COURSE: Creative Nonfiction

TEACHER: Ruby F. Biboso GRADE AND SECTION: 12 HUMSS

WEEK/LESSON: Week 1-Lesson 1 TIME: 9:35 – 10:35

The term creative nonfiction is credited to Lee Gutkind, who defines this genre as
“true stories well told.” However, the concept of literary nonfiction has its roots in
ancient poetry, historical accounts, and religious texts.

The word “creative” refers to the utilization of various techniques, strategies and styles
in literary writing.
The term “nonfiction” presents authentic or real events and experiences.
 I. Introduction to Literary Genres

1. Understanding Conventions of Traditional Genres

Conventions are defining features or elements of particular literary genres. Genre
means a type of art, literature, or music characterized by a specific form, content,
and style. There are four main genres.in literature.

A. POETRY
Poetry is the first major literary genre. All types of poetry share specific characteristics.
In fact, poetry is a form of text that follows a meter and rhythm, with each line and
syllable. It is further subdivided into different genres, such an epic poem, narrative,
romantic, dramatic, and lyric.

CONVENTIONS of POETRY:
 Simile – It makes a comparison using ‘as’ and those that make a comparison using
‘like’.
Example:
She is as strong as an ox. She sings like a nightingale

 Metaphor – It makes comparisons between things by stating that one thing

literally is something else.
Example:
Time is money. Life is a rollercoaster

 Personification- A non-human thing or idea is ascribed human qualities or

abilities.
Example:
Summer held the land with warm embrace.
The old tree bows its head to everyone who seeks its shade.

 Alliteration - The repetition of the initial consonant sound of a series of words,

often consecutively.
Example:
True love last a lifetime. Those lazy lizards are lying like lumps in
the leaves.

 Assonance - Similarly to alliteration, assonance involves the repetition of sounds

in a series of words, often consecutive words. However, rather than repeating the
initial sounds, assonance focuses on the internal vowel sounds that are repeated.
Example:
Hear the mellow wedding bells.
The rain on Spain falls mainly on plain.

 Onomatopoeia - It refers to the process of creating words that sound like the very
thing they refer to.
Example:
Bang! Oink!

 Imagery – Descriptive languages used to show what is physically happening

particularly using 5 senses.
Example:
It was dark and dim in the forest. (visual images)
The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. (auditory sense)
He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. (olfactory sense)
The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. (tactile sense)
The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet. (gustatory sense)
  Rhyme - Rhyme refers to the repetition of sounds in a poem. Various types of
rhyme are possible, however in English we usually use the term rhyme to refer to
the repetition of the final sounds in a line, or end rhyme.
Example:
The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.

 Rhythm – It involves sound patterning. A lot of classical poetry conforms to a

systematic regularity of rhythm which is referred to as the poem’s meter. This
involves the combining of stressed and unstressed syllables to create a constant
beat pattern that runs throughout the poem. Each pattern of beats is called a foot.
There are various possible combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables, or
feet, and these patterns have their own names to describe them. While it is
impossible to explore all of these in this article, we take a look at one of the more
common ones below.
Example:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day
[Iambic pentameter i.e. five metrical feet of alternating unstressed and stressed
syllables]

B. DRAMA
Drama has one characteristic peculiar to itself—it is written primarily to be performed,
not read.

CONVENTIONS of DRAMA
 Plot - refers to the action; the basic storyline of the play.
Exposition- provides background information needed to make sense of the
action, describes the setting, and introduces the major characters
Rising action - here the events of the story begin to create suspense as the
character faces conflict.
Climax - moment of greatest tension
Falling action- the section of the plot following the climax, in which the
tension stemming from the story's central conflict decreases and the story moves
toward its conclusion.
Denouement- the end of the story

 Theme - refers to the meaning of the play. Theme is the main idea or lesson to be
learned from the play. In some cases, the theme of a play is obvious; other times it
is quite subtle.

 Characters - The people (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed by the actors in

the play. It is the characters who move the action or plot.
Protagonist
Antagonist

 Characterization - the way an author presents a character.

 Dialogue - This refers to the words written by the playwright and spoken by the
characters in the play. The dialogue helps move the action of the play along.

 Spectacle -This refers to the visual elements of a play: sets, costumes, special
effects, etc. Spectacle is everything that the audience sees as they watch the play.

