CREATIVE NON-FICTION

CONTENT

FICTION

Fiction is a product from the imagination but with truthfulness of what has been happening
around. Its events are carved from truth thereby exhibiting the faithfulness of reality with a
goal to entertain and the light the readers or spectators.

FICTION AND THE CANON

The term canon according to Jocobus (1996) in literature: An Introduction to Critical Reading
Stems from the Greek notifying “measure”, “law” or “rule”. It therefore pertains to the study of
the bible books where church scholars had to determine which manuscripts became part of the
biblical canon.

PROSE

Prose takes its form in an unmetered style and use natural speech than rhyme.

a. Short Story- Short Story is a concise prose that is shorter than a novel with few
characters to portray.

Elements of a Short Story

(1) Character can be a person or an animal taking the action of the story.
(2) Setting brings the readers as where the story happens which is illustrated through
scenery, landscape, building, weather, or season.
(3) Plot leads to the central conflict by building a series of events in the characters life.
(4) Conflict is the wrestle of the character with another character, against nature, forces,
society, or oneself.
(5) Theme is the central idea or concept idea or concept of the storyline (Five Important
Elements of a Story, 2004).
b. Novel-written in prose format and published as a book, a novel is a long piece of
creative fiction that is believed to be possessing, demanding, and complex. It may follow
the format of short story with all of its imaginary characters but the details of it are
expanded and elaborated.
c. Drama/Theatre Play -t is believed “drama is; literature equipped with arms, legs, tears,
laughs, whispers, shouts, and gestures that are alive and immediate” (Meyer, 2006).
 SOME COMMONS GENRES IN DRAMA

(1) Comedy stems from komeode which means merry makings. It is believed that Greek
comedy originates from the village festivities and the worship of Dionysus.
(2) Farce is grounded in ancient drama, yet critics looked down on it is vulgar. It involves
travesty and circus where skilled dramatist and performers create instant laughter
though their mechanical acts.
(3) Satire from the Latin term means “medley” with origins in cooking. It employs different
comic exaggeration to mock human behavior in the chance of being transformed or
corrected.
(4) Tragedy portrays a sad ending wherein Aristotle was the first to provide its definition in
his poetics and that it should be “by pity and terror”(Law ,2011
(5) Historical drama is as theatre featuring historical characters and events. The first
surviving historical play is that of The Persians in 472 BCE where Aeschylus battled the
Greco Persians war which he fought earlier for eight years (Palmer).
(6) Musical Theatre combines dialogues, songs, and dance numbers and accredited to
Broadway for blending vaudeville, revue, melodrama, as well as operetta in its
presentation (Law, 2011).
(7) Absurd Paly demonstrates existentialism that rejects the realistic characters, settings,
situations, and thereby presents meaninglessness and isolation of human life (Carlson,
2002).

(Synopsis)

Mediocre chemistry assistant professor Howell has to be tenured this semester or he will
lose his teaching job with the implementation of the k-12 which forces their university to
streamline its faculty roster by not renewing contractual faculty members and only keeping
the tenured ones.

d. Film

There are many names attached to the world films, many call it movies, motion picture,
theatre films or a run through of still images on the screen. Films can be taken from the
written word of a large work such as novels or autobiography.

POETRY

Artistic, Rhythmic Patterns, and the economy of words evaluate poetry as a form of literary
art. Numerous poets such as Woods worth look at it as, “the spontaneous over flow of
powerful feelings” so does Emily Dickinson who believes that, “If I read a book and it makes
my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry” while Dylan Thomas
thinks that “Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle,
what makes me want to do this or that or nothing” (Flanagan, 2016).

STRUCTURE OF POETRY

Stanzas are lines organized in a repeated pattern of meter and rhyme.

FORMS IN POETRY

A. Lyric Poetry is singing short and simple poem with an accompaniment of a lyre that
expresses emotions and feelings of the poet.

TYPES OF LYRICAL POETRY

(1) Folksongs are short poems that are tainted with love, hope, joy, grief, sandness, or
sorrow as common themes.
(2) Sonnets can be Italian or Shakespearean with 14 lines illustrating emotions, feelings,
and ideas.
(3) Elegy demonstrates grief and melancholy to the dead.
(4) Ode express noble yet dignified emotions with no definite syllable or lines per stanza.
(5) Psalms (Dalit) illustrates praise songs of God as well as the Virgin Mary.
(6) Song (Awit) contains twelve syllables accompanied by a guitar or banduria in a slow
tempo.
(7) Corridos show eight syllables which is spoken to synchronize a martial tap.
B. Narrative Poetry tells the significant events in life or that of make believe. Epic, metrical
tale, and ballad comprise the narrative verse.

