew he belonged in the front because
Gretel was just a girl. Gretel dropped breadcrumbs behind her as she went, knowing
that her bumbling brother couldn’t be counted on to find his way home from the
outhouse, let alone from themiddle of the woods.
Ahead of them, an old witch waited, her stomach rumbling at thethought of what a
delicious dinner the two plump children would make.”
NB: The italics show the voice of the narrator. He knows what Hansel and Gretel are
thinking and feeling. He also knows the witch’s thoughts and emotions. As an
omniscient narrator, he/she is everywhere and is aware of everything going on and
he/she conveys all these to the reader.
b. Third Person Limited – This is similar to omniscient, except that the writer can
only access the thoughts and feelings of one character. The writer stays by the side
of this character, so the story is limited to this one person’s experiences, and the
narrator tells the story through this one character’s eyes and mind (Eshbaugh, 2011).

Example:
“Hansel walked ahead of Gretel. Gretel dropped breadcrumbs behind her as she
went, knowing that her bumbling brother couldn’t be counted on to find his way
home from the outhouse, let alone from the middle of the woods.”
NB: In this example, notice that there was no mention of the witch because the writer
“pretends” not to have knowledge of her. His only access is that of the mind of
Gretel, so readers get to know the other characters and go through the flow of
events from the point of view of Gretel as described and explained by the narrator.
Another note: Using the Third Person POV in creative nonfiction can be a bit tricky
since you as the narrator must be factual about your interpretation of the thoughts
and feelings of the characters and be accurate in the telling of the events. This is
where your creativity as a writer comes in.
3. Second Person Point of View - The second-person point of view belongs to the
person (or people) being addressed. This is the “you” perspective. Once again, the
biggest indicator of the second person is the use of second-person pronouns: you,
your, yours, yourself, yourselves.
Example:
“You saw Hansel walk ahead of you as you dropped breadcrumbs behind, knowing
that your brother couldn’t be counted on to find his way home from the outhouse, let
alone from the middle of the woods.”
NB: In this example, the narrator is speaking to you, the reader, as if you were
Gretel. However, this is rarely used in stories since it is best suited to personal
essays addressed to readers.
WEEK 4 SETTINGS AN ATMOSPHERE
When we talk about places, we often refer to the element of SETTING. When you
were asked how you felt as you read these, you were asked to describe the
ATMOSPHERE of the text.
 SETTING refers to an actual place and time where and when an event happens.
The setting is made more realistic when we incorporate or include the physical,
sociological, psychological environment in depicting settings.

The physical environment refers to the geographical locations, immediate

surroundings, weather, or timing. The sociological environment refers to the cultural
context while the psychological environment may refer to the reflection of what a
character thinks or feels.
 ATMOSPHERE is the mood which evokes or reminds us of certain feelings or
emotions, conveyed by the words used to describe the setting or reflected by the
way your subject speaks or in the way he or she acts.

When we read these excerpts, we feel how cold Atok is and how exciting it is to
travel along the roads of Sagada because of the words and details that the writer
uses. To make us feel the coldness of Atok, Lim used the following words and
phrases:
 biting cold
 mufflers and gloves
 an air conditioner set full blast on the cheeks
 fog

She then evokes the dreamy and wishful mood caused by the coldness of the place
through these sentences: “The fog is constant companion to passersby here and in
seeing them, one wishes that if only, one could just take handfuls of it and pocket
them for souvenirs. So, in a much-needed day in the future, he could just take it out,
spread it, and continue the same dream.”
How does Lim make us feel her excitement while she travelled along the roads of
Sagada? She does this by using these details that also describe the setting:
 narrow dirt trails that only one vehicle, our bus, can get through
 unpaved road, susceptible to landslides, is sandwiched by two cliffs that have a
direct drop to a thousand or so feet below
 a driver… zigzags through as if it were a sin for wheels to touch ground
 80-km. speed on uneven dirt trail, until there is a semblance of asphalt again

