LEARNING MODULE

CREATIVE NONFICTION
(HUMSS Grade 11)

QUARTER 2- WEEK 8
LESSON 8: Principles, Elements, and Devices of Creative Nonfiction

YOUR TOPIC
Topic: Literary Concerns: Structures, Symbols or Symbolism, Irony, Figures of
Speech
Materials: paper and pen

YOUR TARGET COMPETENCIES

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

➢ Determine the structures to be followed in writing a CNF piece.

➢ Use different literary devices (symbols, irony, and figures of speech) in
writing a CNF piece.

YOUR INITIAL TASK

Picture-Cued Writing:

Consider the picture below and make a composition about it.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 1
Questions:
1. Considering the picture above, how will you begin the paragraph?
2. How do you intend to organize your thoughts in this composition?
3. How will you end your composition?

YOUR TEXT
Just like any other kind of writing, CNF (creative nonfiction) uses strategies on
how to begin a paragraph as well as use certain structure so that the content (message
and emotion) will be conveyed efficiently to the readers.

Aside from that, CNF also makes use of literary devices so that it will not only
present factual information but it will also convey creativeness and emotion. Thus,
symbols and figures of speech are used.

Literary Concerns (Aguila, Galan & Wigley, 2017)

A. Structure
➢ Organization is very important in fiction and CNF writing.
➢ You need to have a plan before you sit down to write.

Chronological
➢ Refers to the arrangement of events in linear fashion.
➢ This is ideal for an account of a trip or a travelogue.

Explanation-of-a-process
➢ This is the best structure for a how-to article (e.g. How to cope with heartbreak.,
How to use time wisely).
➢ It tells the readers what to do step-by-step.

Flashback
➢ Often used in fiction, but may also applicable in CNF.
➢ It begins at some point in time and then moves back into the past.
➢ This works best when you write a memoir.

Parallel
➢ This types has several stories, running side by side, with occasional cross-
cutting or convergence.
➢ May be influenced by the cinema.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 2
 Collage or Mosaic
➢ Influenced by painting and film.
➢ When you write for disaster, this is the most convenient.
➢ Involves pasting together small fragments, which all together build up to a total
picture of what happened.

Diary or Log Book

➢ A variation of the chronological structure and gives a sense of immediacy to the
narrative.
➢ Makes the narrative seem so personal.

Questions-and-Answer
➢ Is a logical choice for interview stories which allows reader to hear the subject’s
voice without the awkwardness of having to repeat “he said” before every direct
quotation.

Frame, or the Story-within-a-Story

➢ Is a good structure to use when you wish to tell two stories-say, in a travel
narrative, where the actual physical journey is paralleled by an inner journey.

B. Irony
➢ Is a figure of speech in which words are used to mean the opposite of their actual
meanings.
➢ This does not only happen in fiction, in real life we can witness or even
experience many of life’s ironies.

C. Figures of Speech
➢ Phrase or word which means more than its literal meaning.
➢ This is helpful in creating vivid rhetorical effect.

Alliteration
➢ Involves using words that begin with the same sound.
➢ “Sally sells shells by the seashore.”
➢ “Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled pepper.”

Anaphora
➢ Uses specific clause at the beginning of each sentence or point to make a
statement.
➢ “Good night and good luck”
➢ “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

Assonance
➢ Focuses on the vowel sounds repeating them over and over to a great effect.
➢ “Hear the mellow wedding bells” EAP
➢ “If I bleat when I speak it’s because I just got…fleeced” Al Swearengen

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 3
 Hyperbole
➢ Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
➢ “I am so hungry I could eat a horse.”
➢ I’ve told you a million times.”

Irony
➢ Expresses one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite.
➢ “Oh great! Now you have broken my new camera.”

Metaphor
➢ Compares two things that are not alike and finds something about them to make
them alike.
➢ “My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill.”
➢ “Her voice is music to his ears.”

Simile
➢ Compares two things that are not really the same, but are used to make a point
about each other, usually uses words “like” and “as”.
➢ “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.”
➢ “She is as beautiful as Mona Lisa.”

Metonymy
➢ A thing or concept is called not by its own name but by the name of something
associated with that thing or concept.
➢ “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
➢ “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.”

Onomatopoeia
➢ Uses a word that actually sounds like what it means.
➢ “Hiss” for the sound made by snakes
➢ “boom” for the sound of an explosion

Paradox
➢ Completely contradicts itself in the same sentence.
➢ It is seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement that may be proved to be
well-founded or true.
➢ “This is the beginning of the end.”
➢ Youth is wasted on the young.”

Personification
➢ Giving an inanimate object the qualities of a living thing.
➢ “The tree with fear as the wind approached.”
➢ “The sun smiled down on her.”

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 4
 Pun
➢ Play of words.
➢ Uses different senses of the word, or different sounds that make up the word to
create something fun.
➢ “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.”
➢ She had a photographic memory but never developed it.”

Synecdoche
➢ One thing is meant to represent the whole.
➢ “He earns the bread.”
➢ “I don’t want to talk to gray beard.”

Understatement
➢ A situation which the thing discussed is made to seem much less important than
it really is.
➢ “100 homeruns isn’t a bad record.”

Antithesis
➢ Contradiction that pits two ideas against each other in a balanced way.
➢ “You’re easy on the eyes, hard on the heart.”
➢ To err is human, to forgive is divine.”

Euphemism
➢ Contains words that are used to soften the message or make it sound better than
it is.
➢ “His mother passed away.”
➢ “Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction when she performed at the Super
Bowl.”

Oxymoron
➢ It contains two contradicting words that are put together.
➢ “open secret”
➢ “deafening silence”

YOUR PRACTICE TEST

Exercise A
Instruction: Identify the terms of CNF described below.