TYPES OF NARRATIVE POETRY

(1) Epic demonstrates heroism of gods and fantastic. It is often circuitous and is an
unending tale.
(2) Metrical Tale can be a ballad or a metrical romance revealing love and supernatural
stories.
(3) Ballads display the shortest and the simplest poems accompanied by a dance that will
narrate any of the themes such as war, sea, humor, moral, mystical or historical.
C. Dramatic Poetry is written for the theatre which can be often lyrical and provides
dramatic monologue.

TYPES OF DRATIC POETRY

(1) Comedy provides amusing and happy endings.

(2) Melodrama covers musical plays with an opera on it that will link to misfortune.
(3) Tragedy invokes catharsis or pleasure among the audience where the hero struggles
meeting his or her misfortune.
(4) Farce is an exaggerated and extravagant comedy where characters are like caricatures
and quite absurd.
(5) Social Poems can be comic or tragic whose goal is to bring social changes in the
community.

FIGURATIVE DEVICES IN POETRY

(1) Simile uses “like” or “as” in associating a subject to another.

Example: “My love for you is as wide as the universe and deep as the ocean.”

(2) Metaphor deletes the words “like” or “as” and uses direct comparison among obejects
or circumtances.

Example: “My love for you is a rose garden.”

(3) Synecdoche refers to a segment/part of something that is replaced to represent in for a

whole or vice versa.

Example:

Bread= money

Sails= entire ship

Hands hired= workmen

(4) Metonymy is a word or phrase that is used to represent for another word.
Example: “the pen is mightier than the sword.”
(5) Symbolism uses an object or a word to represent an abstract idea.
Example:
Flower and star= woman
Black= death

(6) Allegory presents a series of abstract ideas and images depicted in a narrative.
Example: George Orwell’s animal farm shows rebellion.
(7) Personification uses inanimate objects as people giving them human attributes.
Example: “nature wept”
(8) Irony employs contradictory statements or situations to show reality dissimilar from
truth.
Example: Unmailed letter
 (9) Paradox uses contradictory statements but in a closer examination turns out to make
sense (Meyer 2006).
Examples: “You can save money by spending it.”

CREATIVE NONFICTION

Creative nonfiction weaves the marginal boundary of literary art such as fiction and nonfiction
(covering and writing journalism, statistical, the essay, and many others).

CONTENT IN WRTING CREATIVE NONFICTION

Writers can craft stories of their own or of others as long as they can provide evidence of what
really happened. This is important in case especially if the work will be considered for
publication.

PUPOSE FOR WRITING CREATIVE NONFICTION

The purpose of good writing is to express your feelings and not to impress, bring the readers in
a word adventure, and make your target audience agree what you are talking about.

WRITER-BASED PURPOSE

Writing helps you shape ideas calve from real life experiences of from merely observing the
surrounding events.

DIMENSIONS OF THE WRITING PROCESS

The writing process differs from one writer to another since writing is subjective. Collecting,
shaping, drafting, and revising are the four basic levels you will undergo to produce quality
workmanship.

(1) Collecting- You can gather first-hand information, use data, experience or interview
others. “In any case, writers constantly collect facts, impressions, opinions, and ideas
that are relevant to their subjects, purposes, and audiences.
(2) Shaping- A reflection can be taken from the facts, ideas, circumstances that you have
collected. If you are writing about calamities, it is good if you can provide a vivid
description.
(3) Drafting- Writers usually make a rough version of the essay they are crafting and along
the way change some parts of the narrative. Drafting may vary from one writer to
another of from one moment to the next.
(4) Revising- Writers at some point will revise their drafts several times to achieve
perfection. It is more than tweaking word but also means re-arranging the sequence of
the presentation.
THE ENTIRE WRITING PROCESS

In practice, a writer seldom keeps the order of the four dimensions of the writing process.
Writing is recursive which may spring from one point to the next. When writers draft, they
also proofread the manuscript and immediately correct the typos they may encounter.

