THE GENRES OF

CREATIVE NON
FICTION
LESSON 1: LIFE
STORIES
Life stories

• The story of one’s life can be told in three ways: a memoir,

biography, or autobiography.
• Biography – you are the one who writes your own life
story.
• Autobiography – someone else writes your life story.
• Memoir – a partial story of the author’s life.
Memoir

• It is also called as a partial story of the author’s life.

• Memoir is the French words for memory.
• To write a memoir is to write what you remember. In a
memoir, you can become the narrator and the main
character.
Memoir
• Example:
It was a very wonderful day when I thought it will be
the happiest day of my life. It was that day on December
5th of 2018, when he asked me to be his girl. But as we
part ways and he waves his hand at me, he was crushed
by a ten wheeler truck in front of my eyes. The day that I
said yes, was the happiest and saddest day of my life.
He courted me for three years, and this is what I had. It
was like a dream, I just hoped it is.
Autobiography

• This is the complete story of the author’s life.

• As a term, autobiography is a combination of 3 Greek
words: autos (self), bios (life), and graphe (writing), spans
the life of the writer from birth to present. Early childhood
has already prepared us to tell an autobiography.
• It is usually written in first person point of view.
Autobiography
• Common things to include:
1. Birth information (date, place, time)
2. Family (parents, siblings)
3. Educational Background
4. Friendships and Love (optional)
5. Amazing development in life from past to present.
Biography
• A life story by another writer.
• If you cannot write your own life story, you can ask
somebody else to do it. This means allowing this somebody
to ask you a lot of things about your life and answering
them – honestly.
• The things that you can include can be the same as in
autobiography, however, the most recommended point view
here is only third person.