CNF Handouts

Creative Nonfiction
3rd Quarter
Lesson 1: A Close Look at the Literary Genres

In this lesson, you will learn how to identify dominant literary conventions of a particular
genre; compare and contrast how the elements are used in the different genres.
Introduction to Literary Genres
Defined simply as the “art of words,” literature comes in various meanings. Rexroth
(2020) defines literature as “those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished
by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their
execution.” Citing the 11th edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Rexroth
adds that literature are “writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing
ideas of permanent or universal interest.” These definitions point out two important
aspects of literature: excellence and expression. For a work to be considered literature,
it should not simply express humankind’s thoughts, feelings, experiences and
aspirations, but should also reflect merit and brilliance of expression.
Due to the depth and breadth of literature, various academics have classified it based
on its different aspects such as content, technique, tone, or simply definition. On the
basis of content, literature is divided into two major forms – fiction and nonfiction. As to
techniques used, literature is also classified into prose and poetry.
Genre refers to a type of art, literature, or music characterized by a distinct form,
content, and style. In literature, there are four literary genres: poetry, drama, fiction, and
nonfiction. All these literary genres have specific functions and features which
distinguish one from the others.
As readers of literature, part of understanding a text is knowing to which genre a
material belongs since the message it conveys may be affected by certain conventions.
When you have mastered what distinguishes one from the other, it is easier to grasp
what the writer is trying to tell you hence putting you in a better position to think critically
about the material you have read.
Different genres also have different roles. Fiction, for instance, may let you into a world
which is totally different from ours. Poetry may enrich your emotional and imaginative
powers while drama can help improve your communicative competencies. Nonfiction
essays can give you insights about life or it may lead you to think critically or
persuasively about things and ideas around you. Whatever genre you read, it is
imperative that you understand what delineates one from the other for you to balance
your expectations of a particular literary work’s distinct conventions and style.
- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Fiction
Fiction refers to a literary work which comes from the author’s imagination. Through the
fictional narrative, a writer may inform, entertain, inspire, or even persuade (Littlehale,
2020). Fiction has three categories: realistic, non-realistic, and semi-fiction. MasterClass
(2019) classifies fiction into 14 different forms including the following:
1. Literary Fiction. It refers to literary works with artistic value and literary merit.
Political criticism, social commentary, and reflections on humanity are most often
the content of literary fiction. Contrary to plot-driven works, they are typically
character-driven, and places emphasis and focus on the inner story of the
character.
2. Mystery. Also known as detective fiction, mystery often follows a plot with a
detective as character or someone playing detective and tries to solve a case
with a sprinkling of clues here and there, giving the readers a feel for suspense,
creates anticipation, and ultimately bares the truth with some unexpected turns
with nonetheless satisfying conclusions.
3. Thriller. This fiction type is characterized by dark, mysterious and suspenseful
plots. It rarely utilizes humor but highlights techniques like plot twists, red
herrings, and cliffhangers which can keep readers guessing until the very end.
4. Horror. Written to shock, startle, scare, and even repulse the readers, horror
fiction creates a horrifying sense of dread and may include characters like
ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, and monsters. Horror themes may be of
death, demons, evil spirits, the afterlife, and even fear itself.
5. Historical. This type of fiction involves the creative use of research to be able to
transport readers to another time and place. This time and place may be real,
imagined, or a combination of both. Some historical fiction may utilize characters
who were historical figures and use real events in history.
6. Romance. Created with a light-hearted, oftentimes optimistic tone, and most
often a satisfying conclusion, romantic fiction highlights love stories between
people.
7. Western. Stories of this type often portray characters and setting of the western
frontier like cowboys, outlaws, and settlers of the American Old West. One
distinct feature of this form is that it relies mostly on the specific locale, culture,
and language of that era in history.
8. Bildungsroman. Literally translated as “a novel of education” or “a novel of
formation,” this form highlights the transition or metamorphosis of a character
from youth into adulthood. The transition from immaturity to maturity experienced
by the character may involve a profound loss, an insightful journey, or an intense
conflict.
9. Speculative fiction. This type may be a combination of different fiction forms like
dystopian, science fiction, and fantasy, or any other combination. The setting
may be in a world so unlike the world we live in. Considered as a supergenre,

writers of speculative fiction have limitless use of the possibilities beyond the
human imagination.
10. Science Fiction. Classified under speculative fiction, sci-fi uses elements that do
not exist in the real world. Inspired by both natural science (physics, chemistry,
and astronomy) and social sciences (psychology, anthropology, and sociology),
sci-fi stories may focus on time travel, space exploration, and societies of the
future.
11. Fantasy. Another type of speculative fiction, fantasy has imaginary characters
and worlds and may have influences of mythology and folklore which can be
appealing to both children and adults alike.
12. Dystopian. In contrast to utopian fiction which portrays a world better than the
one we have; dystopian fiction depicts a society that is worse than ours.
Dystopian fiction is also another type of science fiction.
13. Magical realism. The world portrayed in magical realism is similar to our real
world but with added magical elements which are considered “natural” in which
the story takes place.
14. Realist literature. This type of fiction portrays a world very much like ours, with
all the elements created as truthful as it can be as it happens in our world.
On the other hand, some academics also classify fiction into sub-genres which include
the following:
1. Short Story. Shorter in length than a novel, a short story is a fictional prose work
which usually focuses on one plot, one main character (with a few additional
minor characters), and one central theme. It aims at unity of effect and creation
of mood rather than on plot. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Philosophy of Composition”
describes a short story as one that “should be read in one sitting, anywhere from
a half hour to two hours. In contemporary fiction, a short story can range from
1,000 to 20,000 words.”
2. Novel. A novel is a narrative prose work of considerable length that talks about
significant human experience. The novel’s beginnings date back to as early as
the writing of “Tale of Genji” by Murasaki Shikibu; later, in the early seventeenth
century, European novels came to be written (Prahl, 2019). A novel is also
characterized by the following: (1) written in prose form, (2) considerable length
or word count, (3) fictional content, and (4) individualism; that is, it appeals to an
individual audience as a reader rather than to a group.
3. Myth. Derived from the Greek mythos, which has a range of meanings from
“word,” through “saying” and “story,” to “fiction,” a myth is a symbolic narrative of
unknown origin and tells events which are partly traditional and associated with
religious beliefs. Myths are specific accounts with gods or superhuman beings as
characters involved in extraordinary events or circumstances in a time that is
unspecified but which is understood as existing apart from ordinary human
experience. Mythology, on the other hand, refers to both the study of myth and
the body of myths belonging to a particular religious tradition.

4. Legend. A legend is traditional tale which is thought to have historical bases.
5. Fable. A fable is an instructive story about human social behaviour with
personified animals or natural objects as characters and always ends with an
explicit moral message. The concept of time and space is also not specific in a
fable.
Poetry
Poetry is a means of sharing experiences, telling a story, or expressing feelings or ideas
through the use of language in a particular way. As opposed to prose writing, poetry in
written form has a distinct structure and words may form patterns of sound, verse or
thought. The creation of pictures with words is very important in poetry, hence poets
carefully choose words which will appeal to the imagination of the readers and create
vivid visual images.
There are some distinctive characteristics of poetry which sets it apart from prose:
A. the visual patterning of lines of unequal and shorter length,
B. the frequent division into stanzas (verses),
C. the possibility of unusual shapes, and
D. the distinctive use of white space which draws our eye into the compressed
essence of feelings and ideas.
Poems are usually shorter than novels, may come in many shapes and forms, and are
often (but not always) divided into stanzas (or verses). But just like prose, poems also
share similar features like subject (what it is about), theme (what it says about the
subject), and a mood/feeling/tone (how the author feels about this or how the author
wants the readers to feel).
To make meaning out of poems, two broad approaches can be used:
A) Narrative poem – It tells a story with an orientation, complication, crisis, and
resolution, or
B) Lyrical poem – It conveys an experience, or ideas, thoughts or feelings about a
subject without necessarily having ‘something happen.’
Poems also come in many forms. These forms are distinguished from the other by the
choice of structural units (couplets, quatrains, and their arrangement with the overall
poem), the layout of a poem on the page, and the organization of the lines of the poem.
Here are some of them:
1. Acrostic. It is a poem which consists of vertical first letters name of the topic
while the horizontal words describe the topic.
2. Ballad. It is a narrative poem which tells a dramatic story in four-line stanza with
a regular beat. A ballad was originally set to music and sung. Characterized by
simplicity of language, repetition of epithets and phrases, simple rhyming
schemes (usually abcd, sometimes abab) and refrains, topics are often drawn

from community life, local and national history, legend and folklore; while the
verse tales are usually of adventure, war, love, death and the supernatural
3. Chant. Dating to prehistoric time, hence one of the earliest forms of poetry, chant
is a poem of no fixed form, but in which one or more lines are repeated over and
over. It is usually meant to be spoken aloud.
4. Cinquain. It is a five-line poem that follows a pattern and does not rhyme. The
cinquain consists of five lines of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 2 syllables respectively.
5. Comic Verse. It is a poem that involves humor and makes sense.
6. Diamante. It is a seven-line poem in which the first and last lines are opposites
or contrasts. It is written in the shape of a diamond.
7. Elegy. It is a poem of mourning to someone’s death.
8. Epic. It is a long narrative poem on a subject which is thought to be great and
serious.
9. Epigram. It is a short and pointed poem, often a witty statement in verse or
prose which may be complimentary, satiric or aphoristic.
10. Epitaph. It is a poem with a short inscription carved on a tombstone (or written
with that context in mind). It usually rhymes and lends itself to imitation and
distortion. While the epitaph in a cemetery is often serious, the form can be made
humorous.
11. Free verse. It is a poetry that does not conform to particular schemes or patterns
of rhyme, meter or form because it doesn’t follow strict rules it has flexibility. Its
rhythm is created by the natural flow of the poet’s thoughts and emotions. Each
line is based on speech rhythm which is often a mixture of iambic and anapestic
feet - sometimes with a regular number of stressed syllables in each line. Each
line is a meaningful unit in its own right, and in relation to other lines. There is
pattern and rhythm, though not in the traditional, regular form. Form is even more
important to free verse than to traditional verse, and it is usually quite subtle.
12. Haiku. Originated in Japan and often tells about nature, it consists of three
unrhymed lines containing 17 syllables (5, 7, 5) and portrays a single idea or
feeling while having a strong visual imagery.
13. Light verse. It is a poem that is cheerful, airy and light-hearted, it often describes
everyday events and uses language of the speaking voice.
14. Limerick. This is usually brief and lends itself to comic effects. The limerick
consists of three long and two short lines rhyming aabba. Rhyme and rhythm are
used to enhance the content.
15. Lyric. Concerned with feelings and thoughts rather than action or narrative, it
usually represents and reflects on a single experience, is intensely personal, and
its rhythms often have a musical flexibility. It does not have to tell a story, and is
often short (eg haiku, cinquain, shape, tongue twisters, rhyming couplets,
acrostic poems).
16. Narrative. It tells a story with an orientation, complication and resolution eg
nursery rhymes. It can be short or long, serious, humorous, personal or

