Creative Nonfiction and Literary Genres

• Creative nonfiction is a literary genre that classifies works by form, content, and style, including poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.

Literary Genres:

• Fiction: Literary work from the author's imagination to inform, entertain, inspire, or persuade.
• Drama: Composition in verse or prose presenting a story through pantomime or dialogue, containing conflict, performed on stage.
• Poetry: Writing with distinct structure, forming patterns of sound, verse, or thought.
• Creative Nonfiction: Essay writing that employs the diligence of a reporter and the shifting voices of a novelist, heightening the whole concept and idea of essay writing.

Elements of Fiction and Drama:

• Plot: Sequence of events.
• Setting: Place.
• Characters: Persons.
• Theme: Central idea.

Freytag Pyramid:

• Exposition: Introduces the conflict.
• Rising Action: Events leading to the climax.
• Climax: Turning point of the story.
• Falling Action: Events after the climax.
• Resolution: Conclusion of the story.

Types of Conflict:

• External Conflict: Man against man, man against nature, man against society.
• Internal Conflict: Man against himself/herself.

Point of View:

• 1st POV: Writer tells the story from their perspective using "I", "me", "my", and "we".
• 2nd POV: Writer addresses the reader directly using "you", "your", "yours".
• 3rd POV: Writer narrates from an outsider's perspective using "he", "she", "it", "they", and "them".

Elements of Poetry

• Sound: Rhyme and other literary sound devices.
• Syllable: Meter.

Lesson 2: Creative Nonfiction

• Creative nonfiction is an artistic way of relating factual events.
• CNF writers need the research ability of a reporter as well as the skill of fictionists.
• It is rooted in real life experiences, including memoir and personal accounts.
• This genre is becoming increasingly popular.

Elements of Creative Nonfiction:

• Plot
• Characters
• Point of View (POV)
• Setting/Atmosphere
• Structure

Plot in Creative Nonfiction:

• Based on actual experiences and events as they happened.
• It emphasizes true storytelling in a creative manner.

Character/Characterization

• Turns actual people into characters.
• Involves even the writer becoming a character.

Effective Devices for Revealing Characters:

• Direct description, action, and reaction.
• Dialogue expressing characters opinions

Characterization Techniques:

• Direct Characterization: Author directly describes traits.
  • Example: "That guy Sam seems nice."
• Indirect Characterization: Author shows traits through actions, speech, and interactions.
  • Example: "I don't care what it takes—I'll finish this project no matter what!"

Point of View (POV):

• Narrator's perspective, writer's angle.
• 1st POV: Uses "I", "me", "my", and "we".
• 2nd POV: Uses "you", "your", "yours".
• 3rd POV: Uses "he", "she", "it", "they", and "them".

Setting/Atmosphere:

• The place and time of the story.
• Takes place that actually exists

Introduction to Literary Genres

• Poetry heightens language, using imagery and figurative language.
• Prose utilizes the techniques and strategies of fiction.

Fiction

• Fabricated and based on the author's imagination.
• Settings, plot points, and characters may be based on real-life events.

Drama

• A story intended to be acted out on stage.
• Requires a plot, setting, and characters.
• Distinguished by dialogue.
• Divided into tragedy and comedy.

Plot

• Story includes inciting incident, a goal, challenges, turning point, and resolution.
• The structure of a story that follows a sequence of events:
  • Exposition: Introduces the conflict
  • Rising Action: Events leading to the climax
  • Climax: Turning point of the story
  • Falling Action: Events after the climax
  • Resolution: Conclusion of the story
• Stories develop through internal and external character conflicts.

Conflict in a Story:

• Driven by complication
• Man vs. Man: Protagonist vs. Antagonist
• Man vs. Nature: Struggle against natural forces
• Man vs. Society: Conflict with societal norms or culture
• Man vs. Self: Struggle within a character

Character

• Characters should be complex, dynamic, or stereotypical to be effective.
• A person in a story with distinct traits. Protaganist and Antagonist perform opposing roles.

Setting

• Related to place, time, mood, atmosphere, weather, and social conditions.
• Can be dynamic (varied) or static (fixed).

Point of View

• The perspective from which a story is told. -Objective: Narrates events without revealing characters' thoughts or feelings. -First Person: Uses "I", "Me", "We", or "Us" -Second Person: Rarely Used, Uses "You" -Third Person: Not in the Story, using He/She/They --Limited = only knows the thoughts of ONE character --Omniscient- Knows the thoughts of multiple characters

Theme

• Central idea of a work; extracted from literary elements.
• Underlying truths and realities consciously/unconsciously created.

Tone

• Evokes varied feelings, derived from voice or character inflections, word choice, and imagery.
• Atmosphere of the story, including setting or physical environment.

Creative Nonfiction (CNF)

• Tells a story using facts with techniques of fiction.
• Gives facts that emotionally move the reader.
• Is the skill of an essayist writing in collaboration with fictionists, poets, & playwrights

Characteristics of an Effective Plot for CNF

• A series of sequential events.
• Based on actual experiences.
• Writers are not allowed to alter facts.

CNF Must

• Not deliberately misquote sources
• Not misconstrue sources
• Not mislead the reader

How to Begin CNF

• Title should be catchy and clever and give clues about to expect.
• Paragraph 1 should Passage of vivid description

How to End CNF

• Logical conclusion should leave the reader feeling the story complete

Characteristics in CNF

• Characters are actual people.
• Utilized by non-fiction writers.

How to Introduce Real Life Characters?

• Direct description

• Action and Reaction from direct interaction

• Other characters opinions of them.

• Use Dialogue (conversation) or Monologue(Inner Thoughts)

• focus on a character's idiosyncratic behavior

Remember

• -- descriptions and details must be accurate since these are real people

• Setting also exists in a Real time and place during the story

• Atmosphere can affect feelings or emotions depending in subject

Dialogue

• Dialogue = dialogue: literary and theatrical form from spoken word exchanged between two or more people (typically quotes) -- Function of Dialogue = 1. Moves action forward 2. Conversations makes lit engaging 3. Human interactions 4. Varies in structure and tone

Imagery

• Evokes meaning of truth to human experiences (not in philosophy) thru perceptive tangible forms which help writers convey the meaning clearly

Narrative

• Timeline that is linear or non-linear
• structured by the peak events that build interest

Symbol

• A literary device or action that means more than it implies in the literal meanings

• Theme's Main Requirements In a Work

  1. Account for major details
  2. Must not be contradicted
  3. Must not rely on supposed facts only stated or implied

• Themes not morals from the story but shared thru author's sharing ideas, perceptions and feelings to connect with the readers