1. It refers to the sequence of events that has a beginning, middle and end.
2. This is an important element of CNF that inhabits the story.
3. What do you call the teller of the story whose eyes we look through as we
read the piece?

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 5
 4. It is an element of writing that evokes certain feelings/ emotions conveyed by
the words used to describe the setting.
5. This is a type of structure that is a logical choice for interview stories which
allows the reader to hear the subject’s voice.
6. It is a figure of speech in which words are used to mean the opposite of their
actual meanings.
7. It refers to a thing that suggests more than its literal meaning.
8. This is a good structure to use when you wish to tell two stories in one
narrative.
9. It is a figure of speech that gives an inanimate object the qualities of living
thing.
10. This is another figure of speech that uses a specific clause at the beginning
of each sentence or point to make a statement.

Exercise B
Instruction: Do the task as instructed below.

1. Go back to the “Your Initial Task” and continue making the narrative about the
picture given. Make sure to employ all of the things discussed in this subject from
module 4 up to this module.

YOUR FINAL TASK

Task A
Instruction: Read and understand the passages and lines below and answer the
questions that follow. Choose and write the letter of your answer on the answer sheet.

1. “Hadn’t she felt it in every touch of the sunshine, as its golden finger
tips pressed her lids open and wound their way through her hair?”
What figure of speech is used in the line above?
A. personification B. metonymy C. synecdoche D. oxymoron

2. My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
My heart is like a rainbow shell…
What is the dominant figure of speech used in the poem above?
A. metaphor B. hyperbole C. simile D. antithesis

3. I am trying to solve a million issues today!

Determine the figure of speech used in the previous statement.
A. metaphor B. personification C. oxymoron D. hyperbole

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 6
 4. You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish. Unless of course, you
play bass. What figure of speech is used in the statement?
A. assonance B. pun C. anaphora D. understatement
5. “England won the World Cup in 1966.”
Determine the figure of speech in the previous statement.
A. synecdoche B. hyperbole C. understatement D. metaphor
6. She is perfectly imperfect.
What is the figure of speech used above?
A. euphemism B. oxymoron C. paradox D. irony
7. Betty botta bought a bit of bitter butter….
Determine the figure of speech used above.
A. pun B. alliteration C. assonance D. anaphora
8. …I’ll rise up high as the wave
…I’ll rise up in spite of the ache
What is the figure of speech used above?
A. alliteration B. anaphora C. assonance D. onomatopoeia
9. Many are called, but few are chosen.
Determine the figure of speech above.
A. paradox B. irony C. antithesis D. euphemism
10. What you did was not a bad performance.
What is the figure of speech used in the statement above?
A. personification B. irony C. euphemism D. understatement

Task B
Instruction: Do the task as instructed below.

Compose a short narrative employing all of the concepts discussed in this

module. The narrative that you will make should be about a movie, a book, a
song or a lesson that is very significant to you. Make sure to have a beginning,
middle and end. This may be composed of at least three paragraphs.

Criteria:

Effective Use of Literary Devices - 20

Content of the Narrative - 20
Mechanics and Originality - 10
50 pts

YOUR Thoughts
In this lesson, I learned/realized that ________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 7
 COR JESU COLLEGE
Basic Education Department

WORKSHEET IN CREATIIVE WRITING

NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: _________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _________

Task A

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 8
 COR JESU COLLEGE
Basic Education Department

WORKSHEET IN CREATIIVE WRITING

NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: _________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _________

Task B

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 9
 LEARNING MODULE
CREATIVE NONFICTION
(HUMSS Grade 11)

QUARTER 2- WEEK 9
LESSON 9: Types and Forms of Creative Nonfiction

YOUR TOPIC
Topic: Types and Forms of Creative Nonfiction
Materials: paper and pen

YOUR TARGET COMPETENCIES

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

➢ Determine the different types and forms of creative nonfiction.

➢ Identify the distinctive features of each type or form of creative nonfiction.

YOUR INITIAL TASK

Questions:
1. Have you read a diary?
2. How does it tell a story?
3. What makes it different from the essay that you submit to your science teacher?

YOUR TEXT
The Creative Nonfiction (CNF) genre can be rather elusive. It is focused on story,
meaning it has a narrative plot with an inciting moment, rising action, climax and
denouement, just like fiction. However, nonfiction only works if the story is based in
truth, an accurate retelling of the author’s life experiences. The pieces can vary greatly
in length, just as fiction can; anything from a book-length autobiography to a 500-word
food blog post can fall within the genre.
Source: https://owl.purdue.edu

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 10
 Similar to literary journalism, creative nonfiction is a branch of writing that
employs the literary techniques usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on
actual persons, places, or events (Nordquist, 2018).

With regard to the classifications of CNF, there are three broad categories of it:
biographical narratives, autobiographical narratives, and various kinds of personal or
informal essays (Aguila, Galan, and Wigley, 2017). These can be further classified as:

Biographical narratives include full-length biography and multi-volume

biography. These can be further divided into popular biography, literary biography,
historical biography. Also, there are profile, character sketch, and interview story.

Under autobiographical narratives are full length autobiography and multi-

volume autobiography. Memoire, diary, and journal are also part of it.

For personal and informal essay, the forms under which are: literary reportage,
descriptive essay, and reflective essay.

There is this special types of CNF as well. These are the compositions that
emerged brought by the middle class as they have access and can afford to go to
different places and taste different kinds of food. Thus, travel writing, food writing, and
nature writing were made.

Further, there is this emerging forms of CNF. This includes testimonio, blog,
and Facebook status reports. They may not be as literary as the others mentioned
above, but they still need to be given attention.