impersonal. It may come in the form of allegories, fables or accounts of everyday
events.
17. Nonsense verse. Categorized as light verse that has structure and rhyme and
invented words, it is characterized by fantastic themes, absurd images, artificial
language and humor.
18. Nursery rhyme. Usually having regular rhymes, strong rhythms and repetition, it
could be described as jingles for children, forming part of the oral tradition of
many countries.
19. Ode. Usually celebrating a person, animal or object, an ode is often written
without the constraints of formal structure or rhyme.
20. Riddle. It indirectly describes a person, place, thing or idea and can be any
length and usually has a rhyming scheme.
21. Song lyric. It is a poem that has been set to music. The word ‘lyric’ comes from
the Greek word lyre, a kind of harp that was often used to accompany songs.
22. Sonnet. It is a lyric poem that has fourteen lines of five beats each. Rather than
tell a story. It usually explores a feeling or state of mind or expresses a fixed
idea. It first appeared in Italy in the 13th century. Many sonnets have an
alternating rhyme scheme and usually have a ‘turning point’ at the eighth line.
23. Tanka. A type of Japanese poem similar to haiku, it consists of five lines with the
first and third lines usually having five syllables and the others seven, making it a
total of 31.
24. Villanelle. It is a fixed form, usually containing five three-line stanzas and a four-
line stanza, with only two rhymes throughout.
Drama
A drama is a composition in either verse or prose presenting a story through pantomime
or dialogue. It contains conflict of characters, particularly the ones who perform in front
of the audience on the stage. The person who writes drama for stage directions is
known as a “dramatist” or “playwright.” The term “drama” is also used for the type of
play written for theater, television, radio, and film.
Because of the combination of performance, music, dance, props, and others which
enable the audience to feel like a part of the action, drama is considered a unique and
distinctive genre of literature.
There are four distinct types of drama:
1. Comedy. A comedy is a type of dramatic presentation which intends to make the
audience laugh through well-composed humorous elements. The story may be
about real-life characters, funny experiences in life, or any type of fun-provoking
situation. It may be sarcastic and raunchy, light in tone and has happy endings.
Since provoking laughter is not an easy task, comedy writers require high level of
intellect and perceptive faculties to attain the desired end for a comedic
presentation.

2. Tragedy. One of the oldest forms of drama, tragedy exposes the plight and
suffering of humans to the audience. Common tragic themes include ruins of a
dynasty, downfall of man, emotional betrayals, moral setback, personal loss,
death, and denials. A tragedy when composed and enacted well can touch the
audience deeply. These rarely have happy endings.
3. Melodrama. This type of drama uses a technique marked by surge of feelings
since melodrama highlights exaggeration of emotions. The technique intends to
make the character and the plot more appealing to the audience although it can
sometimes fail to derive applause, because excessive display of emotions can
become monotonous. On the other hand, a superbly-executed melodramatic plot
can absorb the audience’s attention completely. This happens when it effectively
depicts the good and evil aspects of the characters involved.
4. Musical drama. In a musical drama, the story is told through acting and
dialogue, as well as through dance and music, as well. The story may be
comedic, though it may also involve serious subjects.
Other Forms of Literary Genres
Diaries/Journals. Diaries and journals both contain records of experiences by its writer.
A diary records events, transactions, or observations daily or at frequent intervals. A
journal, on the other hand, contains one’s experiences, ideas and reflections but not
necessarily on a daily basis.
Memoirs. A memoir is an author’s narrative of his or her experiences, which makes it
similar to an autobiography, but with certain distinguishable characteristics. In terms of
focus, memoirs highlight what the writer has witnessed, more than the telling of his or
her own life, character, and developing self. Secondly, while a memoir talks about how
one remembers one's own life, an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates,
and facts double-checked.
Speeches. Merriam-Webster defines speech as “the communication or expression of
thoughts in spoken words.” Although speeches are not primary genres of literature, its
significance lies in the fact that these are important historical documents or moments
and literature. A formal address meant to be given to an audience, speeches can be
found in prose, drama, and poetry, and their primary goals are to persuade, inform,
demonstrate, or entertain a reader, an audience, or other characters. They can also be
used in nonfiction or fiction, depending on their purpose and use. Some of the primary
speech forms include persuasive, informational, demonstrative, special occasion
speech, and debate.
Lesson 2: The Literary Elements

In this lesson, you will learn how to analyze and interpret the theme and techniques
used in a particular text; create samples of the different literary elements based on
one’s experience (e.g. metaphor to describe an emotion).
Elements of Fiction
How does one say that a particular work is fiction? Generally, fiction work is not real
hence writers can utilize both the imagination and complex figurative language to
appeal to the readers. Fiction is also characterized by structured language, adherence
to proper grammatical pattern, and correct mechanics. A work of fiction may combine
fantastical and imaginary ideas from everyday life. Written imaginatively, it comprises
some important elements like plot, setting, character, conflict, and point of view to lead
the readers to its theme.
Because literature is basically an art and not a science, it is not always a good idea to
specifically approach fiction while looking for these elements. Rather, it is better to read
a fiction work and examine it closely then decide for yourself what element(s) was/were
highlighted and how important and significant it is to what the writer is trying to convey.
For beginning fiction writers, on the other hand, it is important to know what makes
fiction. A chef trying to cook a particular gourmet dish should know the ingredients and
how each will affect the flavor of the food being prepared. This is similar to writing. With
this understanding in mind, let us find out the ingredients when cooking up fiction.
A. Character
Characters are beings who live in the story. They can be actual people from this planet
to aliens from somewhere in the outer space. At other times, they can be animals, and
even inanimate objects; they can even be supernatural presences or make-believe
creatures like goblins, fairies, dragons, or elves.
Characters are important in fiction because they are the ones with whom the readers
empathize. Readers also look for characters to root for or against, to fall in love with, to
care or to hate, and even dream to meet.
Readers come to know and understand the characters’ actions, motivations, feelings
and emotions through what they say, what they think, how they act, and even through
what other characters say about them. A writer should therefore take this in
consideration when creating the characters to life.
Characters can be flat or round. A flat character is not sufficiently developed, described
very little, and plays very minor role in the narrative. Sometimes they are simply stock
characters or those known simply as the “wicked stepmom,” or the “loyal servant.”
A round character, on the other hand, has a leading role in the narrative. In contrast
with a flat character, a round character is complex, multi-dimensional, and well-
developed that they seem “to come to life.” These characters may undergo change
through the circumstances where they are placed, hence making them lifelike.

Characters can also be static or dynamic (also called developing). A static character
remains the same throughout the narrative while a dynamic one undergoes change.
The change can be brought by factors and elements experienced by the character and
may impact on his or her attitudes, beliefs, or actions.
B. Setting
Simply put, setting answers the question “where” and “when” about the narrative.
Answers to these questions give rise to the two types of setting: the physical and
chronological setting.
Physical setting refers to where the story takes place. It can be very general like in a
farm, a school, or a laboratory; or it can be specific, like “in the Metropolitan Naga
Cathedral,” or “at McDonald’s Diversion Road branch.”
The chronological setting can also be general or specific, as during the “Christmas
season,” or “during the early morning of December 16 in 2019.”
Sometimes, the setting is immaterial to the story, as when the writer wants to be
universal and not limited by time and space.
Aside from the chronological and physical setting, it also includes the following:
a. the immediate surroundings of the characters such as props in a scene:
trees, furniture, food, inside of a house or car, etc.,
b. the weather such as cloudy, sunny, windy, snow, or rain, etc., and
c. the geographical location including the city, state, country, and possibly
even the universe, if the writer is writing science fiction.
C. Plot
Plot is the order of events in the story. Writers usually follow a particular plot structure,
called “Freytag’s Pyramid,” although this is not always the case, as some may opt to
start from the middle part or ending part and go backwards to where the events began.
Freytag’s Pyramid is named after the German playwright of the 1800s, Gustav Freytag,
and has the five-part plot structure which includes the exposition, rising action, climax,
falling action, and denouement, also known as resolution.
a. Exposition introduces the characters, time, and the problem. This occurs
at the start of the story up to the point where an inciting incident happens
for the main character to handle or solve. The exposition creates the
beginning of the story.
b. Rising action includes the happenings that the main character encounters.
As each event develops, more complications arise, making the problem
more complex for the character.
c. Climax refers to the turning point in the story. This is usually a single event
with the greatest intensity and uncertainty. Here the main character

contends with the problem hence creating the peak of interest for the
readers.
d. Falling action are the events that unfold after the climax. The resulting
events after the climax create an emotional response from the reader.
e. Denouement or resolution provides closure and ties up loose ends in the
story.
D. Conflict
Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces or entities. The main character
encounters a conflict which may be an adversary or any other force to contend with.
Generally, there are two types of conflict: external and internal. External conflict could
be man against nature (a mother and her child evacuating at the height of typhoon
Yolanda), or man against man (a student being harassed by a bully classmate). Internal
conflict could be man against society or culture, or man against himself or herself.
Readers might find external conflict more exciting than internal conflict, but it is
worthwhile to think that in real life, people experience more of the latter than of the
former.
E. Point of view
Who is telling the story? How is the story told? Point of view answers these questions.
There are three different types of point of view which writers use in telling fiction.
a. First person point of view means that the story is told from the viewpoint
of one of the characters who may be the protagonist or main character in
the narrative. Here, first person personal pronouns are used like I, me, my,
we, and our. By using this point of view, readers may feel an affinity and
empathy for the narrator as the narration can include the narrator’s
motives, thoughts and feelings. On the other hand, this view may be
limited as it cannot say for certain other characters’ thoughts, feelings, and
motives.
b. The second person point of view which is seldom used, speaks to the
reader as if the reader is the protagonist. At other times, the narrator may
use apostrophe, a figurative language where the speaker talks to an
absent or unidentified person. The second person pronouns are used here
like you and your.
c. The third person point of view is classified into third person limited and
third person omniscient. In both types of view, the narrator is not a
character nor in the story. In third person limited, the narrator is limited
only to one of the character’s thoughts. In third person omniscient, the
narrator is “all-knowing” and “all-seeing” and knows various characters’
thoughts. This view uses third person pronouns like he, she, it, and they.

