Writing Nonfiction

The unit on nonfiction is designed so that you can spend the majority of your time writing. During the course of this unit you should be writing at least 40 minutes per day. In this module on nonfiction, you will be asked to write a minimum of four rough drafts totaling 1500 to 3000 words. You will be required to process two nonfiction works through the writing process to the publishing.

What is nonfiction?

Nonfiction is a literary work that does not involve imaginary events or people. History and biographies are two examples.

What is creative nonfiction?

Creative nonfiction, also called literary fiction, is telling a real story and using all the craft of a writer to tell it well. Creative nonfiction is telling the truth in such a way that it becomes compelling and exciting to your reader - it takes you and your reader to real spaces, real people, true stories, gives you their essence and makes you care.

It may be your story.

It may be the story of a friend.

It may be the story of something that is happening in your community, your province, your world.

It may be inspiring to others.

It may be a dark and scandalous secret that is brought to light.

It may be many things, but it is always true, real, and accurately told.

Writers of creative nonfiction may use all the elements that make up a good fictional story, but they cannot make any of them up; they cannot invent what happens.

On one hand this makes the story easier to write because you need not rely on your imagination to come up with a good story. And good nonfiction lives everywhere - in your house, down the street, in your community, your country. / On the other hand, it means that you must research thoroughly and make every attempt to report accurately and exactly. There are real people who will be affected by what you write and you have a greater responsibility than that of the writer who invents his or her characters.

Why write creative nonfiction?

To coin a famous phrase, “The Truth is Out There.”

There are stories that need to be told, stories that are begging for a voice. It is true that real life is often stranger than fiction - and most of the time it's more interesting. Writing good nonfiction is every bit as demanding of your creativity, and your skills as a visionary writer, as is writing fiction. The only difference is that you are presenting truth.

What is the difference between writing short fiction and writing creative nonfiction?

Only the starting point (reality vs. imagination) and the attention you must pay to telling the story as it happened are different.

1. Nonfiction: Inkshed Journal

Read one of the following works of creative nonfiction.

"Remember, Mum, When I Mocked You?" By Irshad Manji
"Visions Of Excellence" by Mark Tewksbury
"A Report from Space" by Roberta Bondar
"Home" by Sharon Butala

Devise a rating system and rate the story you read according to how interesting you thought it was. Secondly, state what made it interesting to you.

Style: The Changing Face of Nonfiction

When you write nonfiction, you write only facts - right?

But...

What about personal experiences, opinions or interpretations?

What about dialogue? Is it used only by fiction writers?

What about tension? Characters and plot?

What about the editorials you read in the paper? What about the eyewitness reports, and personal interviews? What category do these fall into? Fiction or nonfiction?

The easiest way to answer these questions is to take a quick look at the history of creative nonfiction:

Old Journalism

In its early years, up until the 1960's as a matter of fact, documentary nonfiction (journalism) attempted to be objective, to present the facts without bias, free of personal interpretation or perspective. There was little attempt to tell the story in a creative fashion.

New Journalism

Sometime in the 1960's a new form of documentary nonfiction began to emerge. It was called "New journalism" or sometimes "literary nonfiction". This form of writing used techniques to make the story more meaningful to the reader. It tried to create a picture for the reader, to bring the story, and the people of the story, to life. It used dialogue to show the thoughts and opinions and feelings of the people involved, and it included much more detail about their culture and lifestyles - all of which gave the reader a better understanding of the story itself. Stories were told from the point of view of one of the people involved, and the third person was used to do this.

New Journalism Plus

As this new journalism became more and more popular, and it continued to evolve in subject matter, style and structure as well as incorporating greater writing and research skills. Literary nonfiction now means:

extensive research so that the writer knows the story inside out, and the story comes alive
carefully controlled structure, attention to creating scenes that tell the story rather than a recitation of facts
subjects may come from anywhere - events, individual lives, personal struggles, social institutions, the world we live in
the use of a unique voice for each story, so that the perspective adds to the art of the storytelling
the incorporation of a high degree of literary skills, including the use of techniques used in fiction, poetry and play writing
a sense of responsibility to the subject, and a recognition of purpose and consequences regarding the telling of the story

As you can see, literary or creative nonfiction has changed a lot over the years. This means that you have a great deal of freedom in the way you present your material when you are writing nonfiction.