All of these forms, though have differences according to the purpose of writing,
but there is a great chance that they will be considered intertextual since they share the
same way of narrating factual events and structures of composing. Also, they share the
same literary devices and figures of speech in sharing factual events in a narrative or
literary manner without the intention of compromising the former.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 11
 YOUR PRACTICE TEST
Exercise A
Instruction: Arrange the forms and types of CNF according to their category in the
matrix below.
Biographical Autobiographical Literary/Informal Special Emerging
Narratives Narratives Essays Types of Forms of
CNF CNF
1. 1. 1. 1. 1.

2. 2. 2. 2. 2.

3. 3. 3. 3. 3.

4. 4.

YOUR FINAL TASK

Exercise A
Instruction: Write TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if not on the answer
sheet.
1. There are two broad categories in CNF and these are biographical and
autobiographical narratives.
2. Literary reportage is the same with memoire as they tell personal
stories.
3. Testimonio is not as literary as blogs.
4. Literary reportage is writing in a personal way about facts.
5. Emergent forms had been present in literary world since time
immemorial.
6. The popularity of travelogues and nature writing are associated to
middle class.
7. Profile and character sketch are used to tell personal stories of authors.
8. Life stories of people can be narrative in several books.
9. Memoire is the same in length of biography but differ its way of
narrating life story.
10. Intertextuality is very possible in CNF forms and types.

YOUR Thoughts
In this lesson, I learned/realized that ________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 12
 COR JESU COLLEGE
Basic Education Department

WORKSHEET IN CREATIIVE WRITING

NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: _________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _________

Task A

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 13
 LEARNING MODULE
CREATIVE NONFICTION
(HUMSS Grade 11)

QUARTER 2- WEEK 10
LESSON 9: Types and Forms of Creative Nonfiction

YOUR TOPIC
Topic: Biographical Narratives: Biography, Profile, Character Sketch, and
Interview Story
Materials: paper and pen

YOUR TARGET COMPETENCIES

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

➢ Differentiate the types of biographical narratives from one another;

➢ Compare and contrast literary biography and historical biography from
popular biography; and
➢ Write an interview story about a person whose life is interesting.

YOUR INITIAL TASK

Picture Telling:
Consider the pictures below and answer the questions that follow:

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 14
Questions:
1. Do you know the people whose pictures appear above?
2. What do you know about their lives?
3. What make their lives interesting?

YOUR TEXT
Biographical Narratives – comes from the term biography which is commonly considered
nonfictional, the subject of which is the life of an individual. This is one of the oldest forms of
literary expression. It seeks to re-create in words the life of a human being—as understood from
the historical or personal perspective of the author—by drawing upon all available evidence,
including that retained in memory as well as written, oral, and pictorial material (Kendal, n.d.).

Biographical narratives – can be classified according to their length, scope, and amplitude.
These are full-length biography, profile, character sketch, and interview story. Full length
biography can be either single-volume or multi-volume. Also, it can be further subdivided on the
basis of the subject into popular biography, literary biography and historical biography (Aguila,
Galan, & Wigley, 2017).

A Biography means as the narrative of a person’s life written by another person as author. This
is an accurate presentation of the life history from birth to death to deal of an individual, along
with an effort to interpret the life so as to offer a unified impression of the subject.

Full-length Biography – it covers the entirety of the featured person’s existence, covering all
the significant events surrounding his/her life from womb to tomb. This usually includes a family
tree and a chronology of milestones in its appendices to further guide potential readers of the
book.

An ideal biographer must have the necessary patience and stamina, as well as the clear vision
and powerful imagination, to construct or put together a more or less truthful narrative of the
subject’s life. The narrative must include his/her hopes, wishes, fears and apprehensions.

Types of Full-length biography: (Aguila, Galan & Wigley, 2017)

1. Popular Biography – refers to the life story of a famous or successful person – a show
business personality, a professional athlete, business tycoon, a political leader, fashion
celebrity, a reigning monarch, or even a serial killer. The main purpose of this biography is to
reveal to the most number of people the personal story of the public figure he/she intends to
immortalize. The purpose of the biographer in this type is to sensationalize the subject of the
narrative.

2. Literary Biography – A narrative of the life of a literary writer written by another literary
writer (Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo). This intends to share poetic truths.

3. Historical Biography – a narrative of the existence of a historical figure written by another

writer (historian) who is interested not only in the personal circumstances and historic events
that have shaped his/her subject and has his subject shaped the history. This intends to tell
historical facts.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 15
Note: To have a sample text of biography, you may read the excerpt of “Wash, Only a
Bookkeeper: A Biography of Washigton Z CyCip” in the Internet.

B. Profile – according to Peter Jacobi (n.d.), cities, streets, buildings, institutions can be
profiled. This recreates the subject, makes it come alive on paper, gives the subject shape and
meaning, causes readers to meet and know that subject, that city, that institution, and that
person. This is shorter than full-length biography. It is a kind of biographical narrative that
normally concentrates on a single aspect of the featured person’s life.

Before writing a profile, the writer must answer the question “Who is this person?” If the
writer knows the person, the writer will rely on memory and observation and personal
experience to write the profile. A good profile includes telling details, dialogue, and storytelling.
The writer will also use scene, summary, and personal reflection. A good profile is also
interesting, profiles someone new, encourages the reader to think more about the person. A
good profile informs, educates, and entertains readers. Some profiles have a serious tone while
others have a humorous tone (https://davehood59.wordpress).

Note: You may read “Florence Nightingale (in Eminent Victorians) and excerpt” to understand
further the difference between profile and full-length biography.