F. Theme
Theme is the underlying truth conveyed by the author through the story. Themes are
usually universal which means that they are understood by readers across cultures,
eras, or nationalities. Some common themes include coming of age, circle of life,
prejudice, greed, good vs. evil, and beating the odds. Theme is different from the moral
or lesson of a narrative.
Elements of Poetry
Rhyme. This is the easiest feature to identify in a poem. If the last word in the first line
of poetry rhymes with the last word in the second line, or the third, you can easily
identify a pattern. Rhyme does not depend upon spelling; it is a matter of sound, or
pronunciation.
Rhyme Scheme. When you can identify a repeating pattern of similar-sounding words
at the ends of the lines, then you have a rhyme scheme. Simply assign a letter of the
alphabet (starting with A, of course) to each word at the end of a line of poetry; rhyming
words are given the same letter. Sometimes a pair of words nearly rhymes; you assign
the same letter to each of these words also.
Rhythm. Rhythm (or meter) is a slightly more difficult aspect of poetry for some
students. There is a natural rise and fall in our language: we stress certain syllables and
words more than others in order to emphasize meaning. In poetry, these patterns of
stressed and unstressed syllables or words form a rhythm or meter. There is a name for
each of the common patterns. In your study of poetry, it is not necessary to memorize
and agonize over these lists of terms. They are presented here merely for your
information and as a starting point in understanding the rhythm of poetry.
There were rules in writing poetry in the past. Poets arranged lines (also called verses)
into groups called stanzas. Usually the poems were quite neat and evenly-shaped - the
lines were roughly the same length, the stanzas all contained a pre-determined number
of lines. The rhyme schemes were regular, and the rhythm was identifiable.
Nowadays, modern poets break all of these rules because they feel that their poetry will
be stilted and artificial if they cannot write freely, hence the term free verse. At first
glance it appears that all of the conventions of poetry have been thrown away when you
read such poetry, but in many ways free verse is more difficult to write. The poet creates
his or her own form, although the poem must still sound like a poem; otherwise, it is
prose. The poet is free to choose whether or not to use rhyme or a natural rhythm which
does not follow a set pattern.
Poetry, even more so than the other genres of literature, employs figurative language to
the best effect. Poets use literary devices as tools to create images or vivid word
pictures, for the reader. Figures of speech require fewer words to express these
images, and this “compact” feature lends itself especially well to poetry, where there is

usually a limit to the length of a verse. The topic on figurative language will be
discussed in the succeeding lessons.
Elements of Drama
Drama is pretty much similar in certain narrative aspects to fiction, like the presence of
characters, plot, setting, conflict, and theme. Since drama is intended for performance, it
has particular elements, though, which are distinct from other genres. This includes
presentation elements like venue, costumes, set design, lighting design, and music.
Lesson 3: Creative Nonfiction Demystified
In this lesson, you will learn how to do a close reading of creative nonfictional texts;
identify the fictional elements in the texts.
What is Creative Nonfiction?
Nonfiction is writing that is based on true events, people, places, and facts. It is a vast
category and has sub-genres: it could be factual, like a scientific paper; it could also be
creative, like a personal essay.
The label “creative nonfiction” can apply to various categories of writing, including food,
travel, memoir, personal essay, and other hybridized forms. Its defining characteristic is
the use of literary techniques to create a sense of artfulness in the language, character
development, and story, all of which tends to drive the narrative “inward.” Creative
nonfiction work also tends to focus on transformational events in the narrator’s or
central character’s life. It generally seems closer to the truth of the narrator’s experience
than other forms of nonfiction, as revealing the narrator’s experience / emotional
consequence of the experience often seems the implicit “goal” of the work.
Because of these characteristics, creative nonfiction as a literary genre appeals both to
the reader and the writer, as well. A creative nonfiction work can sound very personal
and deeply revealing, and the resulting authenticity can have profound effects. The
writer who has experienced that particular event being narrated is in the best position to
talk about the experience from his or her viewpoint. The reader, on the other hand, can
feel an affinity towards the writer’s work as it was narrated from an authentic, no-filter
landscape, hence making it something to be trusted.
Lee Gutkind (2019) has this to say in describing the art of creative nonfiction:
“a concept that offers great flexibility and freedom, while adhering to the basic tenets of
nonfiction writing and/or reporting. In creative nonfiction, writers can be poetic and
journalistic simultaneously. Creative nonfiction writers are encouraged to utilize fictional
(literary) techniques in their prose - from scene to dialogue to description to point-of-
view - and be cinematic at the same time. Creative nonfiction writers write about
themselves and/or capture real people and real life in ways that can and have changed
the world. What is most important and enjoyable about creative nonfiction is that it not
only allows, but encourages the writer to become a part of the story or essay being

written. The personal involvement creates a special magic that alleviates the suffering
and anxiety of the writing experience; it provides many outlets for satisfaction and self-
discovery, flexibility and freedom.”
Elements of Creative Nonfiction
“Creative non-fiction blurs the distinction between fiction and non-fiction but only at the
periphery of knowledge, where fact and truth are unavailable or obscured (Penn,
2017).” If the “periphery of knowledge” is the one thing that delineates one from the
other, logically, it follows that creative nonfiction shares similar elements with fiction.
Let’s find out.
 Plot. Plot is one of the basic elements of every story: put simply, plot refers to the
actual events that take place within the bounds of your narrative. Using our
rhetorical situation vocabulary, we can identify “plot” as the primary subject of a
descriptive personal narrative. Three related elements to consider are scope,
sequence, and pacing.
1) Scope. The term scope refers to the boundaries of plot. Where and when does
the story begin and end? What is its focus? What background information and
details does the story require? Narrative scope can be thought of as the edges of
a photograph: a photo, whether of a vast landscape or a microscopic organism,
has boundaries. Those boundaries inform the viewer’s perception.
The way we determine scope varies based on rhetorical situation, but generally
many developing writers struggle with a scope that is too broad: writers often find
it challenging to zero in on the events that drive a story and delete unnecessary
information.
2) Sequence. The sequence of the plot—the order of the events—will determine
the reader’s experience. There are an infinite number of ways one might
structure the story, and the shape of the story is worth deep consideration.
Although the traditional forms for a narrative sequence are not the only options,
let’s take a look at a few tried-and-true shapes the plot might take.
a) Freytag’s Pyramid: Chronological. Following this sequence, the narration
starts from exposition, to rising action, climax, falling action, and eventually
resolution (see previous chapter on the discussion of these parts).
b) In medias res. In Latin, this means “in the middle of things,” hence the
narration does not follow the linear or chronological structure; instead, the
story starts right in the middle of the action. This is an exciting way to grab
the readers’ attention, especially when they ask “Just what the heck is goin
on here?” right from the beginning.
c) Non-linear narrative. In this technique, the narrative may be told in a series
of flashbacks or vignettes or it might jump back and forth in time. In using
nonlinear narrative, writers should make clear the reason for doing so.

3) Pacing. This refers to the speed and fluidity with which a reader moves through
your story. This being said, the “flow” (narration) of an event can be fast or slow.
 Characters. Characters bring life to the story. Keep in mind that while human
characters are most frequently featured in stories, sometimes there are non-human
characters in a story such as animals or even the environment itself.
 Characterization. Characterization refers to the development of characters through
actions, descriptions, and dialogue. Your audience will be more engaged with and
sympathetic toward your narrative if they can vividly imagine the characters as real
people. Like setting description, characterization relies on specificity.
To break it down to process, characterization can be accomplished in two ways:

a. Directly, through specific description of the character—What kind of
clothes do they wear? What do they look, smell, sound like? —or,
b. Indirectly, through the behaviors, speech, and thoughts of the character
—What kind of language, dialect, or register do they use? What is the
tone, inflection, and timbre of their voice? How does their manner of
speaking reflect their attitude toward the listener? How do their actions
reflect their traits? What’s on their mind that they won’t share with the
world?
 Point of View. The writer’s narrative position is informed by point-of-view and the
emotional variables referred as tone and mood. Simply put, point of view is the
perspective from which the story is told. This is also a grammatical phenomenon as
it is dependent on pronoun use and impacts tone, mood, scope, voice, and plot.
Although point-of-view will influence tone and mood, we can also consider what
feelings we want to convey and inspire independently as part of our narrative
position.
a. Tone. This is the emotional register of the story’s language. What
emotional state does the narrator of the story (not the author, but the
speaker) seem to be in? What emotions are you trying to imbue in your
writing?
b. Mood. This refers to the emotional register a reader experience. What
emotions do you want your reader to experience? Are they the same
feelings you experienced at the time?
 Angle. This element refers to the specific or particular standpoint from which the
narrative is told. Visualize yourself writing about a chair. You were standing right in
front so you can describe how it looks from the front. But of course, you might stand
to one side and see another aspect which you might not see from the front. You can
even move back and take a look from the back, or even from the top. From these
different standpoints, you might be able to write different things about the chair.

The same thing could be done about writing on a particular topic. There is always
more than one position to talk about it, and this refers to the “angle.” Using a unique
angle in creative nonfiction can be an attractive hook to the readers. They would not
want to read about a topic which have been written in an overly familiar way. It
would take a creative writer to choose a different or fresh angle. Here are some
questions that might be asked in finding the appropriate angle for a narrative:
a. Is this something slightly or very familiar to the readers already?
b. What difference will it make if it will be written from this perspective?
c. Is there something new offered to the readers about this topic/subject?
 Setting and Atmosphere. Each story has a setting. The setting is the place where
the story takes place. Usually, an effective story establishes its setting early in the
story: otherwise readers will have a difficult time visualizing the action of the story.
 Symbols and Symbolisms. Writers use symbols to give meaning to objects, or
events that are outside of the literal. Many people are familiar with common symbols
in everyday life. Red roses are symbols of love, and doves are symbols of peace.
Many classic works of literature employ symbolism. Symbolism in literature provides

a way for a writer to explore depth, frequently though double meaning. For example,
if a character crosses a river, the writer is usually employing symbolism to signify
rebirth, like baptism. Many writers use color for symbolism, with white representing
good, black representing evil, and green symbolizing new life.
Symbolism in literature is often used to evoke various archetypes, such as good

versus evil. When a character takes a trip, it is usually symbolic of a journey to
discover the self.
Authors use symbolism to tie certain things that may initially seem unimportant to
more universal themes. The symbols then represent these grander ideas or
qualities.
 Irony. Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact
very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition, don't
worry—it is. Irony is a broad term that encompasses three different types of irony,
each with their own specific definition: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational
irony. Most of the time when people use the word irony, they're actually referring to
one of these specific types of irony.
There are three types of irony:

