CREATIVE NON-FICTION

LESSON 3: CHARACTER AND CHARACTERIZATION

A. Defining Character and Characterization

CHARACTER – literary term that refers to the actor/s in a scene or a narrative.

- they perform the actions which include thinking and speaking as describe by the writer.

 FICTION CHARACTERS are all creations of the author’s imagination.

 FICTION AUTHOR – can make characters do and say things that people could jot normally or
would not do or say.
 In Creative Nonfiction, all characters are all based on actual human beings including the narrator
of the creative nonfiction piece.
 CREATIVE NONFICTION AUTHOR – when it comes to characters it is not invention but
presentation making the real person a believable character in the creative nonfiction piece.

CHARACTERIZATION – the literary technique in which a characters is created in piece.

FOUR (4) TECHNIQUES AND ELEMENTS

1. DESCRIPTION – the most direct way of telling your readers who the characters are.

- direct description where the narrator delivers exposition about a character’s

appearance and background.

2. ACTION – it means how the characters carry themselves in the world. It also includes the way the
characters walks, stand, drink, or take their meal.

3. INTERACTION – provides the opportunity to see what the characters think of each other, how they
treat each other, and how they speak of each other.

4. DIALOGUE – refers to the words spoken by characters, often in conversation with each other.

B. Making your Characters Act and Talk

1. GETTING TO KNOW ALL THE FACTS ABOUT THE CHARACTER – figuring out every minute
detail of a character’s life and personality, down to media and food preferences.
2. BASING CHARACTERS ON REAL-LIFE PEOPLE – nature of their genres, fiction, and drama
writers can get away with taking the personality of a real person.

 DIALOGUE – is one of the trickiest aspects or crafting characteristics in creative nonfiction as

people in general do not remember exactly what they say.
SETTING AND ATMOSPHERE

SETTING – is a literary element that is often utilized in narrative-focused genres like fiction and drama
where there are characters in scene doing action.

I. SETTING THE SCENE – describe a place or situation in which something is about to happen.
- Refers to the back draft of the scene or narrative

- You’re providing a person social environment.

ATMOSPHERE – it is how a writer constructs their piece to convey feelings, emotions, and
mood to the reader.

II. CREATING ATMOSPHERE – talks about how setting provides a historical context, it is easy to
overlook that using also directly impacts the story being told, not just how it is understand.

BASIC TECHNIQUES ON HOW TO CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE

1. WORD CHOICE – key in creating atmosphere in any literary piece. Choosing the wrong
word can destruct from or destroy an effect a writer might want to create with his/her
work.

2. WORD AND SENTENCE LENGTH – another technique that can be applied beyond
creating an atmosphere, as the effect is the same whether the work is journalistic or
creative.

- The lengths of words and sentences have an effect in the way people read and
engage with a story.

3. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE – objects in real world actually have neutral meanings.

SYMBOL AND SYMBOLISM

SYMBOLISM – a literary technique where an object, person, place, or action represents a abstract idea
or concept.

SYMBOL – an object or action represents more than what it is.

FIGURE OF SPEECH

FIGURE OF SPEECH – the literary device and techniques. Generally regarded by many as the most
important element of the genre of creative writing.

- A figure of speech focuses on the way language is used by the author.

- Are instances when words are used beyond their literal meaning.
TYPES OF FIGURE OF SPEECH

1. IRONY – when we use words to describe the complete opposite of what we want to convey.
2. IDIOMS – phrases that do not literally mean what they mean.
3. HYPERBOLE – it is used when we want to exaggerate what we want to say.
4. UNDERSTATEMENT – opposite of hyperbole, it diminish the impact or importance of something.
5. PERSONIFICATION – when we ascribe human qualities, like, intelligence, compassion, and
reasoning on a non-human creature or thing.

B.FIGURING OUT WHEN TO USE FIGURE OF SPEECH

 Figure of Speech are not strictly literary devices or techniques, as they are instead part of the
language.

SOME POINTSERS THAT YOU MIGHT NEED WHEN IT COMES TO USING FIGURE OF SPEECH

1. Know your idioms in English

2. Careful with you irony and hyperbole
3. Have a central metaphor

PERSONAL WIRING

Personal Writing – some of the most familiar forms of creative nonfiction full under the category of
personal writing

- Based on real-life experiences.

- It’s also a sense of keeping diaries, making journals and even a public blog.

TYPES OF PERSONAL WRITING

1. AUTOBIOGRAPHY – literally translates to self-written life story, this is more or less the complete
story of a person’s life, beginning from childhood to old age. It is written by itself.

 An AUTOBIOGRAPHY can be both SHORT-FORM and LONG-FORM

LONG FORM – just like a book that covers each major life event in greater detail.
SHORT FORM – just like a brief summary of the major events in one’s life.

2. MEMOIRS – just like autobiography it is also self-written which means that the author’s personal
story is being told by the author himself/herself.
- Memoirs is focused only on specific moments and episodes of the author’s
life.

3. BIOGRAPHY – it tells the complete life story of a person. Writing biographies are not based on
personals experience, it’s based on someone’s experience.
 JOURNALISTIC WRITING

Literary Journalism – originated during 90’s in the United States

- Writing articles for magazines which they called known as “new journalism”.
- Later, the articles are known as literary journalism because they often
resembled literary works.
- The techniques that are typically found in fiction, and then poetry and drama.
- Defining characteristics of this new form of journalism is the use of dramatic
scenes to flesh out true events.

3 TYPES OF LITERARY JOURNALISM

1. REPORTAGE – it is a news report. As a kind of literary journalism, the reportage is the most
flexible as it can focus on anything.
2. TRAVELOGUE – particular kind of reportage that is focused on travel often called as travel-
writing, travelogues follow the author’s journey to a destination/s.
3. TRUE NARRATIVES – variant of journalistic creative nonfiction are the so-called true narratives
which are basically retelling of real events. One popular kind of true narratives are true crime
pieces.

DEVELOPING IDEAS FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION

- Like any form of writing there is no right or wrong about writing creative
nonfiction.

 JOURNAL/NOTEBOOK – idea of helping a journal where on writes about one’s hopes and
dreams is old-fashioned.
 FREEWRITING – generative activity involves sitting down in front of a blank page band just
writing for a specified amount of time.
 MINDMAPPING – generative activity is appropriate for those who already have a vague idea of
what they want to write about.
 PHOTOS AND SOCIAL MEDIA – one of the advantages of digital technology is that it has allowed
us to recruit the past much more easily than before.
 MAPMAKING – writing about a place in your childhood or a place you visited that is of
significance, creating a map of the place might be what you need to enjoy your memory.
 MUSIC – it is a powerful way of evoking memories.
 TIMELINE – requires a bit pf research, but since this is creative nonfiction, you should be doing it
anyway.

WHO DO I WRITE FOR? Important because it determines the context and tone of the piece that you are
writing.

CONTEXT – refers to the conditions surroundings any kind of cultural material, be it a creative nonfiction
piece, a short story, a painting, or even a song.

- It helps also to determine what tone you can take in writing your creative
nonfiction piece.

TONE - refers to your attitude or the manner in which they convey information to the reader.

YOU MIGHT BE FAMILIAR WITH THE:

 FORMAL TONE – writing which you use for academic writing.

 CASUAL TONE – when you post online, you usually uses this tone.
 HUMOUROUS/ LIGHT-HEARTED TONE – comedic stories and tales usually told with this tone.
 SERIOUS TONE – involves serious matters like life/death situations may have a more serious tone