C. Character Sketch – a form of biographical narrative shorter than a profile. This is like a
visual sketch or a pen-and-ink drawing. This can be described as a cameo or miniature life
story. Its origin can be traced back to ancient China where Sima Qiam in his Shiji featured
highly animated character sketches, brief but full of anecdotes and dialogue, and arranged
according to character types.

Character sketch concentrates on revealing personality and character. It creates a vivid

impression of a subject rather than recounting a life story (https:larae.net).

For an example, read the excerpt of character sketch “Elsa Martinez Conscolluella (in Six
Sketches of Filipino Women Writers) by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo.

D. Interview Story – is a kind of biographical narrative the length of a typical newspaper or

magazine article. It zeroes in on one particular facet of the person’s life, but unlike the two
other short biographical narratives that requires some research and at least a couple of
interviews, the interview story can be a product of just one meeting between the writer
(interviewer) and his/her subject (interviewee).

Note: Read Bodhisattva,Baby of Sarge Lacuesta.

Writing tips:

To come up with a successful interview story, you may do the following:

1. Research on the person you intend to write about to familiarize yourself with his/her
background information.

2. Based on your research, prepare 10 interesting questions that are not answerable by a
simple “yes/no” to encourage a free-flowing conversation between you and your interviewee.

3. Conduct the interview in an organized manner to maximize the time you spend with your

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 16
 subject.

4. Take down notes for quick reference, even if you are recording the conversation.

5. Review the information you have gathered through your research and the interview you have
recently conducted with your subject.

6. Write your interview story.

YOUR PRACTICE TEST

Exercise A
Instruction: Determine the terms referred by the statements below:

1. It is a type of full-length biography that tends to sensationalize the details of

the life of its subject.
2. What type of full-length biography focuses on the life of its subject as a writer?
3. This is a kind of biographical narrative that requires thorough research.
4. This is as long as an article of a magazine.
5. This kind of biographical narrative requires great patience and stamina.

Exercise B
Instruction: Using any kind of graphic organizer, compare and contrast the four types
of biographical narratives: biography, profile, character sketch, and interview story.

YOUR FINAL TASK

Exercise A
Instruction: Read and follow the task given below.
Following the tips discussed above on writing an interview story, make 10 questions
and interview a family member whose life is very interesting. It could be your mother,
father, sibling aunt, uncle, or grandma/pa. After it, make a short interview story for it.

Criteria:
Effective Use of Narrative Technique - 10
Content and Creativity - 10
Mechanics and Originality - 10
30 pts

YOUR Thoughts
In this lesson, I learned/realized that ________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 17
 COR JESU COLLEGE
Basic Education Department

WORKSHEET IN CREATIIVE WRITING

NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: _________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _________

Task A

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 18
 LEARNING MODULE
CREATIVE NONFICTION
(HUMSS Grade 11)

QUARTER 2- WEEK 11
LESSON 9: Types and Forms of Creative Nonfiction

YOUR TOPIC
Topic: Autobiographical Narratives: Autobiography, Memoir, Diary, and Journal
Materials: paper and pen

YOUR TARGET COMPETENCIES

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

➢ Differentiate the types of autobiographical narratives from one another;

➢ Compare and contrast autobiography from memoir, diary and journal; and
➢ Compose a journal entry containing at least three-well written paragraphs.

YOUR INITIAL TASK

Starter Questions:
1. What is your most memorable experience?
2. Why is it most memorable to you?
3. What did you learn out from that experience?

YOUR TEXT
A. Autobiography – an account of one’s own life, generally a continuous narrative or
major events. It is the biography of oneself narrated by oneself. There are four types of
autobiography: thematic, religious, intellectual, and fictionalized. Autobiography requires
a man to take a distance with regard to himself in order to reconstitute himself in the
focus of his special unity and identity across time. Is more complete. It most from
dutiful line from birth to fame, omitting nothing (Aguila, Galan & Wigley, 2017).

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 19
Formal autobiographies offer a special kind of biographical truth: a life, reshaped by
recollection, with all of recollection’s conscious and unconscious omissions and
distortions. The novelist Graham Greene said that, for this reason, an autobiography is
only “a sort of life” and used the phrase as the title for his own autobiography
(Brittanica.com).

Note: Read “Memory’s Fictions: A Personal History” by Bienvenido N. Santos.

B. Memoir – Assumes the life and ignores most of it. It does not need to be arranged or
structured in a strictly chronological order like the autobiography. This can be written in
a fragmentary or dispersed style, like a mosaic or montage of small scale narratives.
Memoire comes from French word which means reminiscence. Thus, it means to have
recollections of one who has been part of or has witnessed significant events (Aguila,
Galang & Wigley, 2017).

Further, the difference between autobiography and memoire is that the former
covers the whole life story of the author, the latter on the other hand, only focuses on a
significant event of a life of the author.

Read: Sapay Koma written by Joannalyn Cruz.

C. Diary – a form of creative nonfiction that is a quotidian or a day-to-day record of

the specific events that have transpired in the life of its author and is ideally kept on a
daily basis. It is rawest and unedited form seems to be the most honest attempt of
an author to capture daily reality as he/she perceives it to be, if his/her main intention
in writing is to tell the truth.

It is a form of autobiographical writing, a regularly kept record of the diarist’s

activities and reflections. Written primarily for the writer’s use alone, the diary has a
frankness that is unlike writing done for publication. Its ancient lineage is indicated by
the existence of the term in Latin, diarium, itself derived from dies (“day”)
(brittanica.com).

D. Journal - more intimate than a diary, and even if it includes daily activities, it
contains personal details regarding the impressions and opinions of the journal writer
concerning certain intriguing incidents or issues that have come up and how specific
persons have affected him/her during the course of the day. It is typically very
expressive and confidential and is meant for private consumption and not meant
for publication. It may not be written on a daily basis, but can be written more often
than daily or less often depending on the author.