a. Verbal irony is a figure of speech in which the literal meaning of what someone
says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. For
example, if someone has a painful visit to the dentist and when it's over says,
"Well, that was pleasant," they are using verbal irony because the intended
meaning of their words (that it wasn't at all pleasant) is the opposite of the literal

meaning of the words. Verbal irony is the most common form of irony. In fact, it is
so common that when people mention "irony," they often are actually referring to
verbal irony.
b. Dramatic irony is a plot device that highlights the difference between a
character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the audience. When
the audience watching a movie know what's behind that door, but the character
in the movie has no idea, that's dramatic irony.
c. Situational irony refers to an unexpected, paradoxical, or perverse turn of
events. It is an example of situational irony when, in the O. Henry story "The Gift
of the Magi," a young wife cuts off her hair in order to buy her husband a chain
for his prized watch, but the husband sells his watch to buy his wife a comb for
her beautiful hair.
Although these three kinds of irony may seem very different at first glance, they
all share one important quality: a tension between how things appear and how
they really are.
Also, it's worth knowing that sometimes instances of irony don't quite fit into any
of these categories, and instead align with the more general definition of irony as
something that seems to be one way, but is in fact another way. Put more
broadly: sometimes irony is verbal irony, sometimes it is dramatic irony,
sometimes it is situational irony, and sometimes it is just irony.
Besides the three main types of irony described above, two other literary devices
—sarcasm and satire—share a lot in common with irony:
1) Sarcasm is a bitter, cutting, or mocking taunt used to denigrate a
particular person, place, or thing. It can sometimes take the form of verbal
irony. For instance, if you were to say to someone who had just cut you in
line, "What a polite, civilized person you are!" that would be sarcasm in the
form of irony, since your meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning of
your words. Sarcasm very often involves irony. However, it doesn't always
have to use irony. For instance, when Groucho Marx says "I never forget a
face, but in your case, I'll be glad to make an exception," he is being
sarcastic, but his words, however witty they are, mean exactly what they
say.
2) Satire is a form of social or political critique. Like sarcasm, it often makes
use of irony, but it isn't always ironic.
 Figures of speech. These are the various rhetorical uses of language that depart
from customary construction, word order, or significance. Specifically, a figure of
speech is a rhetorical device that achieves a special effect by using words in a
distinctive way.

Though there are hundreds of figures of speech, here are the most common you will
encounter, either in prose or poetry writing:
1) Alliteration: The repetition of an initial consonant sound.

Example: She sells seashells by the seashore.
2) Anaphora: The repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of
successive clauses or verses.
Example: Unfortunately, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time on the
wrong day.
3) Antithesis: The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.
Example: As Abraham Lincoln said, "Folks who have no vices have very
few virtues."
4) Apostrophe: Directly addressing a nonexistent person or an inanimate object as
though it were a living being.
Example: "Oh, you stupid car, you never work when I need you to," Bert
sighed.
5) Assonance: Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in
neighboring words.
Example: How now, brown cow?
6) Chiasmus: A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is
balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.
Example: The famous chef said people should live to eat, not eat to live.
7) Euphemism: The substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered
offensively explicit.
Example: "We're teaching our toddler how to go potty," Bob said.
8) Hyperbole: An extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the
purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
Example: I have a ton of things to do when I get home.
9) Irony: The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. Also, a
statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or
presentation of the idea.
Example: "Oh, I love spending big bucks," said my dad, a notorious penny
pincher.
10)Litotes: A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an
affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.
Example: A million dollars is no small chunk of change.
11)Metaphor: An implied comparison between two dissimilar things that have
something in common.
Example: "All the world's a stage."
12)Metonymy: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is substituted for
another with which it is closely associated; also, the rhetorical strategy of
describing something indirectly by referring to things around it.

Example: "That stuffed suit with the briefcase is a poor excuse for a
salesman," the manager said angrily.
13)Onomatopoeia: The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the
objects or actions they refer to.
Example: The clap of thunder went bang and scared my poor dog.
14)Oxymoron: A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms
appear side by side.
Example: "He popped the jumbo shrimp in his mouth."
15)Paradox: A statement that appears to contradict itself.
Example: "This is the beginning of the end," said Eeyore, always the
pessimist.
16)Personification: A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction
is endowed with human qualities or abilities.
Example: That kitchen knife will take a bite out of your hand if you don't
handle it safely.
17)Pun: A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and
sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.
Example: Jessie looked up from her breakfast and said, "A boiled egg
every morning is hard to beat."
18)Simile: A stated comparison (usually formed with "like" or "as") between two
fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common.
Example: Roberto was white as a sheet after he walked out of the horror
movie.
19)Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole.
Example: Tina is learning her ABC's in preschool.
20)Understatement: A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately
makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.
Example: "You could say Babe Ruth was a decent ballplayer," the reporter
said with a wink.
 Dialogue. Basically, this refers to the communication between characters in the
narrative. A dialogue is dependent on relationships between characters, and this, in
turn, can influence tone of voice, word choice (such as using slang, jargon, or lingo),
what details we share, and even what language we speak.
Good dialogue often demonstrates the traits of a character or the relationship of

characters. From reading or listening to how people talk to one another, we often
infer the relationships they have. We can tell if they’re having an argument or
conflict, if one is experiencing some internal conflict or trauma, if they’re friendly
acquaintances or cold strangers, even how their emotional or professional attributes
align or create opposition.

 Scene. A plot, in any form of literature, is made up of scenes. In drama, it's the
subdivision of an act. Usually, it's defined by having a single setting and a certain
set of characters.
Of course, a scene can also refer more loosely to a series of events within a certain
amount of time in a work of literature—a conversation between two characters, the
climactic battle at the end of a war, or even just the protagonist getting out of bed in
the morning.
A scene is what is shown in one time and place. If the character leaves one spot
and goes somewhere else, or one conversation ends and he sits working for half an
hour before the next one starts—or the writer simply switches to something else
because nothing more happens there that’s worth showing—that’s the end of a
scene and the start of the next one. A scene is also the basic building block of
storytelling, because its end gives us closure and frees us to think about what
happens after that.
Also, a “chapter” is usually a group of several scenes. Then again, a scene might
run between two chapters, or a major scene might take up many (and there are
authors whose chapters take only two or three pages).
A sequence could mean a set of scenes, but it could also mean a set of events
within one scene.
Lesson 4: Nonfictional Elements in the Text

In this lesson, you will learn how to analyze factual/nonfictional elements (Plot,
Characters, Characterization, Point of View, Angle, Setting and Atmosphere, Symbols
and Symbolisms, Irony, Figures of speech, Dialogue, Scene, other elements, and
Devices) in the Texts.
Main Purposes of Nonfiction
The first one is to inform the readers; the second is to entertain them and the third one
is to convince them of the truth of what is written. The major idea of the nonfiction work
must be presented in a way that accomplishes all three purposes. The idea, or
essentially, what the book is about, needs to be stated at the beginning, and throughout
the course of the book it needs to be expanded and supported with details. The details
are needed to explain the major idea, and to inform the reader of everything there is to
know about the given topic.
A nonfiction writer may borrow narrative elements from fiction when writing a nonfiction
book, even if the book focuses on cooking. The writer will present the information (the
first purpose of nonfiction) along with their personal experiences and explain how they

managed to learn the information that is represented in the book. This element focuses
on the second purpose of nonfiction – entertainment, and successfully combines all
three purposes. The writer presents the information, the narrative provides a story which
is entertaining, and the first person, or personal relation of previous experiences is
persuasive in nature, representing the third purpose of nonfiction – relaying the author’s
credibility and expertise on the subject through the tale of personal experience.
A nonfiction writer must never borrow too much from fiction – or start inventing in order
to create a more interesting story. The readers will pick up a nonfiction book primarily
because they want to learn something about a specific topic. Of course, providing
entertainment is important, but not at the cost of inventing. If you step away from the
facts and wander into fantasyland, you will lose credibility with your readers, which is
highly important for a nonfiction writer. On the other hand, sticking to the facts while
providing entertainment will ensure that your readers will follow you into your future
books and be interested in what you have to offer.
The Human Force in the Story
Because nonfiction deals with the lives of real people, the characters are already
created. As a creative nonfiction writer, it would be up to you to reveal these real people
to the readers in an imaginative way. This means using the characterization techniques
of fiction. Most of the time, we want to understand the person behind an act, to
understand the act itself. Why does she wear a blue dress? Why does he drink coffee?
These are usual questions about actions done by people that we want answer by
understanding their character.
 The personality, values, desires, motives of the character create the action that
happens in a particular place, thus creating a scene.
 The person’s emotional situation offers a rich source of characterization.
 Physical objects also tell a lot about a person
Depicting the Story in Scenes
The scene depicts the writer’s encounter or experience of a particular event to the
readers. The scene is the space inside your literary mind, but do not make it so obvious
to the reader’s imagination. It is the basic unit for constructing a story. Writing a scene
means recreating the event and crafting it in a way that transports readers to a new or
unexpected realm of real life. As a creative nonfiction writer, your task is to show and
tell. You are a witness to an event, which means you must tell the facts about it and be
imaginative because you want reader’s interest to stay.
 Scenes involve people in some actions
 They talk (dialogue) as a way of supply facts or information – Facts arising from
dialogue
 Readers get glimpse of something they might know about in the form of private
details. – Informational revealed from private details

 It happens in place at particular time. – The Setting
The scene shows the summary tells.
Summary Methods
Descriptive Summary – gives the readers a general and heightened awareness of
place where the event happened.
Example: Typhoon, you can make it interesting by capturing the sound of wind, the rush
of water, the fearful cries of the people
You give the readers imagery, but no explanation of the wind or rain so strong that it
sways the trees.
It also can be done in two ways:
 Informative Description – presents the facts by describing them. You aim for a
complete description.
Example: Describing the radar system of the weather bureau, how it works
 Suggestive Description – the opposite of informative description. It evokes

sensory impression and relies on the reader’s imagination. It will not completely
and logically describe. It recommends, to create a feeling of wonder.
Explanatory Summary – report to the readers the sequence, logic and explanation of
the event when it happened.
Example: You tell about the time the typhoon made a landfall, the scale of typhoon
strength the number of areas and people affected, the day it is expected to leave the
country.
Using Figurative Language
Even though reality stands before our very eyes, we cannot see it. Sometimes, we
cannot believe it. Sometimes, common words are not enough to describe such a reality.
If someone declares to you, “You are my sun, my moon, my universe.” He or she is
using figurative words. This person is trying to tell how extraordinary and special you
are in a way that could not be accomplished by simply saying “You are extraordinary
and special”.
Lesson 5: Using the Literary Conventions of a Genre in Writing

