WRIT 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Creative Nonfiction

• School: University of Victoria
• Department: Writing
• Course: WRIT 100
• Professor: Henderson Lee

Document Summary

Creative nonfiction is factually accurate writing that is compelling, vivid and dramatic. Our goal is to reconstruct true events so that they read as if they are happening right now, in the same way that fiction feels like it"s happening before our eyes. In-scene actions and revelation that come to you as you"re writing it. Key characteristics: subject matter of everyday people, places and things, voice driven. Unlike reportage, neutrality is neither required nor encouraged. The author"s beliefs, personal history, biases underpin the voice, even if they are never mentioned specifically. Even if you don"t use i , you are in it: rich details, delving deep into the subject. Cnf has two mandates: it shares fiction"s responsibility to tell a compelling story, and it shares journalism"s responsibility to tell the truth. The writing seems casual but is deeply persuasive. Regular experiences, illuminated in such a way that they become extraordinary.