Creative Non-fiction?
Creative Nonfiction defines the genre simply, concisely, and accurately as “true
stories well told.” And that, in essence, is what creative nonfiction is all about.
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.
Creative nonfiction 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 captivated 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!”
The Building Blocks of Creative Nonfiction
Scenes and stories are the building blocks of creative nonfiction, the foundation
and anchoring elements of what we do. This is what I tell people who want to
write but have no experience writing Writing in scenes is one of the most
important lessons for you to take from this book—and to learn.
The idea of scenes as building blocks is an easy concept to understand, but it’s
not easy to put into practice. The stories or scenes not only have to be factual
and true (You can’t make them up!), they have to make a point or communicate
information, as I have said, and they have to fit into the overall structure of the
essay or chapter or book. It is often a daunting task. But it’s essential.
Writing in scenes represents the difference between showing and telling. The
lazy, uninspired writer will tell the reader about a subject, place, or personality,
but the creative nonfiction writer will show that subject, place, or personality,
vividly, memorably—and in action. In scenes.
—Lee Gutkind
Definition of genre Creative non-fiction is a relatively recently recognized “genre” that
involves writing from personal experience and/or reporting on other peoples’
experiences. The best creative non-fiction work usually involves conducting a
considerable amount of research, most often “in the field,” involving oral history
interviewing, participant observation, detective/sleuthing work, as well as jumping into
new adventures. The range of possible topics is virtually unlimited, and this type of
writing actually has a very long history. Creative nonfiction encompasses memoir
writing, biography and autobiography, oral history, and inspired reportage on almost
any subject. It involves writing about actual events in your own life and/or others’ lives,
conveying your message through the use of literary techniques such as characterization,
plot, setting, dialogue, narrative and personal reflection. As you analyze the elements of
your writing, you might also find our guides to Creative Writing and Poetry Explication
useful.
Fiction v. Nonfiction
Texts are commonly classified as fiction or nonfiction. The
distinction addresses whether a text discusses the world of the
imagination (fiction) or the real world (nonfiction).
Fiction: poems, stories, plays, novels
Nonfiction: newspaper stories, editorials, personal accounts,
journal articles, textbooks, legal documents
Fiction is commonly divided into three areas according to the
general appearance of the text:
stories and novels: prose--that is, the usual paragraph
structure--forming chapters
poetry: lines of varying length, forming stanzas
plays: spoken lines and stage directions, arranged in scenes
and acts
Other than for documentaries, movies are fiction because they
present a "made up" story. Movie reviews, on the other hand, are
nonfiction, because they discuss something real—namely movies.
Note that newspaper articles are nonfiction—even when
fabricated. The test is not whether the assertions are true.
Nonfiction can make false assertions, and often does. The
question is whether the assertions claim to describe reality, no
matter how speculative the discussion may be. Claims of alien
abduction are classified as nonfiction, while "what if" scenarios of
history are, by their very nature, fiction.
The distinction between fiction and nonfiction has been blurred in
recent years. Novelists (writers of fiction) have based stories on
real life events and characters (nonfiction), and historians (writers
of nonfiction) have incorporated imagined dialogue (fiction) to
suggest the thoughts of historical figures.