In this lesson, you will learn how to write a draft of a short piece using any of the literary
conventions of genre; peer-edit each other’s draft; revise the draft of a short piece using
any of the literary conventions of a genre (e.g. plot for narrative piece).
Short Story Tips: 10 Hacks to Improve Your Creative Writing

(from Jerz Literacy Weblog, est 1999,
https://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative1/shortstory/)
Writing short stories means beginning as close to the climax as possible — everything
else is a distraction. A novel can take a more meandering path but should still start with
a scene that sets the tone for the whole book.
A short story conserves characters and scenes, typically by focusing on just one
conflict, and drives towards a sudden, unexpected revelation. Go easy on the exposition
and talky backstory — your reader doesn’t need to know everything that you know
about your characters.
1. Get Started: Emergency Tips
What does your protagonist want?
(The athlete who wants her team to win the big game and the car crash victim who
wants to survive are not unique or interesting enough.)
When the story begins, what morally significant action has your protagonist taken
towards that goal?
(Your protagonist should already have made a conscious choice, good or bad, that
drives the rest of the story.)
What obstacles must the protagonist overcome in order to reach the goal?
(Simply having a rival is not that interesting. Yes, Harry Potter defeats Voldemort, but
first he must mature into a leader with the moral clarity and teamwork skills necessary to
defeat Voldemort. A short story can’t possibly tackle that kind of character development,
but a character who faces internal obstacles and must negotiate messy moral trade-offs
is more dramatically interesting than the hero in the white hat who must use the right
weapon to defeat the villain in the black hat.)
What unexpected consequences — directly related to the protagonist’s goal-oriented
actions — ramp up the emotional energy of the story?
(Will the unexpected consequences force your protagonist to make yet another choice,
leading to still more consequences? How does Huck change, first when he teams up
with Jim, and later when he realizes how much Jim depends upon him?)
Show Don't (Just) Tell
What details from the setting, dialog, and tone help you tell the story?
At the climax, what morally significant choice does your protagonist make?
(Your reader should care about the protagonist’s decision, and ideally shouldn’t see it
coming.)

Drawing on your own real-life experiences, such as winning the big game, bouncing
back after an illness or injury, or dealing with the death of a loved one, are attractive
choices for students who are looking for a “personal essay” topic. But simply listing the
emotions you experienced (“It was exciting” “I’ve never been so scared in all my life” “I
miss her so much”) is not the same thing as generating emotions for your readers to
experience.
2. Write a Catchy First Paragraph
In today’s fast-moving world, the first sentence of your narrative should catch your
reader’s attention with the unusual, the unexpected, an action, or a conflict. Begin with
tension and immediacy. Remember that short stories need to start close to their end.
3. Developing Characters
In order to develop a living, breathing, multi-faceted character, it is important to know
way more about the character than you will ever use in the story.
Imagining all these details will help you get to know your character, but your reader
probably won’t need to know much more than the most important things in four areas:
a. Appearance. Gives your reader a visual understanding of the character.
b. Action. Show the reader what kind of person your character is, by describing actions
rather than simply listing adjectives.
c. Speech. Develop the character as a person — don’t merely have your character
announce important plot details.
d. Thought. Bring the reader into your character’s mind, to show them your character’s
unexpressed memories, fears, and hopes.
4. Choose a Point of View
Point of view is the narration of the story from the perspective of first, second, or third
person. As a writer, you need to determine who is going to tell the story and how much
information is available for the narrator to reveal in the short story. The narrator can be
directly involved in the action subjectively, or the narrator might only report the action
objectively.
5. Write meaningful dialogue.
Dialogue is what your characters say to each other (or to themselves). Each speaker
gets his/her own paragraph, and the paragraph includes whatever you wish to say
about what the character is doing when speaking.
Write Meaningful Dialogue Labels
“John asked nervously” is an example of “telling.” The author could write “John asked
very nervously” or “John asked so nervously that his voice was shaking,” and it still
wouldn’t make the story any more effective.

How can the author convey John’s state of mind, without coming right out and telling the
reader about it? By inference. That is, mention a detail that conjures up in the reader’s
mind the image of a nervous person.
6. Use setting and context.
a. Setting includes the time, location, context, and atmosphere where the plot takes
place. Remember to combine setting with characterization and plot.
b. Include enough detail to let your readers picture the scene but only details that
add something to the story. (For example, do not describe Mary locking the front
door, walking across the yard, opening the garage door, putting air in her bicycle
tires, getting on her bicycle–none of these details matter except that she rode out
of the driveway without looking down the street.)
c. Use two or more senses in your descriptions of setting.
d. Rather than feed your readers information about the weather, population
statistics, or how far it is to the grocery store, substitute descriptive details so
your reader can experience the location the way your characters do.
7. Set Up the Plot
Plot is what happens, the storyline, the action. Jerome Stern says it is how you set up
the situation, where the turning points of the story are, and what the characters do at the
end of the story.
Understanding these story elements for developing actions and their end results will
help you plot your next short story.
a) Explosion or “Hook.” A thrilling, gripping, stirring event or problem that grabs
the reader’s attention right away.
b) Conflict. A character versus the internal self or an external something or
someone.
c) Exposition. Background information required for seeing the characters in
context.
d) Complication. One or more problems that keep a character from their intended
goal.
e) Transition. Image, symbol, dialogue that joins paragraphs and scenes together.
f) Flashback. Remembering something that happened before the short story takes
place.
g) Climax. When the rising action of the story reaches the peak.
h) Falling Action. Releasing the action of the story after the climax.
i) Resolution. When the internal or external conflict is resolved.
8. Create conflict and tension.
Conflict produces tension that makes the story begin. Tension is created by opposition
between the character or characters and internal or external forces or conditions. By

balancing the opposing forces of the conflict, you keep readers glued to the pages
wondering how the story will end.
Yourke’s Conflict Checklist
a) Mystery. Explain just enough to tease readers. Never give everything away.
b) Empowerment. Give both sides options.
c) Progression. Keep intensifying the number and type of obstacles the protagonist
faces.
d) Causality. Hold fictional characters more accountable than real people.
Characters who make mistakes frequently pay, and, at least in fiction,
commendable folks often reap rewards.
e) Surprise. Provide enough complexity to prevent readers predicting events too far
in advance.
f) Empathy. Encourage reader identification with characters and scenarios that
pleasantly or (unpleasantly) resonate with their own sweet dreams (or night
sweats).
g) Insight. Reveal something about human nature.
h) Universality. Present a struggle that most readers find meaningful, even if the
details of that struggle reflect a unique place and time.
i) High Stakes. Convince readers that the outcome matters because someone
they care about could lose something precious. Trivial clashes often produce
trivial fiction.
9. Build to a Crisis or Climax
This is the turning point of the story–the most exciting or dramatic moment.
While a good story needs a crisis, a random event such as a car crash or a sudden
illness is simply an emergency –unless it somehow involves a conflict that makes the
reader care about the characters.
10. Find a Resolution
The solution to the conflict. In short fiction, it is difficult to provide a complete resolution
and you often need to just show that characters are beginning to change in some way
or starting to see things differently.
Yourke examines some of the options for ending a story.
a) Open. Readers determine the meaning.
Example: Brendan’s eyes looked away from the priest and up to the mountains.
b) Resolved. Clear-cut outcome.
Example: While John watched in despair, Helen loaded up the car with her
belongings and drove away.
c) Parallel to Beginning. Like the beginning situation or image.

Example: They were driving their 1964 Chevrolet Impala down the highway while
the wind blew through their hair.
Her father drove up in a new 1964 Chevrolet Impala, a replacement for the one
that burned up.
d) Monologue. Character comments.
Example: I wish Tom could have known Sister Dalbec’s prickly guidance before
the dust devils of Sin City battered his soul.
e) Dialogue. Characters converse.
f) Literal Image. Setting or aspect of setting resolves the plot.
Example: The aqueducts were empty now and the sun was shining once more.
g) Symbolic Image. Details represent a meaning beyond the literal one.
Example: Looking up at the sky, I saw a cloud cross the shimmering blue sky
above us as we stood in the morning heat of Sin City.
Creative Nonfiction
4th Quarter
Lesson 1: Creative Nonfiction Forms and Types

In this lesson, you will learn to Explain the relationship of elements and ideas found in
the various forms and types of creative nonfictional texts through a close reading;
compare and contrast the different forms and types of creative nonfictional texts.
Forms and Types of Creative Nonfiction
A. Autobiography/Biography
An autobiography is a self-authored story of a person’s life. It is an account of one’s life
written or recorded in some way by that person. Since A.D 400, people have been
writing autobiographies. In the early days, memoirs were often confused with
autobiographies, but today that dichotomy is much clearer: a memoir typically records
one area of the author’s life – such as his or her career – and usually only describes
events that the author has directly witnessed.
The best way to write an autobiography is to treat your life as an interesting story.
Starting from birth, enhance the story’s appeal as you take the reader or listener
through the different stages of your life.

