UTHS Creative Writing — Unit 2: Creative Nonfiction

First Six Weeks Canvas lessons: creative nonfiction, voice, and sentence structure.

What makes creative nonfiction creative?

It uses a writer's authentic voice and creative choices to engage readers while telling the truth.

Why seek feedback from an intended audience?

To learn whether the writer's intended effect comes across to the readers the piece is meant to reach.

How can a word web help a nonfiction writer?

Start with an emotionally charged memory and map words and feelings associated with it.

What does adding opposites to a word web accomplish?

Opposite associations can reveal connections that help a writer find a fresh motif or tone.

How did the course's Lynche example approach dark subject matter?

It found humor in difficult material, showing how a surprising tone can emerge from opposite associations.

What is an independent clause?

A group of words with a subject and verb that can stand alone as a complete sentence.

What is a dependent clause?

A clause that depends on an independent clause rather than standing alone as a complete sentence.

What is a simple sentence?

A sentence consisting of one independent clause.

What is a compound sentence?

A sentence with at least two independent clauses.

How can a comma join two independent clauses?

Use a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so.

How else can two independent clauses be joined?

Use a semicolon, or use a semicolon followed by a conjunctive adverb and comma.

What is a complex sentence?

A sentence with an independent clause and a dependent clause.

Where does a comma go when a dependent clause begins a complex sentence?

Place a comma after the initial dependent clause, before the independent clause.

Is a comma needed when the independent clause comes first in the course's example?

No: the example gives the pattern independent clause followed by dependent clause without a comma.

What is a compound-complex sentence?

A sentence with two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

What do the letters FANBOYS represent?

The coordinating conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

What is the purpose of varying sentence structure?

Different sentence structures give a writer choices in shaping the voice and effect of a piece.