Writing as a process involves a lot of preparation:

(1) Know what topic you will write and what you need to detail in your essay.
(2) Brainstorm ideas for the essay by jotting down examples and listing everything to
reflect the theme are important factors in shaping the direction of your paper.
(3) Create a thesis statement from a single sentence that encapsulates the full essay.
(4) Outline your essay in three parts: introduction, body, and conclusions. To write a good
outline is to employ Roman Numerals for headings and lower case numbers or numbers
for subheadings.
(5) Write the introduction that is somewhat startling thereby drawing the attention of the
readers.
(6) Elaborate the supporting details of the story following the outline.
(7) Write a conclusion from the progression of details being elaborated.
(8) Revise your essay after writing the first draft by rereading and asking certain questions.
(9) Compose a second draft from the revisions.

WRITING ROUTINES OF FAMOUS WRITERS

Before wielding the words and journeying into creative writing and thinking, writers do
engage in strange routines. Famous wordsmiths share what they do prior to their writing.

ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFERENT GENRES

1. SHORT STORY
Guide for Presentation
 Provide a summary of “The Witch” and then identify the characters in the story
with their corresponding descriptions, the setting, the plot as well as the central
conflict and the theme or concept of the story.
2. POETRY
Guide for Presentation
 Provide summary for each poem and then compare and contrast.
 Identify the structure( couplet, tercet, quatrain, cinquain, sestet, septet, octave),
form ( lyrical, narrative, and dramatic), and the figures of speech used for each
poem.
 Identify if there are characters, setting, plot , conflict and theme of the poem.
 3. DRAMA/PLAY
Guide for presentation
 Provide a summary of the drama/ play and then identify the characters in the
play with their corresponding descriptions, the setting, the plot as well as the
central conflict and the theme or concept.
4. THE ESSAY
Guide for presentation
 Provide a summary of the essay and then identify the characters in the story
with corresponding descriptions, the setting, the succession of events to support
the thesis statement or conflict and the theme or concepts of the memoir.

WRITING AN INTRODUCTION FOR A MEMOIR

Tick one the many topics listed below that you may able to expand in 1,500 words (final
requirement). Once you have chosen the theme, it is good to stick to it since your final paper
will be written in three parts.

PRICIPLES, ELEMENTS, TECHNIQUES & DEVICES OF CREATIVE NONFICTION

In order to provide a compelling personal creative nonfiction story, a writer has to render the
events truthfully writing makes the writer naked, ready to tell all detours that life has taken him
or her.

INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE NONFICTION

A writer like a carpenter uses the basic principles in writing to wield a perfect composition.
These writing tools help shape the storyline.

USING ELEMENTS OF CREATVE NONFICTION

a. Plot pertains to the arrangement of events in a story governed by the cause and effect
relationship. It is the design or motif of the story of how it will progress or a narration of
what happens in the past.

Expositions are the beginning information given by the writer in the story. It provides the
background knowledge so readers may understand the story like the characters and the
setting.

Inciting Moment takes place when the readers comprehend the problem of the story.

Dramatic Question is a response from the inciting moment.

Rising Action mirrors the essential inner conflict that will wrestle to a complication and then
head start to another conflict.

Crisis Situation is the time where the readers understand how the writer’s experience will
enable him or her to be successful or a failure from such ordeal.

Climax is the highest level of the storyline since it represents the turning point that marks a
change of the main character.

Falling Action is the reversal of the story that depicts the moment of final suspense.

Denouement is the time when the falling action and the concluding scene of the narrative
take place.

Plot Devices are ways of propelling the storyline to move forward. It serves to motivate the
characters, creating urgency or resolving complicated situations.

Plot Outline is a narrative of a story that can be transformed into a film. It consists of a page
with longer and detailed synopsis summarized into one or two paragraphs.

b. Conflicts are the problems, issues, or situations that the character needs to resolve
through time. Conflict is often expressed through the actions and dialogues of the
character.

Types of Conflict

1. One Character against another Conflict shows one character having a grievance against
another character.
2. A Character or Group against Society Conflict demonstrates a character that is against
society’s values, ideas, norms, culture, and values.
3. A Character against Nature Conflict reflects a character who is wrestling with natural
disasters or calamities.
4. Character against Himself or Herself Conflict illustrates the inner struggles and
emotions of the character (Woods, 2003).
c. Theme pertains to the idea that philosophers deeply think or it is simply the subject of
the story.
d. Characters are portrayal of people or animals in a narrative where in their attitudes can
be manifested in direct (explicit) or indirect (implicit) characterization.
Types of Characterization