There are four things, however, you should always strive to do in your work:

present the story in a way that involves the reader
use the techniques you have learned in the sections on writing fiction, poetry and plays
write the story as best you know how
be committed to truth, accuracy and ethical behaviour - you are dealing with real people and events

Character

Having interesting characters is crucial to a good story.

The main character in the story is the protagonist.
The person with whom the protagonist is in conflict is the antagonist.

If you are writing a personal profile, or a story that centers around a character, your reader has to see that person as a real character. You want your reader to care about your character and what happens to him or her. As an author you should know the people you are writing about as well as possible. When you collecting information from which you will write your piece, you may wish to investigate

what motivates your character
what your character is afraid of, or concerned about
how your character is seen by others
what your character really wants in life
what your character really wants as the outcome of the conflict
what values your character believes in
how far your character will go to get what he/she wants
the physical appearance of your character

There are four main ways in which a nonfiction author reveals character: See Fiction unit.

2. Character: Idea Book

Choose someone that you think is an interesting person. It should be someone in your school or community. In your idea book make character notes regarding this person. Try to be as accurate and faithful to the meaning of others as possible.

Record:

a brief physical description
statements about this person's personality made by two others (one friend and one other acquaintance)
your chosen person's opinion about two issues - record verbatim for one of these

Interviewing

Interviewing is a form of "living research" (see researching). It involves immersing yourself in the issue or topic. It means seeing it for yourself, going there, doing it.

Record what you see and hear accurately, but also be aware that your impressions are also important. The impressions you receive from waking into someone's office - whether it be an impression of warmth or of greatness, a feeling of welcome or a feeling of inferiority - these are also important to setting the scene for your reader. See with your eyes and your mind open, however - don't prejudice your story by looking for what you expect to find.

Living research also means talking to the people who are involved. When you ask people questions with the object of getting information and opinions, you are interviewing.

Interviewing involves two steps: preparing and the interview itself.

A. Preparing for the interview

know why you are interviewing - what do you really want to know?
know your topic - do some research beforehand
decide how you will do the interview
list some essential questions you will want to ask (try to ask new questions, open-ended questions, passionate questions)

B. Conducting the interview

be open-minded
listen
follow cues in their words and expression
expect, understand and tolerate emotion
be accurate - ask for a repeat if necessary
note your surroundings
plan time and space for open comments

It is interesting to note these three facts about human nature:

People love to talk about themselves to someone who is genuinely interested.
The longer someone talks, the more likely it is that they will say something that you can use in your work - perhaps even something they did not intend to say.
Most people dislike long silences; if you do not talk, they will.

Researching

Researching Involves
Choosing a topic
Formulating a question
Documentation
Archival research
Living research

Choosing a Topic

When writing a work of literary nonfiction, the writer has to be able to speak with authority. This means you have to have a thorough knowledge of your subject - you have to know the issue or event inside out, as well the place in which it occurs and the people who are involved. This means more than merely reading about it, or viewing a media representation; it means immersion.

If, for example, you are interested in the subject of casinos and casino gambling, you will want to spend a great deal of time in casinos getting to know people who gamble, talking to people who work in casinos, talking to addiction counselors and other concerned groups. This immersion experience will allow you to write "with authority" - to set the scene for the reader, present characters through accurate dialogue and detailed descriptions, and tell the story as someone who knows the whole truth.

There may be many stories that interest you as a literary journalist. Not all will lend themselves to the type of in-depth immersion that must be done in order to write with authority and knowledge. You should consider the following questions before settling on a topic and beginning your research.

