The Most Common Elements of

Creative Nonfiction according to

David Hood 2010
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1 FACT

Fact The writing must be based on facts rather

than fiction. It needs to have a proof that it
actually happened or it actually exist. The writer
can’t make up things and call it ‘fact’.
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2 EXTENSIVE RESEARCH

The writing must be based on primary research

such as interview, personal experience, and
secondary research, gather information from
books, magazines, and newspaper.
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3 REPORTING

The writer must document events or personal

experience.
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4 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND

PERSONAL OPINION OF THE WRITER

It includes personal experience, feelings,

thoughts, and opinions when writing text
such as personal essay and memoir.
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5 Explanation/Exposition

It is required to explain the personal

experience or opinion used to the reader.
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6 Essay Format

Creative nonfiction is often written in

essay format.
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Lee Gutkind’s 5 R’s of Creative
Nonfiction
 1. Real Life
 Creative nonfiction is focused on ‘real life’ aspects. The writer
writes literary piece based on personal experience. The writer
also writes about other people’s experience based on real
events. (Hood, 2010)
 2. Reflection
 Creative Nonfiction is mostly based on personal ‘reflection’ of
the writer about what they are trying to write. After compiling
gathered information, the writer analyses each and every side of
the story. They will then evaluate their thoughts and opinions.
(Hood, 2010)
 3. Research
 Writing a creative nonfiction text requires a complete research
to further understand and discover the topic that the writer
wants to pursue. Even when constructing a personal essay, the
writer needs to do a complete research such as reading personal
journal, and interviewing family and close friends to ensure that
all the gathered information are factual. (Hood, 2010)
Three main reasons why research is part of the
writing process:

You need to Ask yourself "how

familiarize yourself Assessing your can I reflect and
with the subject or competition. evaluate a person,
topic you're planning subject, or place?"
to write.
 4. Reading
 Exhaustive reading is a must when research is not sufficient
enough to cover the story that the writer wants to pursue.
 5. Writing
 Writing is the final step of constructing a creative nonfiction
text. The art of writing requires creativity, instincts, talent, and
imagination of the writer to write ground breaking piece.
Creating a creative nonfiction text requires a lot of techniques to
have a memorable impact to the target reader of the writer.
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!