If you have tried riding a bus on an unpaved or rough road, you will probably feel the
same things she describes in her writing. Through the writer’s effective selection and
description of details, we are also made to feel the exciting atmosphere she felt
when she was on her way to Sagada.
How can we write our creative nonfiction text using setting and atmosphere
effectively? Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, pioneering writer of creative nonfiction in the
Philippines, has this to say for us:
“The most successful pieces of creative nonfiction are rich in details. Bare facts are
never enough. They need to be fleshed out; they need to be humanized. But besides
giving information, details serve other purposes. Details should be accurate and
informative first. And they must be suggestive and evocative. The right details
arouse emotions, evoke memories, help to produce the right response in your
reader. Details are extremely important in evoking a sense of time and place. It must
evoke a period as well as location. Descriptive details are of particular importance
for travel writing, the point of which is, to begin with, to literally transport the reader
to the place to which the traveler has been.”
WEEK5
Let’s do a quick review of the elements of a creative nonfiction text that we have
been learning about in the past modules:
1. PLOT – sequence of events that has a beginning, middle, and an end. It is a
pattern of actions, events, and situations showing the development of the narrative.
2. STRUCTURE – the organization of the plot and other elements to make the
narrative sensible and interesting.
3. CHARACTERIZATION is a writer’s tool, or “literary device” that occurs any time
the author uses details to teach us about a person. This is used over the course of a
story to tell the tale.
4. POINT OF VIEW – refers to the narrator of the story, the vantage point from
where readers observe the events of the story, or the writer’s special angle of vision,
the one whose perspective is told
5. SETTING – an actual place and time where and when an event happens
6. ATMOSPHERE – the mood which evokes or reminds us of certain feelings or
emotions conveyed by the words used to describe the setting or reflected by the way
your subject speaks or in the way he or she acts

When we write, we can use either literal or figurative language depending on our
purpose. We use literal language when we mean exactly what we say while we use
figurative language “to go beyond the literal meaning of words to create vivid images
in our readers’ minds” (MasterClass, 2021). According to the MasterClass article
entitled “How to Use Figurative Language in Your Writing”, we can improve our
writing by using figurative language to accomplish the following:
1. to describe a setting
2. to convey a point of view
3. to reveal an important character trait
4. to describe a sound, when we use onomatopoeia
5. to amplify humor, when we either use hyperbole or understatement
6. to heighten contrast, when we use oxymoron
5 Ways to Use Figurative Language

There are many common types of figurative language that come in a variety of
different forms. You can use these different figures of speech to describe a setting,
convey a specific point of view, or reveal a character trait. There are no real limits
to how you can make use of figurative language, as long as it fits into your writing
and enhances your text, rather than bogging it down.

1. To reveal character traits: Hyperbole is an example of a figurative

language that can be used to express the way a character thinks or
behaves. For example, “I’ve called you, like, a million times” is something a
young, dramatic character would say, but probably not a doctor or senator.
Hyperbole can also be used to express the intensity of a character’s traits
—“His sharp, grating voice was literally the worst thing she had ever heard.”
Although it’s an exaggeration, it conveys just how the character feels about
another in a vivid way.
2. To describe a setting: Similes and metaphors are both strong ways to
describe the way an environment looks and behaves . “The sky was angry
like a vengeful god” denotes not only that a storm is imminent, but that it
could be as large as those described in the Bible. The reader understands
just how intense the storm will be because the writer has gone further to
describe the scene than saying that the sky was “dark gray.” An example of
a metaphor to describe setting would be “The ocean was a dark abyss.” The
reader immediately knows this is not a tropical beach setting—this is an
ominous stretch of water that denotes a feeling of uneasiness and
uncertainty.
3. To describe a sound: Onomatopoeia can be used to help your audience
envision the noise of a particular scene . “He screeched to a halt” is an
example. “The clanging of the bells woke up the town square” gives another
layer of immersion to your text by including the additional sensory detail of
sound. Alliteration (the repetition of consonant sounds)  is also a way writers
can give more rhythm to their writing, creating memorable imagery through
 repetitive sound. For example, an airline might say that they, “fly from Berlin
to Bogotá.”
4. To amplify humor: While hyperbole can be used as a humor device, so
can understatement. For example, if a character is in frigid temperatures but
only expresses they are “a little bit chilly,” they’re speaking in
understatement. Another example: In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the
Black Knight gets his limbs cut off only to declare, “It’s just a flesh wound.”
Understatements can deemphasize the magnitude of a particular event for
humor, creating a sense of irony that audiences find funny.
5. To heighten contrast: An oxymoron is another figurative language
example that can be used for effect by putting two opposite things in direct
comparison. For instance, in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,
Juliet claims her parting with Romeo is “such sweet sorrow,” conveying a
sense of inner conflict in how she ultimately feels about their interactions.
Romeo also uses phrases like “brawling love” and “loving hate,” two
oxymorons that set up the emotional contradictions Romeo feels in his life
by falling in love with Juliet.