Writing Tips (Aguila, Galan, & Wigley, 2017):

1. Be as truthful as you can in sharing your most personal experiences and insights
about life.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 20
2. Consider your journal writing as “thinking on paper” or as a venue where you can
organize your deepest thoughts and innermost feelings.
3. In writing the first draft of your journal entry, the sentences do not have to be perfectly
constructed in terms of grammar.
4. Avoid being too self-conscious when writing your journal entry to allow your creative
juices to flow freely, so that you can be as uninhibitedly expressive as you can.
5. Since your journal is a sort of “catch-all,” you may include quotable quotes, poems,
snippets of overheard conversation, to-do lists or even drawings, sketches,
illustrations, diagrams and collages in your entry.

YOUR PRACTICE TEST

Exercise A:
Instruction: Write TRUE if the statement if correct and FALSE if not.

1. Autobiography focuses on the most significant event of the life of the author.
2. There can be themes that authors have in writing a journal and a diary.
3. Diary and journal and two terms which mean the same.
4. Autobiography may be done in a fragmentary way of writing.
5. The etymology of diary is “self+life+to write.”

Exercise B:
Instruction: Using and phrases and key terms, fill in the matrix below about the
differences of the types of autobiographical narratives.

Type Key Features

Autobiography
Memoir
Journal
Diary

YOUR FINAL TASK

Exercise A

Instruction: Read and follow the task given below.

Recollect the most significant event that happened to your life and compose a
journal about it with at least five paragraphs. You may use chronological sequence
or fragmentary manner of narrative.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 21
Criteria:
Effective Use of Narrative Technique - 10
Content and Creativity - 10
Mechanics and Originality - 10
30 pts

YOUR Thoughts
In this lesson, I learned/realized that ________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 22
 COR JESU COLLEGE
Basic Education Department

WORKSHEET IN CREATIIVE WRITING

NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: _________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _________

Task A

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 23
 LEARNING MODULE
CREATIVE NONFICTION
(HUMSS Grade 11)

QUARTER 2- WEEK 12
LESSON 9: Types and Forms of Creative Nonfiction

YOUR TOPIC
Topic: Literary, Familiar, Personal or Informal Essays: Literary Reportage,
Descriptive Essay, and Reflective Essay
Materials: paper and pen

YOUR TARGET COMPETENCIES

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

➢ Compare and contrast the personal literary or informal essay from the
documented, nonliterary essay; and
➢ Determine the distinguishing characteristics of the literary reportage, the
descriptive essay, and the reflective essay.

YOUR INITIAL TASK

Starter Questions:
1. Have you witnessed an accident?
2. What happened to that event? When and where did it happen?
3. What did you feel upon seeing it?

YOUR TEXT
A. Essay – an analytic, interpretative, or critical literary composition usually much
shorter and less systematic and formal than a dissertation or thesis and usually
dealing with its subject from a limited and often personal point of view (Aguila, Galan
& Wigley, 2017).

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 24
 The term essay comes from French word essayer which means to attempt or to
try. The main categories are: literary, personal, familiar or formal essay and non-
literary, documented or formal essay.

An essay is a "short formal piece of writing dealing with a single

subject" (Essay, 2001). It is typically written to try to persuade the reader using
selected research evidence (Essay, 1997).

Types of Essays

Personal essay – a relatively independent piece of writing derived from reflections or

experience. Since it is based on your perceptions and contains no references to
sources, it is called undocumented essay or simply an essay.

Informal essay – the personal element, humor, graceful style, rambling structure,
unconventionality or novelty, freedom from stiffness and affection, incomplete or
tentative treatment of topic.

Formal essay – has a serious purpose, dignity, logical organization, and length.

Documented essay or research paper – the writer indicates the various sources of
the concepts and ideas that he/she borrowed to support the thesis statement and topic
sentence.

Components of Typical Essays

Introduction – usually contains the thesis statement or the controlling idea that the
writer wants to share with his/her readers.

Supporting Paragraphs – is the body of the essay. It offers pieces of evidence and
logical arguments that enhance the thesis statement.

Transitional Paragraphs – short paragraphs that indicate the divisions of the essay,
especially in essays that are quite substantial in length.

Concluding paragraphs – provides a fitting ending to the essay. It often restates the
controlling idea or reflect the thesis statement.

B. Literary reportage – is a special kind of creative nonfiction or a narrative essay that

has emerged in the West in conjunction with the rise of the so called New Journalism in
the 1960s (Aguila, Galan & Wigley, 2017).

It is a form of CNF that presents viable data and well-researched information,

like a film or TV documentary. It is a hybrid between responsible journalism and
imaginative literature. Literary reportage shares with responsible journalism for it pays

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 25
close attention to sociocultural reality, past events, and current affairs. Literary
reportage shares with literature in its dependence on imaginative presentation, linguistic
invention, and personal intervention (Aguila, Galan, & Wigley, 2017).

This 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 (owl.purdue.edu). This is also known as literary journalism and new
journalism. Further, according to Tom Wolfe literary reportage is a combination of in-
depth reporting and literary ambition, and that literary journalists “wanted to make the
nonfiction story shimmer ‘like a novel’ with the pleasures of detailed realism.”

Note: Read the “The Story of an Eyewitness” of Jack London.

C. Descriptive essay - Its main intention is to represent the appearance or essence

of something. Description (sensory image) is the main rhetorical device used in this
essay. Carefully selected and properly arranged sensory details can help make a
descriptive essay more accurate, authentic, and astonishing (Aguila, Galan & Wigley,
2017).

