FORMS AND TYPES OF

CREATIVE NONFICTION
OBJECTIVE:
To be able to know and
understand the forms and
types of creative nonfiction.
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REQUIRED OUTPUT:
An artistic presentation
summarizing, analyzing,
and commenting on a
chosen creative
nonfictional text
representing a
particular type or form.
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EXERCISE 1
Arrange the following words to reveal the
types and forms of CNF.
YAOOGIHRPATBU
AIRBHYPGO
ERTYAILR INUJSRMALO
ROALNPSE TVRASREAIN
UAOVTEELGR
EIFORNTECL SYASE
UETR TREASAVRIN
OGBSL
OTETMINSIO
ERIMMO
OFDO NIRTIGW
REPLSNAO SEYSA
OYEOPSRIXT SEYSA
RENAVATRI SEYSA
GMARTIAUEVENT SEYSA
EVPURSIAES SEYSA
FORMS AND TYPES OF CREATIVE NONFICTION

∙ 1. Autobiography/biography

∙ 2. Literary journalism

∙ 3. Personal narratives/autobiographical narratives

∙ 4. Travelogue/travel narrative

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FORMS AND TYPES OF CREATIVE NONFICTION

∙ 5. Reflection essay

∙ 6. True narratives

∙ 7. Blogs

∙ 8. Testimonio

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FORMS AND TYPES OF CREATIVE NONFICTION

∙ 10. Memoir

∙ 11. The Essays

∙ a. Personal Essay

∙ b. Expository Essay

∙ c. Narrative Essay

∙ d. Persuasive/Argumentative Essay
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 “
Creative nonfiction is expected to be informative, and
therefore, accurate.

It is arguably more accurate than traditional reportage since it

probes its subject more thoroughly. It is also expected to be
subjective in its approach.

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY
autos = self

bios = life
graphe = writing

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY covers the life
of the writer from birth to the
present.
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 Being a complete life story, autobiographies give
the reader a holistic picture of who, what, and
how the writers became such a person.

 Their autobiographies express their inner

thoughts.
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In writing autobiography, you are more of a “truth-
seeker” than a “truth-teller.” As you write your life
story, you will eventually discover the meaning of
your life. As others read it, they may also find the
truth of their own lives as they draw lessons from
yours.
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The most important reason for writing an
autobiography is to assert your life’s
significance and to serve as an inspiration
to others.

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BIOGRAPHY
bio = life
graphia = written
account

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BIOGRAPHY covers the entirety of
another person’s life.

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 Biography writers must do extensive
research to create portraits of their
subject.
The biographer’s task is to bring the
readers to the time and place of the
subject.

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Its difference from autobiography is that it
doesn’t have the intimacy that comes from
the subject himself telling the story.

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 In autobiography, the writer is the “I.”

 In biography, the writer is an “eye” that selects,

edits, and arranges documents, events, and
accounts into one compelling story.

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Success or Failure of the Biographer:

 The biographer strives to transform information into insight,

understanding, and awareness as attested by available data.
 Inventing or suppressing facts for dramatic effects is failure of
truth.
 Merely recounting the facts is failure of creativity.
 A successful biographer is informative and creative.

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LITERARY JOURNALISM

It uses storytelling
techniques to bring
facts to life in the
reader’s imagination.

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 “
News is a story and journalists are
“the professional storytellers of our
age.” (Bell, 1994)

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A literary journalist recreates a news
event as if the readers were reading a
short story or a novel.

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 FORMS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM

 feature article

 reportage

 personality profile

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A FEATURE STORY is longer than the usual
news and reads more like a storiette – a very
short story (500-2000 words).
 The basic instruction for a feature writer is
‘make it interesting; tell a story.’

 We also want entertainment, enlightenment,

and emotional engagement with what we
read in the papers.
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 “
…news is its lifeblood, readers are its heart, and features may
be said to be its soul.” (V.P.V. Rajan, evening editor of the
Indian newspaper, Madras Mail)

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Writing the Feature Story
In his book The Art and Craft of Feature Writing (1988),
American writer William E. Blundell suggests the following
approaches in writing feature stories.
I. GATHERING YOUR FACTS

a. History: When and who started it? What are the

important events on the timeline of the story?

b. Scope: What is the status of the current

situation? How many people are affected?
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c. Central reasons: Why is this happening? What are
the social, economic, political forces responsible for
it?

d. Impacts: Who will be affected? How are they

responding to it?
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e. Actions of contrary forces: Has anybody taken
action? Is it effective or not?
f. The future: How are things going to be like for
people who are directly involved?

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II. ENGAGING THE READERS

a. Tease the readers: Make the reader invest their

time in reading the lead – the “narrative hook”
that introduces the story and will make them
read on until the end.
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b. Tell them what you’re up to: A simple statement
that lets the reader know what the story is about.

c. The Nut Graph: Summarize paragraphs of what the

story is all about and why it is important, transitions,
or connecting ideas link them all together.
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e. Make the readers “buy” it: Nail it down to the
reader’s memory. Put an ending that will make the
story unforgettable.

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REPORTAGE is eyewitness account, in-depth
reporting, interpretive reporting, and
investigative reporting (Chevalier 1997).
It is derived from the Latin reportare, which
means to report or announce news.

Reportage is the French word for reporting.

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‘Eye’ report of a story: This means that the writer
should not only get the facts of the events correctly,
but also the meaning behind those facts.

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As an eyewitness, the writer supplies
1. background information about the event;
2. the human element of the story;
3. extensive explanation to help readers realize the
significance of the events.

