Creative Nonfiction

It came to my attention back when I was the Nonfiction Editor for Shadows Express Magazine that many writers submitting items for this category are under the assumption that nonfiction means only essays, articles, blogs, journals, and how-to manuals. We all have a story within us—a true event in our life which cries to be released, to be shared. Perhaps a lesson in courage can be learned from the story of your great-grandmother who was captured as a girl and raised by the Comanches. A narrative of a kind and gentle great-uncle who was hanged by the Klan for tipping his hat to a white woman may strike a chord of equality in the heart of a potential bigot. Sharing an accurate account of what life was like for your mother in a locked-down Alzheimer’s ward could offer hope and improvement for these facilities.

In my article "Write What You Know" , I used the example of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to demonstrate how fiction is borne of fact, familiarity, and experience. “Write what you know,” Mr. Clemens said. Had the author actually lived the life of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn, his classic work would not be deemed fiction but would rather be classified as nonfiction—more specifically, creative nonfiction.

Lee Gutkind, author of The Best Creative Nonfiction, states, “Ultimately, the primary goal of the creative nonfiction writer is to communicate information, just like a reporter, but to shape it in a way that reads like fiction.”

The term seems to be an oxymoron. How can one create facts and true events? Creative nonfiction is a genre which allows the author to resuscitate real characters with true conflicts, plots, and resolutions which exist in the settings of the natural world while utilizing the same literary style and structural framework as a fictional narrative.

According to Dr. Tilar J. Mazzeo, Professor of English at Colby College, bringing together the imaginative strategies of fiction storytelling and new ways of narrating real-life events, creative nonfiction is the fastest-growing part of the creative writing world—and the fastest-growing part of the market for books as well.

The following is a list of well-known examples of Creative Nonfiction:
Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy

So don’t feel that the category of nonfiction limits your writing to essays and articles. Create a nonfiction story based on real-life events and characters just as exciting and moving as any fantasy of the mind—even more so since your story is true!