Let’s review the different figures of speech that we can use in writing our own
creative nonfiction text through this table of figures of speech with corresponding
descriptions and examples.
 WEEK 6
Let us now look into the steps or processes that one can or may undergo as he or she
attempts to write a CNF piece. These are pointers especially for beginning writers like
you who have come to be interested in this subject.

You have to remember that “creative nonfiction requires the skill of the storyteller and
the research ability of the reporter” according to Theodore A. Rees Cheney as quoted by
Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo in her book “Creative Nonfiction: A Manual for Filipino Writers,
2005.
According to Hidalgo (2005), you begin with facts then do much more with these facts.
CNF writing “elaborates on the facts, interprets them, and, more significantly, presents
them in an interesting and engaging way.” These are the reasons why Rees Cheney
said that the CNF writer has to be both a researcher and a storyteller.

Aside from this Hidalgo (ibid.), pointed out that the key word in CNF writing is the word
“personal.” “The writer of creative nonfiction presents the world - or a slice of it that he (or she)
wishes to focus on - through the prism of his (or her) own personality. Thus he (or she) makes
contact with the reader in a different way from that of the traditional journalist. The reader
becomes involved, as he does in fiction. He gets to know personalities, gets caught up in the
events.”
For you to be able to write your CNF piece or your story, you should:
1. plan
2. research
3. write
4. revise

WRITING TIPS
A. Plan

1. Choose a topic or an experience you know you can write about. Remember that this
topic or experience has to be personal but it does not mean you could not write about
others things or other people. The word “personal” here means that you will be baring
your personal take on this subject that you have chosen to write about. According to
Hidalgo (2005),
a) Your topic should be familiar to you and you are interested in it, or you are curious
about it;
b) You should be able to easily access or gain information from sources regarding your
topic;
c) Make sure that the topic has appeal to a larger audience. You may use your common
sense or do a simple survey among your peers or inquire directly from the entity too
whom you are submitting your CNF piece.

2. Determine your audience. Though your CNF piece should appeal to the general
audience, identify an intended audience. To whom are you particularly writing this piece?
The intended audience will determine (Hidalgo, ibid.):
a) what goes into the piece (as discussed in Module 2 on character and Module 4 on
setting and atmosphere);
b) how it will be handled (as discussed in Module 3 on POV);
c) how it is to be organized (as discussed in Module 1 on plot and structure);
d) the language to be used (as discussed in Module 5 on symbolism and figures of
speech); and
e) the amount and type of information the piece will contain. Your intended audience’s
capacity to absorb the information will determine how much and what sort of research
you need to do.

B. Research

The following tips from Hidalgo (ibid.) will help you know more about your topic.
1. consider what kind of information you need;
2. determine the best place to get this information (in the library, on the Net, through
interviews, or through immersion);
3. know what works have already been done on this topic;
4. read extensively, even voraciously; and
5. listen to conversations.

C. Write

1. Formulate the theme or the thesis statement of your CNF piece. What would your
intended audience take away from reading your story? What insight, thought, or
message could this audience understand from your story? This should be at the back of
your mind as you write.
2. Organize and develop the ideas using the elements and conventions of CNF as
discussed in Modules 1 to 5. Module 1 discussed and showed you the plot and the
different structures a CNF piece could take. Module 2 discussed and showed you the
characters and the characterization you are to do in a CNF piece. Module 3 discussed
and showed you how to handle the point of view of a CNF piece. Module 4 discussed
and showed you the setting and atmosphere of a CNF piece. Lastly, Module 5 discussed
and showed you the use of symbolism, irony, and figures of speech in a CNF piece. All
of these have to go into the writing of our CNF piece.

3. Write the first draft. You should be able to do this once you have chosen a topic
manageable for a short CNF piece. You should have also determined your audience and
the theme of your piece. As discussed, be able to know more about this topic even if it is
a personal experience by researching to be able to establish its authority as written
document. After writing your first draft, set it aside.

D. Revise

Go over your draft one more time making some changes, then write the second draft. Set it
aside again. You will go back to it in Module 7. Module 7 will guide you on how you will evaluate
and revise it for submission or publication.