Both biography and autobiography tell the story of an individual person’s life. The
difference is that an autobiography is written by the subject of the story while a
biography is written by a third person. A biography is generally preferred over an
autobiography to be published as a book or produced as a movie.
Autobiographies are often confused with memoirs. An autobiography is the inspiring
story of a person’s entire life and the societal setting thereof, while memoirs have a
narrower focus on the narration of a particular span of time within the subject’s lifetime.
It mostly deals with individual’s memories, feelings and emotions. Memoirs are
generally much shorter in length because they tend to concentrate on a particular theme
rather than the entire life of the person.
Reference: Laran, J. (2020). How to Write an Autobiography and Make the Bestseller
List. From https://blog.udemy.com/how-to-write-an-autobiography-2/
B. Literary Journalism/Reportage
Literary journalism is the creative nonfiction form that comes closest to newspaper and
magazine writing. It is fact-driven and requires research and, often, interviews.
Literary journalism is sometimes called “immersion journalism” because it requires a
closer, more active relationship to the subject and to the people the literary journalist is
exploring. Like journalistic writing, the literary journalism piece should be well-
researched, focus on a brief period of time, and concentrate on what is happening
outside of the writer’s small circle of personal experience and feelings.
Literary Journalism is also known as docufiction, immersion journalism, new journalism,
narrative journalism or creative non-fiction. Literary Journalists immerse themselves in a
subject’s world and write information that take the form of reports but shape them in
such a way that the report reads like fiction.
Some of the writings that fall within the genre of Literary Journalism include biography,
memoirs, personal essay, travel writing, hybridized essays, and food writing among
others.
References: Purdue University. Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2020). From
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/teacher_and_tutor_resources/writing_instructors/creative
_nonfiction_in_writing_courses/literary_journalism.html
Nyakangi, E. (2020). Literary Journalism. https://kenyayote.com/literary-journalismwhat-
is-literary-journalism-and-history-of-literary-journalism/
C. Personal narratives
Writing a personal narrative essay is sometimes confused with writing some things in
your diary. But it’s not merely just that. Although narrative essays tell instances in your
life, these instances are meant to deliver an impactful point or two to your audience. The

instances that can be cited in this type of essays don’t really have to be extremely rare
and anything mundane can also be written on it.
Personal narrative essays can be written as a means to point out the activities in our
mundane life and painting them in another light. From sharp observations, significant
questions which should not be ignored can then be formulated.
Subsequently, a growing curiosity transforms into an individual need that compels the
individual to learn and familiarize the principles on a certain matter.
Reference: Jones, J. (2018). What is a Personal Narrative? From
https://classroom.synonym.com/what-is-a-personal-narrative-13709363.html
 Travelogue
A travelogue is a person’s account of a journey to another country or place. It can
either be a written report with many factual details or a narrative story about
personal impressions and experiences supported by images.
Travel writing is quite a popular genre. People take the help of the travelogues to
know about a particular place before deciding to visit it. Travel writing generally
gives detailed information about the attractions of a place so that people get
tempted to go there on their vacations. Hence, writers involved in travel writing
should follow some specific rules to make their travelogues more appealing and
interesting to the readers.
References: Writing a Travelogue. (2020). https://academichelp.net/creative-
writing/write-travelogue.html
https://www.freelancewriting.com/business-writing/8-tips-for-writing-a-travelogue/
 Reflection essay
Reflective writing helps us to think more about ourselves, who we are, and how
we have changed. A reflective essay is an essay in which the writer examines his
or her experiences in life. The writer then writes about those experiences,
exploring how he or she has changed, developed or grown from those
experiences.
The format of a reflective essay may change slightly depending on who the
audience is. For example, writing a reflective essay for a college course and an
academic audience will have slight changes in how the essay is organized from
writing a reflective essay for a magazine or a collection of essays, which has a
broader audience, without people who have necessarily gone to college.
However, some major elements go into a typical reflective essay: introduction,
body and conclusion.
Reference: 2020 The Oxbridge Research Group Ltd. A Complete Guide to

Writing a Reflective Essay. From

https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/complete-guide-to-writing-areflective-
essay/
 True narratives
In a narrative essay, the writer tells a story about a real-life experience. Everyone
enjoys a good story—especially one that captures the imagination. However, the
narrative essay goes further. In it, the writer places a personal experience within
the context of a larger theme, such as a lesson learned. When writing a narrative
essay, the writer wants not only to tell a good story, but also convey why the
story has meaning.
Reference: https://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/narrative-essays/
 Vlogs
A typical vlog combines text, images, videos and links to relevant pages and
media on the Web. Blog readers can leave comments and communicate with
the author. In fact, dialogue and interaction are a popular part of a blog’s
success.
 Blogs
A blog (shortened from the phrase “weblog”) is known as many things—a digital
magazine, diary, newscast, collector’s meeting place, a showcase for your art,
information sharing, teaching hub, place to learn and... well, almost anything you
want it to be. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to relevant pages
and media on the Web. Blog readers can leave comments and communicate with
the author. In fact, dialogue and interaction are a popular part of a blog’s
success.
In the blogging world, you have the word “blog” (an online journal), “blogger” (the
person who owns and contributes to a blog) and “blogging” (the act of creating
content for the blog). You can be a “blogger blogging on a blog,” a “blog about a
blogger blogging” or a “blogging blog about a blogger.”
One of the great things about blogging is the impact it has made on
communication throughout the world. Blogs can report news as it happens, hold
mainstream media to higher standards and provide specific news and information
to meet niche interests.
Here are the most popular styles and types of blogs:
1. Personal blogs share thoughts, original art, poems, writing or photography. Some
sell custom crafts, art or products. If you just want to make a statement, show your
DIY (do it yourself) skills, have fun or blog for therapy, a personal blog is perfect for
your needs.

2. Business blogs are created in the voice of the company, as a crucial component of
marketing. They can function as a direct-sales tool and are outstanding for both
messaging and two-way communication as part of a company’s public relations
efforts. Blogs are effective and cost-efficient vehicles for small organizations that
need to publish information for their customers or members.
3. Niche/topical blogs focus on a particular interest. They can be about health,
gardening, education, sports, fashion or or lifestyle. Name your special interest and
you can blog about it. If you’re a collector of antiques, a true-mystery fan, a travel
addict or just love cooking, there may be a blog in your future. Niche blogs easily
attract loyal followers, which contributes to the fun of blogging.
4. Media-type blogs are defined by their content. If you enjoy video blogging, then
you’re a vlogger. If you curate content from other websites, you have a linklog. If
you post photos or art sketches on your blog, you’re hosting a photoblog or artblog.
5. Reverse blogs are a unique but popular type of blog. Instead of the owner creating
content, the content is supplied by the public. A reverse blog has a team who
moderate posts, prevent unpleasant interactions and promote slow topics for
greater interactivity.
Reference: Djuraskovic, O. & Hines, K. How to Start a Blog the Beginner’s Guide to
Successful Blogging. FirstGuideTeam.
 Testimonio
In the recent decades there has been a new immergence in Latin American
literature, testimonial literature, or the testimonio. Testimonial literature is “an
authentic narrative, told by a witness who is moved to narrate by the urgency of a
situation (e.g., war, oppression, revolution, etc.). Emphasizing popular oral
discourse, the witness portrays his or her own experience as a representative of
a collective memory and identity.
This literature emerged as a backlash to the mainstream Latin American

literature, it was a way to write back and correct the mainstream literature. These
narratives differ from a biography or autobiography, because in most cases the
author interviews an individual from a subaltern group, transcribing it to tell the
accounts in a first-person format, giving the reader the sense, the individual is
recounting the story orally. In some ways this form of narrative is similar to an
ethnographic work, but it emerges from a need to create social awareness and
consciousness to marginalized groups and the exploitations they face.
According to Gugelberger & Kearney (1991) this narrative is an attempt to create

a “global reordering of a social and economic context of power/differences within
which “literature” is produced and consumed.” It is an attempt to restructure and
challenge mainstream literature, and adding the real perspective and discourse
of the “other”, marginalized groups, and create a consciousness of their

existence and importance in the greater society. By challenging the mainstream
can it affected the concept of “natural” and accepted status quo, not only in the
country produced but in gather global attention allowing the question of the
exploitation and marginalization of subaltern groups.
Reference: Walker, C. (2011). “Testimonio.” From

https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/cwalker/evolution-genres-latin-
americanliterature-birth-testimonio-testimonial-narrative
Lesson 2: Analyze and Present a Creative Nonfiction
In this lesson, you will learn how to write an artistic presentation summarizing,
analyzing, and commenting on a chosen creative nonfictional text representing a
particular type or form.
The artistic presentation will focus on one creative nonfiction work which you like. You
can choose from among the various creative nonfiction works available online, in
magazines, or books. Here are some pointers for you to get started.
1. Read the work thoroughly. You may do a second or third reading of the piece if you
think you are still missing some aspects of the text worth focusing on.
2. First, focus on content. What is the work about? Then move on to “What is the
writer telling you?”
3. When you are done reading for content, you can start analyzing the writer’s
technique. What creative nonfiction form was used by the writer? Why do you think
the writer chose this form over other forms? Would it have made a difference if it
was a reflective essay, or a travelogue, or a biography?
4. From technique, move on to the writer’s style. What creative storytelling techniques
were used by the writer? How did he or she hook up the reader in the beginning
part of the piece? Was it sufficiently sustained? How did the writer cap the work?
Was it an effective conclusion?
5. Finally, talk about the work’s overall impression. How did the work make you feel?
What do you think was the writer’s purpose in writing the piece? Do you think the
work was able to fulfil that purpose?
Lesson 3: Analyze, Interpret and Comment on a Creative Nonfiction Work

In this lesson, you will learn how to write a mini critique of a peer’s work based on
coherence and organization of paragraphs, development of literary elements use of
factual information, and other qualities concerning form and content; analyze and
interpret a well-written creative nonfictional text based on the peer critique.
Reading Creative Nonfiction

“In a world of celebrities and fiction, fantasy and virtual reality, the world needs some
creative nonfiction. In fact, it needs a lot.” - Samir Husni, Mr Magazine
Reading different text types has been one of the goals of the K to 12 Multiliteracies
Program for language. From kinder to Senior High School, the wide array of reading
texts which had been included in the different subject areas vary from the simplest to
the most complex, and these materials include nonfiction which are classified into
informational and literary texts.
Informational texts convey information about the natural or social world. Duke and
Bennet-Armistead (Scholastic, 2003), enumerate six benefits of reading these types of
texts, which include (1) provides the key to success in later schooling, (2) prepares
students to handle real-life reading, (3) appeals to readers’ preferences, (4) addresses
students’ questions and interests, (5) builds knowledge of the natural and social world,
and (6) boosts vocabulary and other kinds of literacy knowledge.
Literary texts, on the other hand, balances the knowledge gained from informational
texts, and this is due to the fact that in reading literature, students gain access to: (1)
universal ideas that affect, inspire, and change readers far removed from the time and
place in which it was written, (2) central ideas address themes and matters of enduring
importance, and lastly, (3) noble language.
Creative nonfiction works can both be informational and literary. The style with which
they are written is literary while the content is informative. To better understand and
appreciate these works in the latter lessons, doing a close reading will help.
Close Reading of Creative Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction works can vary from the simplest to the most complicated. To be
able to understand interwoven meanings, one must be able to read the work closely.
Close reading as the name suggests, implies more than casual, superficial reading of a
particular text. It involves finding as much information as you can and asking as much
questions as you can about a text. Since creative nonfiction writers build their work from
various elements, one must be able to examine these components and find clues from
its small parts to lead to the understanding of the whole.
Close reading is also akin to a deep analysis of a literary text. It is due this that close
reading takes time, but also saves the reader from anxiety especially when one has to
write a critique about it.
Here is your guide in doing a close reading of a text:
How to Begin a Close Reading
A close reading should never be your first reading of a text. Before focusing on the
details of a text or passage, it is important to understand the text as a whole.