1. Direct (Explicit) Characterization informs the readers of what the character is like which
can be deciphered through the narrator, or through how the characters behave, act, or
speak.
2. Indirect (Implicit) Characterization allows the readers to infer about the character’s
thoughts, actions, conversations, physical appearance, idiosyncrasies, and workmanship
or team play with other characters.
e. Narrative Point of View describes the strand of the narrator of the storyteller. The
narrator is the eye of the story, expressing the story through first-person, second-
person, third-person, and alternating-person.
1. First-Person Point of View can be seen through the narrator who is the character in his
or her own story and this can be illustrated in the pronoun ”I” or very seldom using the
“We” when referring to a group.
2. Second-Person Point of View is a narrator that uses the “pronoun you” telling the story
of another person or the narrator himself/herself.
3. Third-Person Point of View where every character is signified to by the storyteller as
“she”, “he”, “it”, or “they”.
4. Alternating Person is used in novels when authors experiment different points of view
even if it is suggested that they establish a single point of view.
f. Narrative Voice illustrates how the story is told through stream of consciousness,
character voice, unreliable narrator, epistolary voice, third-person narratives include (1)
subjective, (2) objective, (3) omniscient, (4) free indirect, and (5) alternating.
1. Stream-of-Consciousness is employed in the first-person point of view by trying to
reproduce the inner thoughts of the narrative character so it may provide an
explanation or foreshadow a situation.
2. Character Voice is employed in the first-and-third-person viewpoints where in the
storyteller portrays how the character views humanity and the world.
3. Unreliable Voice involves the use of uncertain or doubtful narrator who provides the
readers skepticism, a level of suspicion, or anonymity as to the validity of the
information.
4. Epistolary Voice employs fictitious letters and other credentials to put across the story’s
plot.
5. Third-Person Voices are narratives using the third-person view
a. Subjective Voice is when the narrator conveys feelings, opinions, thoughts to one or
more characters.
b. Objective Voice tells a story in the absence of portraying the thoughts, opinions, and
feelings of the character and instead provides an objective point of view.
c. Omniscient Voice is the most narrative style of telling a story since the narrator is
“godlike” seeing and knowing what will happen and thus takes a subjective style.
d. Free Indirect Speech is a technique of presenting the character’s voice without
inhibitions using the third-person narration.
e. Alternating Voice employs third-person limited and third-person omniscient method of
presenting the character.
f. Narrative Time determines the timeline of the story whether it may have happened
before, during, or after the narration.
g. Angle of the Story depicts the theme, concept, or point of what the story will talk about.
h. Setting (Scene) is where the story happens such as the location, historical period, or
social situations.
i. Symbols in literary writing is usually applied in poetry and each symbols signifies a
meaning.
Black-Evil or Death
Broken Mirror-Separation
Dark-Death, Shadows
j. Dialogue is a literary style where two or more characters are involved in a conversation
for a particular subject and topic.
There are two types of dialogues:
Inner Dialogue (Stream of Consciousness) takes place when the characters speak to
themselves and in this process, their personalities and attitudes are revealed.
Outer Dialogue is the conversation between two or more characters in the story
(Literary Devices).
k. Others Literary Devices
1. Hyperbole is a term for overstatement or exaggeration.
2. Understatement is exactly the opposite of hyperbole, when the writer tries to play
down the significance, magnitude, or intensity of a situation or event.
3. Incongruity is a circumstance when something is out of proportion of strange
situations knit together.
4. Irony is a position when there is “a gap between what is said and what is meant”
(Woods, 2013).

DEVELOPING THEMES BY COMBINING MULTIPLE ELEMENTS

Writing comes from the heart and with the various literary tools, you will able to write a
good essay. Taiping Xu (2015) in her research, Qualitative Research on the Using of
Writing Workshop Techniques in English Writing Class, details that writing is a cognitive
process allowing learners to comprehend what to write and how to do it.
UNDERSTANDING VARIOUS FORMS AND TYPES

Creative Nonfiction (CN) includes different types of writing such as food, travel, memoir,
personal, reflective essays, and other hybridized types. It employs the literary
techniques to achieve elegance in the language, character, and make the story
heartwarming and nearer to the readers.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AN AUDIENCE

You need to know your audience to write effectively. Your audience may be literate or
composed of people learning to read and write or simply they may be experts in the
field you are specializing.