 Music/Rhythm - Music is often featured in drama, in this case Aristotle was

referring to the rhythm of the actors' voices as they speak.
  Convention - These are the techniques and methods used by the playwright and
director to create the desired stylistic effect.

 Audience - This is the group of people who watch the play. Many playwrights and
actors consider the audience to be the most important element of drama, as all of
the effort put in to writing and producing a play is for the enjoyment of the
audience.

C. FICTION and NONFICTION

Fiction is make-believe, invented stories. They may be short stories, fables, vignettes,
plays, novellas, or novels. Although writers may base a character on people they have
met in real life, the characters and the experiences that the character faces in the story
are not real.

Nonfiction is a prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as
biography or history.

CONVENTIONS of FICTION and NONFICTION

 PLOT - Plot is the order of events in the story. The plot usually follows a particular
structure called Freytag’s Pyramid.

 SETTING- Setting is where and when the story takes place. It includes the
following:
• The immediate surroundings of the characters such as props in a scene: trees,
furniture, food, inside of a house or car, etc.
• The time of day such as morning, afternoon, or night.
• The weather such as cloudy, sunny, windy, snow, or rain, etc.
• The time of year, particularly the seasons: fall, winter, summer, spring.
• The historical period such as what century or decade the story takes place.
• The geographical location including the city, state, country, and possibly even
the universe, if the writer is writing science fiction.
2 Types of Setting:
The physical setting is of course where the story takes place. The “where” can be very
general (a small farming community) —or very specific—a two story white frame house
at 739 Hill Street in Scott City, Missouri.
The chronological setting gives virtually no clues as to where or when the story is set.
 CHARACTERS - Characters are the people, animals, or aliens in the story.

Flat characters do not play important roles

Round characters play an important role, often the lead roles in
stories
 CHARACTERIZATION - Is a means by which writers present and reveal
characters – by direct description, by showing the character in action, or by the
presentation of other characters who help to define each other.
Static characters - unchanging: they remain the same from the beginning of a work to
the end.
Dynamic characters - exhibit some kind of change – of attitude, purpose, behavior, as
the story progresses.
 CONFLICT - struggle between opposing forces, that is usually resolved by the end
of the story
2 Types of Conflict
Internal conflict is when a character struggles with their own opposing desires or
beliefs. It takes place inside the characters mind.
man against him/herself
External conflict sets a character against something or someone beyond their control.
man against nature
man against man
man against animal

 POINT OF VIEW - refers to who tells the story and how it is told.
1st Person Narrator (uses pronoun I): The narrator presents the point of view of only
one character’s consciousness, which limits the narrative to what the first-person
narrator knows, experiences, infers, or can find out by talking to other characters
Example: I tripped on the last stair, preoccupied by what my sister had said, and felt my
stomach drop.
2nd Person Narrator ( uses pronoun you/your): The writer speaks to the reader, as if
the reader is the protagonist or uses apostrophe to speak on an absent or unidentified
object.
Example: Your breath catches as you feel the phantom step.
O, staircase, how you keep me awake at night.
3rd Person Narrator (uses pronouns he, she, or they):
1. Omniscient: The narrator is all-knowing and takes the reader inside the characters’
thoughts, feelings, and motives, as well as shows what the characters say and do.
Example: Beneath the surface, his sister felt regretful. Why did I tell him that? she
wondered.
2. Limited omniscient: The narrator takes the reader inside one (or at most very few
characters) but neither the reader nor the character(s) has access to the inner lives of
any of the other characters in the story.
Example: He was visibly frustrated by his sister’s nonchalance and wasn’t watching his
step.
 Style - The author’s type of diction (choice of words), syntax (arrangement of
words), and other linguistic features of a work.

 Theme(s) - The central and dominating idea (or ideas) in a literary work. The term
also indicates a message or moral implicit in any work of art.

 Nonlinear Narrative - A nonlinear narrative may be told in a series of flashbacks

or vignettes. It might jump back and forth in time. Stories about trauma are often
told in this fashion. If using this plot form, be sure to make clear to readers
how/why the jumps in time are occurring. A writer might clarify jumps in time by
adding time-stamps or dates or by using symbolic images to connect different
vignettes.