1. Read the text!
Make sure that you understand its plot, who the characters are, etc. For more difficult
texts, it may take more than one read to do this. That is normal. The better your overall
understanding of the text, the easier it will be to focus on its details and/or the details of
your chosen passage.
2. When you are ready to begin your close reading, take your time!
Read the text actively. Take notes. You may write on a separate sheet of paper, directly
in your book, or you may even choose to make a photocopy of the text or passage and
take notes on that. Choose the method which works best for you.
3. Do not be afraid to pause to think over what you read as you read!
Do not hesitate to read and re-read sentences or sections several times before moving
on. Take note not only of the details in the text, but also of the impressions which those
details create in you as a reader. The purpose of a close reading is to squeeze the
details from your chosen text and use those details to formulate an interpretation of a
deeper meaning or impression present in the text.
Some Details to Consider When Reading Closely
 Titles Matter! Always take a moment to consider the title of your chosen text and
its relationship to the content. The author has chosen the title carefully to
represent the text as a whole. Often, titles may point to important symbols or
images which you might then focus on more closely in your reading.
Example: In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark” or Charlotte
Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the titles refer to prominent
symbols in the texts. Paying close attention to these symbols, how they are
described, and how they are treated in the texts would be fertile ground for a
close reading.
Other titles may help to structure the reader’s understanding of the text’s content.
Example: Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” is a list of commands and

instructions. The text does not clearly state who these commands are directed
towards, but the title hints that they are commands for a specific girl, or perhaps
girls in general.
 Audience and Purpose. Who is the intended audience of the text or passage?
What is its purpose? Audience and purpose may help to contextualize some of
the text’s details.

Example: In Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal,” he proposes that
impoverished Irish communities eat their children in order to limit their financial
burdens and gain a source of food.
Understanding Swift’s purpose, to use an absurd and morally reprehensible

argument to draw attention to the plights of these communities as well as to
criticize the faulty and rather callous logic employed by many English intellectuals
in discussing these issues, helps readers to understand his methods and the
significance of the way he lays out his hyper-rational and fairly horrifying
argument.
 Narrative Point of View. The narrator is the voice through which the reader
experiences the text. That means that all of the information a reader receives is
colored by the narrator’s perspective.
Dissecting this perspective may help to inform your understanding of how the text
relates its information and how that dynamic influences or constructs meaning
within the text.
Is the text or passage narrated in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person? Is the narrator
omniscient (does he or she know all of the characters’ thoughts and actions)? Is
the narrator’s perspective limited to one character’s experiences and thoughts?
Is the narrator an impartial observer, a fly on the wall who simply relates the
events of the text or passage without giving insight into characters’ thoughts and
feelings?
Does the narrator seem to make any judgments regarding the characters or
events of the text? Is the narrator completely reliable? If the narrator may be
biased, how does that influence the text? What biases might the narrator
possess? Is he or she possibly insane, lying, or mistaken?
Example: Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” is narrated in 2nd person. This
means that the narrator seems to directly address the reader in his or her stream
of commands and instructions.
The reader may feel overwhelmed, defensive, or resentful of the narrator as a

result of the narrative point of view. Those feelings may mirror the feelings of a
girl who is being lectured regarding “proper” or “acceptable” behavior. Therefore,
the narration puts the reader in the position of the “Girl.”
What is the relationship between the narrator and the “Girl”/reader? How might
that be significant?

 Imagery and Symbols. Often, a work of literature will emphasize a particular
image. Images appeal to our senses, so a text may include visual images,
auditory images, images which involve smell, images which involve taste, and
images which involve touch.
What images do you find in the text or passage? Are there any images which
appear to be emphasized more than others? Why? How does that affect the
meaning of the text or passage?
Some images may function as symbols in the text: images which have
metaphorical meanings beyond their literal meanings. Are there any symbols
present in the text? What metaphorical meanings might those symbols carry? If
we accept those meanings, how does that influence our reading of the text.
Example: In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark,” Georgiana, the

protagonist’s wife, has a birthmark on her face in the shape of a small hand. Her
husband sees this as an imperfection, which he then seeks to correct by
removing it. Georgiana dies during this process.
One way to interpret Georgiana’s birthmark is as a symbol of natural human

imperfection. If we accept this symbolic meaning, then how do we read
Georgiana’s death? Does the text seem to be commenting on the whether or not
human perfection is attainable?
 Characterization. Who are the characters? Is there one protagonist (main

character), in the text? Is there an antagonist (a character or force which
opposes the protagonist)? If so, how does the conflict influence the text? Which
characters are focused on and which characters are treated as secondary? How
do we learn about the characters? Does the narrator tell us about them explicitly
through description? This is called direct characterization. Do we learn about the
characters through their actions and dialogue? This is called indirect
characterization. How does the characterization influence the meaning of the text
or passage?
Example: If you were to read a short story which characterized male characters
primarily through their actions, but female characters through descriptions given
by a male narrator, this might be evidence of gender bias in the text.
 Chronology. How is time treated in the text? Is it linear, a-linear? What span of
time does it cover? Does it focus on a period of minutes, hours, days, years?
How do the choices about representing time influence or construct meaning in
the text?

Example: Toni Morrison’s short story “Recitatif” chooses to focus on short spans
of time spread across several decades in the lives of its two main characters.
What might the significance be of choosing those particular moments in the

characters’ lives to show to the reader? What do those moments have in
common? Why skip so much time in between passages? What effect does the
chronology of the text have on the reader’s experience of the narrative and the
characters?
 Form. The literal form of a text can influence the reader’s experience of it. Some
details related to form might include line and paragraph breaks, the physical
position of the text on the page, the font style, or even something as simple as
spacing.
Example: In concrete poetry, the words which make up the poem are
manipulated to create visual images on the page. George Herbert’s poem
“Easter Wings” is physically shaped like a pair of wings.
The overall form of the text is important, but so are breaks in form.
Example: Certain portions of Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” are italicized.
Why are these portions emphasized and separated from the rest of the text?
How does that affect the passage?
 Sentence Level: Diction (connotations), Syntax, and Punctuation. “Diction”

refers to word choice. What types of words are used in the text or passage? Are
the words formal or informal, simple or complex, monosyllabic (short) or
polysyllabic (long)? What do the words physically sound like? Do the words carry
any other connotations beyond their literal meanings which may be relevant to
your reading of the text?
Tip: Dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are useful
resources in determining a particular word’s history and connotations.
What do the sentences themselves look like? Are they simple or complex, long or
short? Hemingway is often praised for his simple, short sentences. How does the
sentence structure influence your reading of the text? What kinds of punctuation
does the writer use?
Example: “Girl” happens to be a single, long sentence with many independent

clauses separated by semicolons. What might the significance be of that choice?
interpretation is that reading the sentence becomes overwhelming, which may

mimic the feelings of a girl being lectured about “proper” and “acceptable”
behavior. Therefore, the sentence structure helps the reader to sympathize with
the title “character” of the short story.
 Patterns. What patterns are present in the text? Consider the significance of the
pattern itself.
Example: In Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz,” the meter of the
poem is trimeter. This means that there are three beats in each line.
How might that pattern be significant to the text? Interestingly, a waltz is a dance
which follows a 1-2-3 pattern. Therefore, the pattern established by the meter
seems to mimic the dance which is mentioned in the poem’s title. This has the
effect of emphasizing the “waltzing” of the boy and his father in the poem. How is
that important to the poem’s overall meaning?
Is the pattern established in the text ever interrupted? Interruptions or breaks in

firmly established textual patterns are usually particularly significant. Remember
that the author has gone to a lot of trouble to establish this pattern in the text. If
he or she is choosing to disrupt it, there is probably a very good reason.
Example: In “My Papa’s Waltz,” there are occasional breaks in the meter. Why is
this significant? If the “waltz” of the poem is imperfect, does it suggest something
about the boy, his father, and/or their relationship?
 Contradictions/Inconsistencies. Like breaks in patterns, inconsistencies or

contradictions in the text are also particularly worthy of attention. What
inconsistencies or contradictions can you identify? What are the sources of these
contradictions?
Is there an unreliable narrator? What is unreliable about this person? Are
different characters’ perspectives the source of the contradiction? What is the
effect or utility of reinforcing the differing perspectives of these characters? Does
the text seem to be purposely confusing or contradictory? What might the
significance of that be?
Example: In “Recitatif,” Twyla and Roberta, the short story’s co-protagonists,

remember some of the events of their shared childhood differently.
What is the overall significance of this inconsistency in their memories? Is Toni

Morrison attempting to make a comment about memory itself? Is she trying to
call attention to the differences in the characters’ perspectives? Why might that
be important?

 Allusions are references to knowledge or events outside of the text itself, often
other literary works, but sometimes current events or politics. Are there any
allusions present in the text or passage? To what do they refer?
If the text establishes a connection to another text through an allusion, then how
does a reading of the second text influence your understanding of the first text?
In western literature, direct allusions to biblical stories can be common. However,
some allusions are very subtle and even unexpected.
Example: Disney’s The Lion King features a young prince whose father is killed
by his uncle, the king’s own brother. When the prince grows up, he must then
decide about whether or not to challenge his uncle for the throne.
The plot of The Lion King can be read as a subtle reference to Shakespeare’s
play Hamlet, whose plot follows a similar pattern. In this particular example,
examining the similarities between the two stories as well as the differences and
deliberate changes which Disney has made to the Hamlet tale would be valuable
to your critical understanding of the film.
It may also be helpful to consider the significance of a modern children’s film

borrowing plot from an early modern Shakespearean play, since the two do not
appear to have similar audiences or contexts at first glance.
 Research Anything Unfamiliar! A quick online search (or inquiry to your tutor or
professor!) for anything unfamiliar in the text or passage can point you to
allusions or other connections which you would not have made.
Example: In reading the poem “My Papa’s Waltz,” you may not have known that
a waltz is a three-beat dance. However, by doing a small bit of research on
“waltz,” one of the key words in the poem’s title, you might find this information.
Then, you might realize the connection between the dance and the meter of the
poem itself.
Some questions you might want to ask
1) Who is speaking? Who is being spoken to? What is the reader assumed to
know/not know? (University essays aren't written for an interested aunt or friend on
a different course, but for an audience familiar with the themes and readings under
discussion. Students are writing for an audience of engaged and interested peers.
This means that the writer can assume that reader knows the text and doesn't need
extensive plot summary in the introduction or start of the essay. This frees up space
for analysis and the laying out of each section's claims. It also helps to develop an
authoritative voice: you are an expert speaking to other experts.)