Topic Checklist

What is my personal interest in this topic?
Will I have time to research this topic adequately?
How can I narrow the topic so that I can be successful in my research?
How can I do firsthand research on this topic?
Will I have access to the people I need to talk to in order to explore this topic more fully?
Will I be able to spend time in the physical setting so that I can accurately set the scene for my readers?
How can I experience "immersion" so that I can explore my topic fully?
Will I have access to other resources I might need (library / archival materials)?

Formulating a thesis / question

Before you begin to research, ask yourself what you are researching for - what is it that you wish to uncover, discover or learn? What is it that you want to share with your reader? Put it in the form of a question:

What is a day in a senior citizens' home really like?
What has made my community what it is today?
Do we have adequate facilities for the handicapped in our community?

You may have already formulated a thesis. You may believe you know the answer to your question before you begin. Be careful! One of the most important skills researcher can have is an open mind. You learn that you are more right than you knew - or you may find out that you are wrong! Putting the theme of your research in the form of a question means you will not have to scrap your thesis and start over again.

Documentation

Documentation means keeping track of all the information you gather - where a fact or quotation comes from, who said what, and what resources were used. High ethical standards are essential for accurate representation and to acknowledge all ideas that are not your own.

You may wish to have a page of author's notes at the end, so that the references to sources of information do not interrupt the flow of your work in the text, but however you do it you must reference all information taken from other print or media sources. This includes:

facts and statistics
direct quotations from published sources
the ideas or theories of others

Archival research

Before you begin to immerse yourself in the living and breathing aspects of your topic, you should begin by reading whatever you can get your hands on regarding your topic. This is known as archival research - looking through public records and historical documents. Some places you might go to research might include: the town office, the school or town library, etc.

Living Research

Interviewing is a form of "living research" (see researching). It involves immersing yourself in the issue or topic. It means seeing it for yourself, going there, doing it.

Record what you see and hear accurately, but also be aware that your impressions are also important. The impressions you receive from walking into someone's office - whether it be an impression of warmth or of greatness, a feeling of welcome or a feeling of inferiority - these are also important to setting the scene for your reader. See with your eyes and your mind open, however - don't prejudice your story by looking for what you expect to find.

Living research also means talking to the people who are involved. When you ask people questions with the object of getting information and opinions, you are interviewing.

Genre

Creative nonfiction can be divided into two basic types:

1. Documentary journalism is based mainly on research. The older style of documentary (journalism) writing made great attempts to be objective, to approach the story without indicating personal involvement. Today's style of journalism is much more personal in most cases. The eyewitness approach is common and many works are written using the first person.

2. Memoir is a category based less on research, and more on reflection and personal knowledge. It is a truthful record of facts and events written from personal knowledge or special information.

Within those two basic categories, there are a number of nonfiction genres you will find interesting. For the purposes of this course, choose the shorter genres. You are not expected to produce long works of nonfiction.

Genres

Article - An article is a work of literature, complete in itself, that is found in a newspaper, magazine or book. It may be informational, but it presents the facts creatively. It may a vehicle for the writer to express an opinion, but it is always an informed opinion. Choose a topic, research it and write!

Essay - An essay may be formal or informal. It follows (sometimes strictly, sometimes digressively) a general plan, and has one main topic or idea.

Event Narrative - Tell the story of a camping adventure, a field trip, a survival, a sports victory. It may have happened to you or to someone else.

Exposé - An exposé is a piece of work that exposes, or brings to light, something that has previously been unknown - usually some wrong doing on the part of a person or corporation. This is a long term project that requires a lot of research, investigation and a thorough knowledge of the issue.

How-to - Write a piece about driving, or making the perfect snack, or how to meet girls/guys. Make it detailed and interesting.

Interview - Read the section on "Interviewing". Then plan your own interview and write the piece.

Issue - Issues are everywhere. Everybody has "issues" - from what is wrong with their lives to what is wrong with the world. Check your local paper, or a magazine for pieces that deal with issues. Choose an issue of your own, research it, write it.

Memoir - This can be a complete biography or autobiography, or it could be a short piece written about a personal experience.

Natural Environment Story - There may be some part of your environment that you particularly like. There may be part of your environment that is in danger - an animal or habitat. Research the topic and write about it.