It is a genre of essay that asks the student to describe something—object,

person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc. This genre encourages the student’s
ability to create a written account of a particular experience. This genre allows for a
great deal of artistic freedom. The goal of which is to paint an image that is vivid and
moving in the mind of the reader (owl.purdue.edu).

Types of Description:

1. Objective description – portrays the subject matter in a clear and direct manner as
it exists in reality beyond the realm of personal feelings and emotions. Articles about
science and technology are examples of this.

2. Subjective description – expresses the writer’s personal feeling and impression

about the subject matter, creating a certain tone, mode or atmosphere while
emphasizing a certain point. Emotional description involves personal views when
explaining an analysis.
Note: Read “Maria Cristina Falls” by Ralph Semino Galan.

D. Reflective Essay – is a kind of personal narrative essay whose main intention is to

analyze the significance of a past event through serious thought or consideration from
the vantage point of the present. The writer of this essay combines his/her own
subjective experiences and observations with careful assessment and analysis from an
objective perspective (Aguila, Galan, & Wigley, 2017).

The importance of reflective essay can be expressed this way – In an essay based on
your personal experiences, you have an opportunity to review your past, to evaluate it in

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 26
order to discover its significance to you, and in doing so to make your past interesting to
our readers.”
Note: Read “My First Lesson in How to Live as a Negro” by Richard Wright.

Writing Tips (Aguila, Galan & Wigley, 2017)

1. Choose a topic or subject matter that is close to your heart.

2. Formulate a catchy thesis statement or quirky assertion.
3. Create an outline that will serve as your guide or organizing principle in developing
your essay.
4. Provide the right sensory details (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch) that will lend
support to your thesis statement.
5. Conclude your essay with a powerful and vivid paragraph, since it will be the last
thing that your reader will encounter and remember.

YOUR PRACTICE TEST

Exercise A
Instruction: Using the Venn Diagram below: Compare and contrast traditional news
story and literary reportage.

Traditional News Literary Reportage

Exercise B
Instruction: Fill in the matrix about the differences of descriptive and reflective essays.

Descriptive Essay Reflective Essay

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 27
 YOUR FINAL TASK
Exercise A
Instruction: Determine the following terms referred by the statements below. Write your
answers on the answer sheet.

1. It is a form of CNF that can be described “an analytic, interpretative, or

critical composition…usually dealing with its subject from a limited and
often personal point of view.
2. This is a form of CNF that requires both journalistic and literary skills.
3. What form of CNF requires retrospection or a looking back of past
event to determine their significance in the present?
4. This is a form of CNF has its main intention of representation of the
appearance or essence of something.
5. In its original French context, what does word “essay” mean?
6. Which form of CNF emerged in conjunction with the rise of the so
called New Journalism in the 1960s?
7. What is that term synonymous to “familiar essay?”
8. This is a hybrid of responsive journalism and imaginative literature.
9. What is the synonymous term for “emotional description”?
10. What rhetoric device is used in descriptive essay?

YOUR Thoughts
In this lesson, I learned/realized that ________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 28
 COR JESU COLLEGE
Basic Education Department

WORKSHEET IN CREATIIVE WRITING

NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: _________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _________

Task A

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 29
 LEARNING MODULE
CREATIVE NONFICTION
(HUMSS Grade 11)

QUARTER 2- WEEK 13
LESSON 9: Types and Forms of Creative Nonfiction

YOUR TOPIC
Topic: Special Types of CNF: Travel Writing, Food Writing, and Nature Writing
Materials: paper and pen

YOUR TARGET COMPETENCIES

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

➢ Determine the distinguishing characteristics of travel writing, food writing,

and nature writing; and
➢ Compose a short piece of food writing that will feature a particular dish.

YOUR INITIAL TASK

Starter Questions:
4. Do you have a dish in your family which was inherited from your ancestors?
What is it?
5. What is the process of cooking it?
6. When do you usually prepare such food?

YOUR TEXT
A. Travel Writing – is a form of CNF that describes the narrator’s experiences in
foreign places. This usually includes a narration of the journey undertaken by the
narrator from his/her point of origin to the eventual destination, with all the hazards and
inconveniences encountered along the way (Aguila, Galang & Wigley, 2017).

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 30
 It entails detailed descriptions of the local customs and traditions, the
landscape or cityscape, the native cuisine, the historical and cultural landmarks,
and the insights and sounds the visited place has to offer. William Zinsser said
“What raises travel writing to literature is not what the writer brings to the place, but
what the place draws out of the writer.”

Travel writing is a form of creative nonfiction in which the narrator's encounters

with foreign places serve as the dominant subject. Also called travel literature
(Nordquest, 2019).

Also according to Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo travel literature “depends largely on

the wit, powers of observation, and character of the traveler for its success. In past
centuries the traveler tended to be an adventurer or a connoisseur of art, landscapes, or
strange customs who may also have been a writer of merit.”

Contemporary travel writing can be classified under either the essay or the
nonfiction narrative, depending on the focus of the writer. If an article has more
expository elements then it is an essay. If it has more anecdotal emphasis, the it is
nonfiction narration.

"All travel writing—because it is writing—is made in the sense of being

constructed, says Peter Hulme, "but travel writing cannot be made up without losing its
designation" (Youngs, 2013).

Travel Writing – covers wide range of narratives and essays.

