CREATIVE NON-FICTION

a writing style in making or writing a piece. It can be fiction or nonfiction

Literary Genres

The most general genres in literature are

(in loose chronological order) epic, tragedy, comedy, and creative nonfiction. They can all be in the form of prose or poetry.

refer to the defining features of a particular genre such as a novel, a short story or a play.

Literary Conventions

refer to the elements and techniques employed by the writer to make meaning in a story.

conventions

is best described as an account of a sequence of fictional or nonfictional events, usually in chronological order.

It is a story created in constructive format.

Figure 1 shows the conventions of narrative writing or prose.

Narrative Writing/Prose

is one of the traditional genres of literature and has captivated the human attention because of its peculiarity in the way how human aspirations and emotions are expressed and communicated.

It manifests external and internal beauty which may bring impacts to its readers.

Poetry

These are series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other stanzas.

Stanzas

A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, rhyme scheme and or metrical pattern, but it can still be labeled according to its form or style.

Form

It is the repetition of similar sounds. In poetry, the most common kind of rhyme is the end rhyme, which occurs at the end of two or more lines.

Rhyme

Rhythm is the pattern of stresses in a line of verse while meter is the basic rhythmic structure of a line within a poem (e.g. the number of syllables and the pattern of emphasis on those syllables).

Rhythm and Meter

In general, poetry deals with particular things in concrete language, since our emotions most readily respond to these things. In other words, a poem is most often concrete and particular; the “message”, if there is any, is general and abstract; it is implied by the images. Images suggest meanings.

Concreteness and Particularity

Word meanings are not only restricted to dictionary meanings.

Denotation

The full meaning of a word includes both the dictionary meaning and the special meanings and associations a word takes in a given expression.

connotation

Is a specific mode of creative nonfiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc. performed in a theater, or on a radio or television.

Drama

The physical and psychological environment or the milieu where and when the characters transpire and are situated.

Setting

They are the individuals involved in the context of the story. They are revealed as the conflict of the story develops.

Dramatic personae

The lines and the discourse delivered and expressed by the characters that are also necessary to develop the whole story.

Dialogue

This pertains to the sequence of related scenes. There are also various techniques that playwrights may take into account to develop the frame of events such as flashbacks, flash-forward and foreshadowing.

Plot

This is the central message or insight that the play attempts to reveal and to communicate.

Theme

is indeed a complex and complicated process of writing.

Thus, the familiarity of various approaches in facilitating such a skill guides a writer to be totally conscious on how to ensure quality and noteworthy writing products.

Revising

The purpose of the first draft is not to write something completely perfect--but to get your ideas on paper. Whether you write poetry, fiction, or personal essays, you should revise your work.

Your goal of revising your work is not to make your writing perfect, because you can always revise your work.

Your goal then is to create something that is your best work.

Revising

• Setting and Time

• Character/Characterization

• Plot/Plot Sturcture

• Dialogue

• Style

• Voice

• Theme

Macro Revision

• Ensure that the beginning tells the reader what the story is all about and why they should read it.

• Ensure also that the beginning grabs the reader’s attention.

• Ensure that the story has a setting. It shows the time and pace of the story.

Setting and Time

refers to people, animals, things, or creatures doing and performing the actions in the story.

Character/Characterization

defined as the narration of actions that took place in a story sequence of events that took place in the story.

Plot/Plot Structure

• Does the dialogue reveal character? Move thestory forward?

• Sound like real people talking?

• Does each character speak differently?

Dialogue

• Do you use a consistent voice? Tone? Diction?

• Sentence variety?

Style

• Ensure that the story has a correct and consistent point of view.

• Ensure that you have included concrete and specific and significant details and descriptions.

• Ensure that you have used imagery, language that appeals to the reader’s sense of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.

• Ensure that you have used figurative language, such as simile, metaphor, personification and symbolism.

• Ensure that you show the reader what happened with dialogue, action, setting, and imagery when writing about important events such as the inciting incident, crisis, climax, and resolution.

Voice

refers to the message that the writer is trying to tell the readers

Theme

• Whether you write poetry, fiction or narrative piece, you must complete a micro revision.

• It is a line-by-line edit of the following: grammar, spelling, punctuation, and writing style.

Micro Revision

• Ensure that you are using correct grammar such as correct usage (e.g. subject-verb agreement).

• Ensure that you are using correct spelling.