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A good reportage writer is attentive to details
and thoroughly observes the people as and
where they are.

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PERSONALITY PROFILE
A story via interview
The PROFILE is a portrayal of what is most
interesting or compelling about that person.

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Our knowledge about a person is close and
intimate because a personality profile usually
focuses on a single aspect of that person’s life.

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The writer’s basic instruction is ‘make the person talk
and reveal a focal aspect of his/her life.

As a story, the personality profile should make the

readers connect with the subject.

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 “
…the ethical duty to the person being interviewed is an
accurate presentation of their position.” (William Zinsser,
2001)

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The interview puts on the line the “person’s honor
and reputation – and also your own.”
Balancing between the subject’s words and the
writer’s words is a must for writing the personality
profile.

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It might be the profile of another person, but it is
also yours as the writer.
It might be the subject’s words as uttered in an
interview, but they are also yours as you wrote
them.
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 A PROFILE OF THE PERSONALITY PROFILE

Lori Russell, an American profile writer, outlines the profile of

personality profile.

 An intriguing beginning – to draw the readers into the story

and puts the reader in the middle of it. This explains to the
readers what makes this person interesting. It can be in the
form of simple information, a question, a description, or a
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 The body of the profile – provides background
information with details in quotes or words
obtained during the interview. Statements from
family members, friends, colleagues, or anyone
who knows the person as well as other sources
can be included. It can be written chronologically
or thematically.
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 Wrapping it up – Just as you begin intriguingly, you also
end in the same way. An easy way to do it is, to refer
back to your thesis – of what makes this person
interesting. You can also end by writing a descriptive
scene or catching remarks from the person – his/her
voice will make the profile memorable to the readers.

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TRAVELOGUE
“True travel writing is the
lyrical account of an
adventure marked by
curiosity and courage,
rather than showmanship.” –
Sallie Tisdale, Never Let
the Locals See Your Map
(1995, 66-74) 65
“A travel book has the capacity to express a country’s heart –
and perhaps the heart of a traveller too – but only as long as it
stays away from vacations, holidays, sight-seeing and half-
truths in official handouts; as long as it concentrates on people
in their landscape, and includes the discomforts as well as the
pleasures, the dissonances as well as the melodies, the
contradictions and the vivid trivia. (1989, 8)
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We write travel essays or travel narratives to
chronicle the journey.

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TRAVEL ADVISORY TO TRAVEL WRITERS

Indian by descent, British by birth, raised in

America and educated in both American
and British universities is the renowned
travel writer Pico Iyer.

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In the essay “The Nine Commandments of Travel Writing,”
Iyer advises travel writers:

1. To think of one’s travel writing as something else. You

should treat it not as a travel book, but a history, a memoir.
In other words, a story.

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2. To regard travel writing as a quest, a question: Getting
lost, frustrated, the stumbles and uncertainties along the
way make you deeply-seated in the journey. In other
words, it is unforgettable.

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3. To view a travel writer as more of a writer than a traveler.
The travel writer is first and foremost a writer. The best
travel books were written by poets and novelists.

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4. To write about travel in order to teach something. Details
and pieces of information must feel like a “crunchy piece of
popcorn” that “you can’t stop eating.”

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5. To create a world where even mundane things like
“going to the movies, walking down the street, picking up
the phone book,” feel like adventures.

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6. To turn one eye toward the reader, the other to the
subject.

7. To listen and talk to the place. There is always

something unanswered when you reached a certain place.
‘Talk’ to it by checking for some background information
about it. Follow an inner compulsion to be there.

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8. To not necessarily go that far. Henry David Thoreau’s
Walden is partly a memoir and a spiritual quest about his
two years of sitting still in a house by the pond.

9. To remember that, in the end, every great work of travel

writing is also about an inner journey.

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REFLECTION ESSAY
It is an exercise in
introspection.

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 It explores your personal thoughts, feelings, and
opinions about a topic and how it affects you.

 It also challenges your critical thinking about your

own feelings.

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TRUE NARRATIVE
∙ It is a true story with
plot, action,
suspense characters
and setting which
delivers a theme.

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It is the most informal of the types of essays
because you are telling a story according to
your sense of style – the narrative voice.

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Basic Qualities:

 It recreates an experience through time.

 It can be based on one of your own experiences, either

past or present, or it can be based on the experiences of
someone else.

 It communicates the main idea or a lesson learned.

Reference: www.brunswick.k12.me.us
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BLOGS

 It is a short form for the

word weblog.

 It is a frequently updated
online personal journal or
diary.

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 BLOG WITH A PURPOSE

 Why are you doing this?

 A blog dies as easily as it is born because the blogger can’t

make it thrive.

 A sense of purpose and focus is your blog’s lifeline.

 For an aspiring writer, blogging serves the purpose of

improving writing skills.
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 What is the purpose for blogging?

 What will be the focus/themes of your blog?

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 WHO ARE YOU?

 Writing is expressing what’s on your mind.

 Everyone on the internet speaks at the same time. If you

speak just like the rest, no one will hear you and your blog
will die of silence.

 You have to write regularly. In time, your writing

personality will emerge with a distinct style and substance.
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 Basic Elements of The ABOUT page

 Speaks in the first person

 Has a strong opening statement

 Tells the readers the benefits of reading the blog by

declaring who you are and what you do

 Reveals to the readers how you got to where you are now

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 Let the readers know what you stand for, what you believe
in, and what inspires you

 Shares bits of personal information that highlight your

uniqueness

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