Examples:
- Commercial tourist brochure and travel guides that contain all necessary
information an itinerant need to know to have a good time.
- Examples are Delectable travel narratives of Peter Mayle and insightful travel
essays of Joan Didion.
- The wonder books of the “residence-writer” Lawrence Durrell is more of a literary
type.
Reasons why people in general and writers in particular) travel:
- Physical challenges (adventure)
- Amusement and distraction (tour)
- Isolation and reflection (retreat)
- Purification and honoring the dead (pilgrimage)
- Redemption and penance (exile)
To be successful travel writer, an author must not be afraid to explore new places
and discover what they have to offer in terms of sight and sounds, fragrances and
textures, as well as delicacies and drinks. To successfully recreate his/her travel
experience for the intended readers, the travel writers must hone his/her five senses
and increase his/her vocabulary so that he/she can accurately describe what has
been seen, heard, smelled, tasted and touched.
Note: Read the “Hong Kong in the Sixties” by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 31
B. Food Writing – a direct branch of travel writing that evolved into a literary subgenre
of its own. It focuses on gustatory delights or disasters while simultaneously
narrating an interesting story and sharing an insight or two about human condition.

According to Richard Sterling “But there is one universal constant in travel. Any
number of people will tell you that they travel, in large part, to eat. To break bread with
strangers and leave the table with friends. To discover the world through the medium of
cuisine, deepen their understanding, broaden their horizons, and to make their travels
the richer.” Food writers consider food not only as a necessary substance for survival,
but as a manifestation of culture (Aguila, Galan & Wigley, 2017).

Food writing is all about passion – a passion for food, for tastes, and for the
senses. Food writers are a diverse class of writers much like the multi-faceted shapes,
angles and images represented in a kaleidoscope (Kohatsu, 2020).

To be successful food writer, an author must think of eating as a form of

gustatory adventure. This means that he/she must not be afraid to visit new restaurants
and try exotic dishes and drinks. The food writer must train his/her tongue and nose to
distinguish a wide variety of flavors and aromas and find precise words to describe how
they taste and smell. The food writer must also make his/her food writing interesting by
transforming the gustatory experience into a coherent narrative by weaving into the
article a personal anecdote or two, and then cap it off with a couple of insights on food
as a manifestation of culture.
Note: Read “Food for Thought” by Rajendra S. Khadka.

Nature Writing – is an offshoot of travel writing. It highlights the beauty and majesty of
the natural world as well as humanity’s special relationship with mother Earth. Some
forms of it zero in to the abuses committed by mankind on the natural environment and
its dire consequences for future generations (Aguila, Galang & Wigley, 2017).

Nature writing is a form of creative nonfiction in which the natural environment (or
a narrator's encounter with the natural environment) serves as the dominant subject
(Nordquest, 2017).

As a literary genre, it is highly dependent on scientific facts and figures about the
natural world, while integrating private observations of and philosophical contemplations
on the natural environment.

Natural philosophy – refers to prescientific observations and meditations on mankind’s

relationship with nature and the universe.

Natural history – refers to literature that is mainly concerned with the description of
flora and fauna, and their evolution throughout the millennia.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 32
Environmental writing – refers to proactive literature whose driving force is the
conservation or preservation of Mother Nature usually written in the idyllic or romantic
mode.

Nature writing – encompasses all forms of literary types and forms whose primary
concern is the natural world and how human beings respond to its loveliness or
degradation. This term covers a wide spectrum of writing ranging from field guides to
ecopoetry.

Three main dimensions:

1. natural history information
2. personal responses to nature
3. philosophical interpretation of nature

To be successful nature writer, an author must be a keen observer of natural

phenomenon, from the biggest spectacles to the smallest details, so that nothing will
escape his/her attention. The nature writer must do some research, so that he/she be
able to properly name the natural marvels being witnessed or the plants and animals
being observed. Lastly, the nature must develop his/her vocabulary through the help of
a dictionary and a thesaurus.
Note: Read the “ The Santa Ana” by Joan Didion.

Writing Tips:

1. Choose a dish that has an interesting backstory or narrative, be it personal,

communal or historical.
2. If you are writing about an exotic delicacy that may prove to be unfamiliar to many of
your potential readers, provide them with some background information about it, as
well as a list of its ingredients and the recipe for its preparation.
3. As best as you can, describe the dish and how it is prepared by evoking the
appropriate sensory details in their proper order (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch).
4. Explain as convincingly as you can how your dish is a gustatory manifestation of a
particular culture, the food tradition where it belongs, and on what particular occasion/s
it is usually served.
4. Conclude your food essay by convincing your readers why they should try your favorite
dish if given the chance to do so.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 33
 YOUR PRACTICE TEST
Exercise A
Instruction: Supply the distinctive features for each genre of CNF present in the matrix
below.
Food Writing Travel Writing Nature Writing

YOUR FINAL TASK

Exercise A
Instruction: Read and follow the task given below.

Compose a five-paragraph food essay or food narrative featuring a particular dish of

your own choice. The introductory paragraph should contain some historical and/or
personal background about this dish. The second and third paragraphs should
provide readers with a list of the necessary ingredients and the recipe for the
preparation of the dish. The fourth paragraph should contain a vivid description of
the dish in terms of its appearance (sight), aroma, or fragrance (smell), sizzle
(sound), flavor or tang (taste), and texture (touch) on the plate and tongue. The last
paragraph should inform the readers of the cultural significance of the dish, and why
they should try it.
Criteria:
Effective Use of Narrative Technique - 10
Content and Creativity - 10
Mechanics and Originality - 10
30 pts

YOUR Thoughts
In this lesson, I learned/realized that ________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 34
 COR JESU COLLEGE
Basic Education Department

WORKSHEET IN CREATIIVE WRITING

NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: _________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _________

Task A

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 35
 LEARNING MODULE
CREATIVE NONFICTION
(HUMSS Grade 11)

QUARTER 2- WEEK 14
LESSON 9: Types and Forms of Creative Nonfiction

YOUR TOPIC
Topic: Emerging Forms of CNF: Testimonio, Blog, and Facebook Status Report
Materials: paper and pen

YOUR TARGET COMPETENCIES

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

➢ Determine the distinguishing characteristics of testimonio, blog and

Facebook status report;
➢ Compose a well-written blog comprising five paragraphs about a topic of
one’s own choice.