2) What is the point of the details included in the passage (e.g. if mundane things are
mentioned, why is that; if there are elements of description that don’t seem to
contribute to the plot what do they do instead)?
3) What generic clues are here (what kinds of writing are hinted at)?
4) Are there words or phrases which are ambiguous (could mean more than one
thing)? If so, are we directed to privilege one reading over the other or do we keep
both in play? Does one meaning open up an alternative story/history/narrative?
What are the connotations of the words that are chosen? Do any of them open up
new or different contexts?
5) Are there patterns which emerge in the language (the repetition of words or of
certain kinds of words? Repeated phrases? Rhymes or half-rhymes? Metrical
patterns?). What effects do they create?
6) Is there any movement in the passage you are reading? Are there any shapes or
dominant metaphors?
7) What kind of rhythm does the passage have? What is its cadence?
8) Is there anything that troubles you about the passage or that you‘re not sure you
fully understand?
What is a Critique?
A critique is a careful analysis of an argument to determine what is said, how well the
points are made, what assumptions underlie the argument, what issues are overlooked,
and what implications are drawn from such observations. It is a systematic, yet personal
response and evaluation of what you have read.
Guide in Writing a Critique
1. What is a literary critical analysis?
A literary critical analysis explains a work of fiction, poetry or drama by means of
interpretations. The goal of a literary analysis (as with any other analysis) is to broaden
and deepen your understanding of a work of literature.
2. What is an interpretation?
An interpretation is an individual response that addresses meaning.
3. How do you develop an interpretation?
Interpretations are developed by an in-depth examination of a text. An interpretation
often will be the thesis of your paper.
4. How do you conduct an "in-depth" examination of a text?
a. Before reading the work, make sure to examine the title carefully. Often the title is
a clue to an important idea in the work.
b. Make sure you look up in the dictionary any words with which you are not familiar.
c. After reading the work the first time, ask yourself the following questions:

 What is the geographical, historical and social setting? How does this affect the
story or poem?
 Who is (are) the main character(s)?
 Who are the secondary characters, and how are they linked to the main
characters?
 Does the main character change? If so, how and why? If not, why not?
 What is the conflict? Can you trace the development and resolution of the
conflict?
 Who is telling the story? How does this influence the story or poem?
 In poetry, can you find a pattern of rime and meter?
d. As you re-read the work, make sure you can answer these questions. Then ask
yourself the following questions, which may help you to discover deeper meanings
that will lead you to an interpretation.
 Can you summarize the author's meaning in one paragraph?
 Can you state a theme of the work in one sentence?
 Can you identify any symbols or metaphors? What do they mean?
5. How do you prove your interpretation?
You prove your interpretation by finding a pattern of examples in the literature that
support your idea. You find this pattern in the literary elements, such as plot, point of
view, character, setting, symbols, tone, and style. In poetry, the uses of language (rime,
meter and metaphors) are also patterns that can support your interpretation.
6. If interpretations are an individual response, are all interpretations valid?
Because an interpretation must be supported, the strength or weakness of your
interpretation rests on the strength or weakness of your argument. In other words, you
must organize a discussion that convinces the reader that your point of view is astute.
7. Where do you find evidence to support your interpretation?
In a literary analysis evidence is found mainly from the work you are discussing.
Secondary sources (published critical analyses) may support your point of view as well.
8. How much of the story should you retell in a critical analysis?
You do need to locate your reader to the scene or section of the poem that you are
discussing; therefore, some plot summary is necessary, but retelling the story or a poem
is not considered an analysis. You can assume your reader has read the work.
9. What should be documented in a critical analysis?
Any secondary sources must, of course, be documented. Also, direct quotes should be
documented. Unlike secondary sources, a summary of a literary scene or event does
not need documentation. Typically, MLA style documentation is used.

Lesson 4: Express Yourself through Creative Nonfiction
In this lesson, you will learn how to write a draft of creative nonfiction piece based on
the learner’s memorable real-life experience; peer-edit and revise each other’s draft
based on desirable qualities of well-written creative nonfiction; write the final version of
one’s own creative nonfiction in a composition of five paragraphs or more.
It helps beginning writers to get help from some writing prompts. By responding to these
prompts and spontaneously writing down the ideas in one’s head, writers can get past
the so-called “writer’s block.”
Here are question prompts which can help you get creative. Try responding to any of
these by writing your answers spontaneously on your writing notebook. You can use
your responses later in the activity in this lesson.
NOTE: You do not need to write your responses in complete sentences or paragraph
form yet. You can simply write down your thoughts as they come – whether in words,
phrases, or whichever way you are comfortable.
1. Look out of the window. What do you see right now? What is the weather like or
what do you wish were going on outside that window?
2. Recall your most recent dream and write about it.
3. What is your friendship like with someone?
4. Did you overhear a conversation recently? If so, turn that conversation into a short
story or a journal entry.
5. What are you addicted to? Go into detail about your addiction.
6. Housework is for everyone. Write about your everyday housework chores and
activities.
7. What numbers or any other figures are important to you and why?
8. What are some things that you dread doing?
9. What scares you and how do you react to fear?
10. Spending money is fun. Talk about how you spend money and what you have on
your wish list.
- adapted from https://www.eliteessaywriters.com
Writing Creative Nonfiction
Now that you have finished learning about creative nonfiction, you are ready to write
your own creative nonfiction work. Melissa Donovan (2015) of Writing Forward gives
you this guide on how to write creative nonfiction.
1. Get your facts straight. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing your own story or
someone else’s. If readers, publishers, and the media find out you’ve taken
liberties with the truth of what happened, you and your work will be ridiculed and

scrutinized. You’ll lose credibility. If you can’t refrain from fabrication, then think
about writing fiction instead of creative nonfiction.
2. Issue a disclaimer. A lot of nonfiction is written from memory, and we all know
that human memory is deeply flawed. It’s almost impossible to recall a
conversation word for word. You might forget minor details, like the color of a
dress or the make and model of a car. If you aren’t sure about the details but are
determined to include them, be upfront and include a disclaimer that clarifies the
creative liberties you’ve taken.
3. Consider the repercussions. If you’re writing about other people (even if they are
secondary figures), you might want to check with them before you publish your
nonfiction. Some people are extremely private and don’t want any details of their
lives published. Others might request that you leave certain things out, which they
feel are personal. Otherwise, make sure you’ve weighed the repercussions of
revealing other people’s lives to the world. Relationships have been both
strengthened and destroyed as a result of authors publishing the details of other
people’s lives.
4. Be objective. You don’t need to be overly objective if you’re telling your own,
personal story. However, nobody wants to read a highly biased biography. Book
reviews for biographies are packed with harsh criticism for authors who didn’t fact-
check or provide references and for those who leave out important information or
pick and choose which details to include to make the subject look good or bad.
5. Pay attention to language. You’re not writing a textbook, so make full use of
language, literary devices, and storytelling techniques.
6. Know your audience. Creative nonfiction sells, but you must have an interested
audience. A memoir about an ordinary person’s first year of college isn’t especially
interesting. Who’s going to read it? However, a memoir about someone with a
learning disability navigating the first year of college is quite compelling, and
there’s an identifiable audience for it. When writing creative nonfiction, a clearly
defined audience is essential.
Creative Non-Fiction Prompts

Creative non-fiction is often personal in tone, and because of that it can be difficult to
get started. Below, find some prompts to help you get started writing creative non-
fiction.
A. Truth is Stranger than Fiction: Impose a well-known story structure, such as
that from a generic romantic comedy or fairytale, on a true story. Write within and
against this familiar form, breaking expectations, to highlight the contrast
between the complex reality and the fictional stories we are accustomed to
seeing.

B. Writing through Fear: What's the one thing you are afraid to talk about, or
alternately, what was the scariest moment of your life? Write a personal essay
about that subject or moment.
C. Tourist at Home: Visit a landmark, historical site or important place in your city.
Write about the significance of this place to your city and to you. What was your
experience there? What was it like to enter this place? What kinds of interactions
did you have there? What other important things have happened in this place?
D. Belief: Write about a time you remember having a belief fundamentally shaken
or broken.
E. Astrological Omens: Horoscopes and astrological signs are an interesting way
to evaluate ourselves. Read your current horoscope, or read up on the qualities
associated with your sign, and use what you read as a framework to write a
personal essay about your personality.
F. Read and React: Read a favorite poem or listen to a favorite song. Take some
time to consider the message of the piece, then write about your reaction to the
poem or the lyrics. How do you feel? What about it resonates with you?
G. Inside Joke: Think about an inside joke you have with someone, or a word that
has a different meaning or association when you're around certain people. Write
about the origin of this joke or word as though your definition would appear in a
reference book.
H. Forgive Me: Write about a time when you had to beg for forgiveness, or when
someone begged you for forgiveness.
I. Soundtrack: Create a playlist of songs that remind you of certain moments in
your past. Listen to the playlist and write a short memoir-style vignette inspired
by each track. Each piece can only be as long as you can write within the length
of the song.

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Creative Nonfiction

Lesson 1: A Close Look at the Literary Genres

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Lesson 2: The Literary Elements

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

To break it down to process, characterization can be accomplished in two ways:

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Many classic works of literature employ symbolism. Symbolism in literature provides

Symbolism in literature is often used to evoke various archetypes, such as good

There are three types of irony:

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

1) Alliteration: The repetition of an initial consonant sound.

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Good dialogue often demonstrates the traits of a character or the relationship of

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Lesson 4: Nonfictional Elements in the Text

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

 Suggestive Description – the opposite of informative description. It evokes

Lesson 5: Using the Literary Conventions of a Genre in Writing

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Lesson 1: Creative Nonfiction Forms and Types

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Reference: 2020 The Oxbridge Research Group Ltd. A Complete Guide to

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

This literature emerged as a backlash to the mainstream Latin American

According to Gugelberger & Kearney (1991) this narrative is an attempt to create

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Reference: Walker, C. (2011). “Testimonio.” From

Lesson 2: Analyze and Present a Creative Nonfiction

Lesson 3: Analyze, Interpret and Comment on a Creative Nonfiction Work

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Close Reading of Creative Nonfiction

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Example: Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” is a list of commands and

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Understanding Swift’s purpose, to use an absurd and morally reprehensible

The reader may feel overwhelmed, defensive, or resentful of the narrator as a

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

Example: In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark,” Georgiana, the

One way to interpret Georgiana’s birthmark is as a symbol of natural human

 Characterization. Who are the characters? Is there one protagonist (main

- Joyce T. De Guzman/DepEd – Region 5 Bicol

What might the significance be of choosing those particular moments in the

 Sentence Level: Diction (connotations), Syntax, and Punctuation. “Diction”

Example: “Girl” happens to be a single, long sentence with many independent