• Ensure that you are using correct punctuation-period, comma, dash, exclamation point, question mark, quotations.

Micro Revision

• Scenes. Ensure that you have shown and told your readers. You must write in scenes for all important events.

• Diction/word choice. Ensure that you have chosen the best language.

• Ensure that you have used sentence variety such as long and short sentence.

• Ensure that your prose have melody.

• Ensure that your prose have rhythm.

• Ensure that your prose is lyrical.

• Ensure that you have used the active voice, concrete nouns, and action verbs.

Micro Revision

Protagonist

The Hero

Antagonist

The opposite of Hero

A changing character from evil to goodness or vice versa.

Dynamic

Non-changing character

Static/flat

This gives the reader details about the characters involved, which include physical appearance, way of thinking, feeling, actions, and reactions to events.

CHARATERIZATION

The situations, actions, and Circumstances of a story that has transpired in a certain time and place.

It is a basic element that provides the total environment of the story in consideration of the time and space for the movements and actions of the characters.

Some literary texts do not need to convey the place just to have the readers' awareness towards the setting. Some settings will be in a descriptive way.

SETTING

It is the angle of considering things. The perspective of the writer in narrating the story. It answers the question "who is narrating the story."

POINT OF VIEW

The story is told by the protagonist or one of the characters who interacts closely with the protagonist. It uses the pronouns I, me, we

First person point of view

The author tells the story. It uses the pronouns you, yours, and your

Second person point of view

The narrator is not part of the story but describes the events that happen. It uses the pronouns he, she, him, and her.

Third Person point of view

Writers may include images that bear certain meanings that go beyond the literal. Certain symbols may convey both positive and negative connotations depending on how they are used, presented, and perceived.

SYMBOLS

constitute a rhetorical or literary device that departs from the literal meaning of an idea. They may be employed to make the idea more colorful.

FIGURES OF SPEECH

Comparison of ideas using like or as.

Example: You are like a kitten lost in a city. (comparing you to a kitten with the use of like)

SIMILE

Comparing two things without the use of like/as.

Example: You're the apple of my eye. (comparing you to an apple)

METAPHOR

Using human attributes in describing nonhuman or inanimate objects.

Example: The moon smiled at the stars. ("smile" the moon do not have a face to smile)

PERSONIFICATION

Use of the same grammatical structure.

Example: Peace can only be achieve through dedication, peace can only be achieved through diligence, peace can only be achieved through fidelity of the rule of law. (the use of "peace can only be achieved in one sentence)

PARALLELISM

Addressing a person who is either dead or absent when the utterance is made. Example: Mabini, Bonifacio, Rizal, let your guiding spirits influence our leaders in this time of great crisis! (Calling Mabini, Bonifacio, and Rizal who are dead to guide them)

APOSTROPHE

Substitution of a word/phrase for an idea to which it is closely related.

Example: Let me give you a hand. (Hand refers to help)

METONYMY

comparison that involves making references to a famous fictional or historical figure, event or idea. Example: He was a real Romeo with the ladies. ("Romeo" A character in Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare's play. Romeo is a true romantic hero.)

ALLUSION

Word that imitates a real sound. Example: Rika turned when she heard a loud splash. (splash is a sound of water)

ΟΝΟΜΑΤΟΡΟΕΙΑ

Use of exaggeration to emphasize an idea. Example: Her smile was a miles wide. (She is very happy)

HYPERBOLE

the part to represent the whole

Example: "Do you have wheels?" (Wheels refers to a vehicle))

SYNECDOCHE

Takes place when the speaker says something in sharp contrast to his or her actual meaning. The speaker regularly makes a statement that seems very direct, yet indicates that the opposite is in fact true, or what the speaker really means.

Example -Well, isn't this nice.|| Uttered by a man whose plane is going down. (From the song-Ironic of Alanis Morrissette

Verbal irony

This can also consist of -ironic similes||, which are comparisons in which the two things are not alike at all.

Example Your hand is soft as sandpaper. (Means your hand is rough.) You are warm as ice. (Means you are cold)

Verbal Irony

Happens when the audience has more information than one or more characters in a work of literature.

Example: Shakespeare's Othello

Othello's best friend Lago is evil and attempting to bring Othello down. Desdemona has been faithful, though Othello doesn't know this.

(The audience is aware but Othello is not aware.)