YOUR INITIAL TASK

Starter Questions:
7. What do you usually post on Facebook?
8. Do those posts talk about your daily life?
9. How about the posts you see on FB, do they talk about life story of other people?

YOUR TEXT
A. Testimonio – is a subgenre of trauma literature – the body of writing which came
into being as a response to the mindless persecutions and heartless abuses committed
on a massive scale by those who are positions of power on subaltern or oppressed

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 36
groups of people due to their differences in race, class, and gender (Aguila, Galan, &
Wigley, 2017).

An emerging form of CNF that first appeared in Latin America. This is defined as
published oral or written “first-hand accounts” of human rights violations and abuses of
the powers-that-be in oppressive society, “which the witnesses wrote themselves, or
dictated to a transcriber.”

The term testimonio originally comes from South America and Central America
after international human rights tribunal, truth commissions, and other fact-finding
boards in countries like Argentina, Chile, Guatemala have uncovered the rampant
injustices committed against ethnic minorities (like native Indian population of the
aforementioned nations) and the other subaltern groups (like the poorest of the poor,
women, and gay people).

From the global perspective, term can be applied to holocaust literature as

written by Jewish people who have personally witnessed the persecutions of the Jews
in the cattle trains, concentration camps, and gas chambers by the cruel hands of
German Nazis. The term can also describe the autobiographical writings of African-
American authors such as Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Jacobs, who
chronicled the horrors of slavery and being treated like chattels (tangible movable
personal property, like livestock or work animals) by their white masters simple because
they are born with black skin.

In the Philippine context, the oral history of the “comfort women” who suffered
sexual and physical abuses under Japanese occupation army can also be classified as
testimonio.
Note: Read “Comfort Woman: Slave of Destiny” by Maria Rosa Henson

B. Blog – short for web log. An online diary that looks like a web page. This is an
electronic platform in the internet that its end user can constantly update by changing its
contents in terms of additional texts, photos, and links to the other websites (Aguila,
Galan & Wigley, 2017).

John Barger coined the term web log into blogs. Blogs, in general, usually offer
learned and not-so-learned commentaries on a wide variety of specific topics and
subject areas, ranging from pole dancing to politics, from strawberry shortcake to show
business, from hysteria to history, from contact dermatitis to contact sports, from
ecological poetry to economics and many others.

Literary blogs, on the other hand, serve as the personal online diaries of the
creative writers (poets and fictionists, playwrights and nonfiction authors) who maintain
them.
Note: Read “The Piano Lessons” by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 37
C. Facebook Status Report – Facebook is the social networking website founded by
Mark Zuckerberg and classmates in Harvard University. At first, it was exclusive for
Harvard students so that they may know one another and get in touch more easily. The
term “face book” originally refers to a printed or web directory in American universities
containing their respective students’ names and pictures distributed by school officials in
the beginning of each academic year with the main aim of helping students become
more familiar with one another (Aguila, Galan & Wigley, 2017).

Status Report refers to a report that summarizes a particular situation as of a

stated period of time. A report describing the current situation with regard to a business,
project, matter, etc., especially one in a series of such reports summarizing a changing
state of affairs.

Facebook status report is the most accessible internet platform for self-
expression for the millennial generation and beyond.
Note: Read the samples attached.

Writing Tips:

To come up with an interesting blog entry, you may do the following:

1. Pick a topic that you are very familiar with, or one that you intend to know more about
through research.
2. Invent a captivating title and compose a catchy introduction to grab the attention and
hook your potential readers to your blog entry.
3. Organize the content of your blog entry so that your readers will not suffer from
information overload.
4. Write your blog entry with as much truth and honesty as you can, so that your
readers will be won over by your sincerity and candor, and not by your political
correctness.
5. Before you post your blog entry in the internet, subject it to copyediting and
proofreading to minimize grammatical errors.

YOUR PRACTICE TEST

Exercise A
Instruction: Determine the genre of CNF referred by the statements. Write the letter of
your answer.

A. Blog B. FB status report C. Testimonio D. All of the choices

1. Which of the emerging types of CNF is a subgenre of trauma literature?

2. This is an emerging form of CNF which is considered as the most accessible
platform for self-expression to the internet generation.

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 38
 3. What emerging type of CNF gives voice to subaltern or oppressed individuals,
whose voice otherwise would have been silenced by the powers-that-be?
4. This is an emerging form of CNF which can be described as “online diary that
looks like a web page.”
5. It is an emerging form of CNF that is typically short and usually provides
information without being too detailed.

YOUR FINAL TASK

Exercise A
Instruction: Read and follow the task given below.

Choose a certain topic that is very close to your heart and make a blog about it.
Have at least five paragraphs and make sure to follow the guidelines in writing a
blog. However, the composition that you will have does not need to be uploaded.
You just have to write it on the answer sheet provided.

Criteria:
Effective Use of Narrative Technique - 10
Content and Creativity - 10
Mechanics and Originality - 10
30 pts

YOUR Thoughts
In this lesson, I learned/realized that ________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 39
 COR JESU COLLEGE
Basic Education Department

WORKSHEET IN CREATIIVE WRITING

NAME: _______________________________ SECTION: _________

TEACHER: _______________________________ DATE SUBMITTED: _________

Task A

Cor Jesu College- Basic Education Department LEARNING MODULE IN CREATIVE WRITING 40