Creative Nonfiction: Forms and Techniques

• Creative nonfiction employs literary techniques from poetry and fiction to create cohesive, true stories using elements like conceit and juxtaposition.

Forms of Creative Nonfiction (Weeks 9-10)

• Common forms include autobiography and literary journalism.
• A biography is a life history of an individual, written by someone else.
• An autobiography is a person's life story, written by that person.
• A memoir is a collection of memories written by the person themselves (Blurb, 2020).
• A biography objectively recounts a person's life while an autobiography is the story of a person's life written by that person.
• Autobiographies are written in the first person to portray the author's life experiences and achievements.
• Memoirs focus on reflection and emotional connection, using personal knowledge to tell intimate stories, and are focused on the meaningful aspects of the writer's life.
• Autobiography is subjective and presents facts as experienced by the writer, written to explain motivations behind actions, and offers personal thoughts and feelings.
• Compared to a biography, an autobiography is usually written later in life.

Personal Narratives, Reflection Essay, and Travelogue (Weeks 11-12)

• Creative nonfiction has a long history and varies widely due to its fact-checking ability and creativity.
• A narrative essay uses a story to teach a specific point or entertain.
• A reflection essay demonstrates overcoming obstacles or understanding events.
• A travelogue focuses on a traveler's experiences in a particular place.
• Personal narratives employ literary techniques and dynamics.
• While some personal essays are standalone stories, many interweave true stories with metaphors.
• Narrative essays aim to teach, expose elements of the human condition, or simply entertain.
• Reflection essays show how the writer made sense of particular events and how the experiences shaped future views.
• Narrative essays can have a wide range of audiences, but reflection essays are often assigned in academic settings.
• Narrative essays can be from any perspective, while reflection essays are told from the limited first-person point of view.
• A travelogue is someone's account of a trip to a country or place, in the form of factual details or a narrative supported by images.
• A travelogue can include local customs, cuisine, depictions of places, personal adventures, prices of transportation, and entertainment.
• Common mistakes in travel writing: a lack of emotions, being too enthusiastic, relying on memories without notes, being too critical or in awe, repeating tourist guidebook information, using stock photos, judging other cultures, and waiting too long to write as it should be done immediately after a return.

Literary Journalism, Blog, and Testimonio (Weeks 13-14)

• Creative nonfiction is a true story told using the elements of fiction and relies on facts, real people, and actual events (Berve, 2018).
• Literary journalism is sometimes used interchangeably with creative nonfiction.
• Blogs are updated content online, while testimonio brings attention to wrongs, points of view, or urgent calls to action.
• One creative approach is deviating from a chronological account to capture the essence of an event through vivid details (Berve, 2018).
• Literary journalism combines factual reporting with narrative techniques and stylistic strategies of fiction.
• Literary journalism comes closest to newspaper and magazine writing, and is fact-driven, often involving research and interviews.
• Common forms of literary journalism include investigative features, news features, profiles, backgrounders, human interest pieces, lifestyle features, and even travel stories.
• Blogs are online diaries or journals with content including text, pictures, videos, animated GIFs, and scans of documents (Website Hub, 2020).
• Blogs exist for personal use, for sharing information, or for engaging the public, with the owner able to set for private or public access.
• Testimonio is a first-person narration of socially significant experiences by a witness, to tell those who have lived through similar situations and have rarely given written expressions
• The goal of testimonio is to shed light on wrongs, viewpoints, or urgent calls for action.
• Testimonio is considered a fact-based first-person narrative of injustice.

Reading and Writing Creative Nonfiction (Weeks 15-16)

• Mastery enables effective critique and creative nonfiction writing.
• Close reading involves observing details and interpreting observations.
• Critical analysis evaluates a book, essay, movie, painting, or performance.
• Critical thinking urges introspection and careful consideration of reasoning skills.
• Focuses on focusing on the attributes of the text, make a point (thesis), and defend with reasons.
• Arguments should be supported with evidence from the text such as quotations, summaries, and paraphrases.