Dramatic Irony

Contains of a situation in which the outcome is very different from what was expected. There are contradictions and contrasts present in situational irony.

Example The movie -The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The citizens of the Emerald City assume that Oz is great and all-powerful, yet the man behind the curtain is revealed to be an old man with no special powers.

Situational irony

This becomes more interesting and animated with the use of - , which refer to the verbal exchange between the characters. When adding dialogue, one should imagine the characters themselves speaking to each other to make the dialogue as realistic as it should be.

SCENE AND DIALOGUE

It is a story written by the person himself.

Autobiography

It is a life’s story that is written by another person.

Biography

It is a day to day account intended to purely document life’s events.

Journal

It is a written account of the author which involves his/ her secret

Diary

It is a communication or written message that addresses to a certain person or organization.

Letter

It refers to the personal account of a person which teaches them something. It is more of a memory that cannot be easily forgotten.

Memoir

It refers to magazine or newspaper writing or closely related to it. It is journalism with a touch of an artistic value of literature in it.

Literary Journalism or Reportage

It refers to the narrator’s personal view and experiences. It Is more on thoughts and feeling of the author.

Reflection Essay

It refers to the personal experience of an author or the author witnesses an abuse and oppression in a workplace.

Testimonio Essay

It is a written account of a person during his/her travel. It focuses on the scenery, people and the warmness of the place and the people.

Travelogue

Creative nonfiction has many types and it generally focuses on the experiences of an individual. That maybe it could inspire many individuals as you write it and share these experiences. Moreover, creative nonfiction comes in various ways and almost often we are not aware that our experiences could become good literary pieces.

Understanding Various Forms and Types of Creative Nonfiction

Understanding this plays a vital role as you write your piece. Because they are the ones who will read and be inspired by your stories. In a sense, your goal is to inspire the readers to read because they could learn something from it.

The Significance of an Audience

a type of reading when the reader understands the texts presented by the author by observing every detail on it.

Close Reading

is a type of creative nonfiction that is closely related to magazine and newspaper writing. It is journalism but it deviates from the traditional journalism because it has touch of literature.

LITERARY JOURNALISM

Is a story about narrating your personal experience. It contains descriptive words as you tell your story that can inspire or motivate the readers and they could also relate as well.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE

One of the types of creative nonfiction that deals with travel that presented in narrative way. In a modern way, it is called travel blogs. It is more on sharing the wonders of the place you have visited and igniting the spirit of audience to visit the place also.

TRAVELOGUE

Refer to an insight gained through your experiences. This type of prose analyses your past event in the present.

REFLECTIVE ESSAYS

is an online journal and is also known as “web log”. It is a forum where you can share information on ideas and views about a certain topic.

BLOG

or often called as testimonial narrative is a new type of literary genre. It has the same characteristics with autobiography because it is written in the first-person point of view.

TESTIMONIO

This is said to be a process –oriented skill and it must go through a procedure so that one can come up with a more effective effect that a writer made through his observation.

WRITING

a series of steps to take when creating a piece of writing.

WRITING PROCESS

is the preliminary or preparatory phase in which the writer explores and select possible topics, subjects and themes.

PRE – WRITING STAGE

setting out of an elucidation of the details and ideas perceived to be relevant to the topic and theme of the written work.

DURING THE WRITING STAGE

is the phase wherein checking and correcting inconsistencies in content and mechanics

POST – WRITING STAGE

it is where the writer prepares everything which he is going to generate ideas and formulates the foundations of the topic for written output. (Brainstorm, topic)

PRE – WRITING STAGE

is when the writer put together all the brainstormed ideas, thus focusing on the content rather than the structure

DURING WRITING STAGE

Short statement usually one sentence that summarizes the main point or claim and is developed, supported and explained in the text by means of examples and evidences.

THESIS STATEMENT

Sentence that introduces a paragraph by presenting that one topic that will be the focus of that paragraph.

TOPIC SENTENCE

this is the phase when inconsistencies that you have written in the draft is being carefully checked and corrected in terms of its content and mechanics.

POST-WRITING STAGE

is a process of going back through your whole draft there will be adding in, taking out, moving around, and polishing certain parts of draft.

REVISION

a meticulous process of clarifying meaning by revising each word and line of your draft.

EDITING (PROOFREADING)

Spring

New life

Gold

Wealth

Rainbow

Hope