CLOSE READING

When you engage in close reading, you read through the text, observe the details of the
text and then interpret your observation. You may highlight key words and phrases as
you pick repetitive texts, words that are contradictory or similar.

TYPES AND FORMS OF CREATIVE NONFICTION

Autobiography is a story of a person’s life in a specific moment in time that is told by

the person himself or herself. Thus, it is always told in the first-person point of view
since it is a story reshaped by reminiscing memories.

1. Journals are daily written personal accounts and person experiences but not
emotional.
2. Diaries are emotional accounts and personal experiences of the writer.
3. Letters are written messages addressed to a particular person, organization, or
institution.
4. Memoirs are narrower in focus, carrying memories, feelings, and emotions of the
writer.

LITERARY JOURNALISM OR REPORTAGE

Is a precise, well-researched report of which a reporter follows a topic, subject, or

theme for a long period of time and then provides a personal angle on it.

TRAVELOGUE

Embraces the personal accounts of a writer on travel as he or she evaluates the food,
hotels, restaurants, and best sites to visit.
 10 LOCAL SECRETS IN PHNOM PENH BY RV ESCATRON

UNCOVER THE SECRETS FROM THE RIVERFRONT

Phnom Penh in Cambodia-with its tree-lined streets, colonial buildings and endless rows
of shop house-sits where the mighty Mekong River and Tonle Sap meet.

CHEAP THRILLS FOR FOODIES + VULTURE

My first foray into Cambodian or Khmer gastronomic adventure was unsuccessful. I

swung by Cambodia 6 years ago on a backpacking trip. At the time, my knowledge about
Khmer food was limited only to crunchy and fried grasshoppers, crickets and tarantulas.
It ended there.

BEST NOODLES + BEST VIEW

This restaurant sits at the river bank of Tonle Sap and offers a sweeping view of the river
and the island across it. I’ve eaten here several times and the quality of food and
customer service have been consistently good.

HEAVEN ON A PLATE

From the street, this Indonesian restaurant looks rather very ordinary. What sets this a
part from the rest is the very reason droves of people come here for the extraordinary
food.

ICONIC LANDMARK + STUNNING SUNSET VIEW

Not to be missed for anyone who visits Phnom Penh. While the food and drinks at this
place are a tad too pricey for my volunteer living allowance ( the brick oven wood-fired
pizza is to die for), another way to soak up the iconic vibe and to enjoy the view,
especially at sundown, is to come during happy hour when the bar list is at 50% off

CULTURAL CENTERS

On a third week in Phnom Penh, I had the good fortune of scoring a hard-to-get ticket
for Shakespeare’s Hamlet by the original cast from London’s Globe Theater.

BIKING IN THE BACK ROAD

This Island, located in the middle of Mekong River, is barely an 8-minute ferry crossing.
Once you set foot on this Island, you will instantly notice the stark contrast between the
concrete jungle of Phnom Penh to the idyllic and dusty countryside feel of this Spartan
get away.
FOOD + SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

This restaurant employs Former Street youth trained in cooking and service skills by
friends-an NGO. The food and service never disappoint.

A HOLE-IN-THE WALL ANTHONY BOURDAIN WILL SOON BE RAVING ABOUT

Do not be fooled by its unassuming interior of tilled walls and basic seating. This eatery
offers authentic and delectable Thai food and arguably has the cheapest price in town.

GOOD JUJU AT BREAKFAST EGGS FLORENTINE, SPINACH AND BAGE

Every time I am in Phnom Penh, my first meal of the day is always here. At the outset, its
eggs Florentine with spinach, bagel, hollandaise sauce and some greens got me hooked.

BACK STREET BARBEQUE

Another hole-in-the-wall which might pique the interest of Anthony Bourdain. The pork
rib meat is tender and well-seasoned.

CHUG THE BUGS

Locals eat them for snacks. It is sold at the local market everywhere in Cambodia. If you
fancy, there is even tarantula.

PHNOM PENH WEATHER

Either you get heat stroke or drenched. Save yourself the hassle by tucking a folding
umbrella inside your bag. In June, the heat hits you in the morning toward lunch while
quick but heavy downpours in late afternoons cooled down the air and cleansed the
vehicle fumes in the city.

REFLECTION ESSAY

Examines a writer perspective in life by allowing the author to introspect and ponder
back if such situation created an impact on his/her life. It challenges the writer to think
critically by exploring personal thoughts, feelings, and opinions on specific topic and
subject. References: Elibris Books Inc.