Forms and

Types of Creative
Nonfiction
LESSON 1
 learning objectives

1 2 3

Describe the Compare and Evaluate a

different contrast some creative
types or nonfiction nonfiction
forms of types and piece and give
nonfiction; forms; and
its form.
introduction
To write great creative nonfiction, a
writer must tell a fact-based story in
an imaginative way-not as easy a task as
it sounds! Nonfiction writers must be
dedicated to preserving the truth of
their stories with the right amount of
knowledge gained from your studies in
the past.
 FormsandTypesofCreativeNonfiction
 Biography
 Autobiography
 Memoir .

 Essays
 Personal Narratives /True
Narrative
 Literary
 Journalism/Reportage
 Blogs
UnderstandingVARIOUSFORMSANDTYPESOFCREATIVENONFICTION

Creative nonfiction has many types and it

generally focuses on the experiences of an
individual that maybe it could inspire
many individuals as you write it and
share these experiences. Moreover,
creative nonfiction comes in various ways
and almost often we are not aware that
our experiences could become a good
literary pieces.
The significance of an audience

Understanding the significance of

your audience plays a vital roles as
you write your piece. They are the
ones who will read and be inspired by
your stories. The goal of writing is to
inspire the readers to read because
they could learn something from it.
Close reading
Close reading is a matter of
understanding the text presented by
the author by observing every detail
in a text. A writer often uses unique
ways to convey their messages to the
readers. Thus, as a reader you need to
be observant always.
 biography
The word “biography” comes from two
Greek words, bio (“life) and graphia
(“Writing”). A biography, or simply bio, is the
story of someone’s life written by another
person. Biographies often tell about the lives
of well-known, important people such as
world leaders, scientists, movies stars, and
athletes.
 biography
A Critical Biography is a type of bio in which
the writer analyze his or her subject. The
tone is detached and even skeptical.
Another type of biography is the Scholarly
Bio which is a straightforward compilation
of facts.
Another is Profiles. The writer constructs
biographies or essays on real people using
literary devices.
autobiography
The word autobiography is derived from
three Greek words meaning 'self' (auto)
'life' (bio) and 'write' (graph).

Autobiography is the type of writing in

which authors tell readers a story about
their own life experiences.
autobiography
The writer composes his/her life story, from birth to
the present, using the first person “I.”
When someone writes the story of his or her own life,
the result is an autobiography. It tells the writer’s
feelings and thoughts about the people,places, and
things that are important in his or her life.
Autobiography is supposed to be a type of nonfiction,
but there is often considerable latitude between how
the subject sees his or her life and how others call it.
Purpose 1
To share experiences with people or help
make sense of an experience

To entertain or move people's emotions in

An autobiography might 2
particular ways
be written for any of the
following reasons:
To argue for the relevance of their life story
3
in teaching a larger public lesson.

To help define themselves in their own

4
terms, free from limiting social definitions.

To change people’s attitudes or present a

5
different perspective on a subject.
 memoir
A memoir is a popular form of
autobiography. It is written in story form
like a novel and uses many of the
techniques common to fiction. The memoir
spans the entire of a person with intricate
details such as the childhood family
history, education and profession.
A memoir is a collection of memories
written by the person themselves
 key differences

An autobiography is a factual A memoir provides a more

re-telling of a person's life specific timeline (it might not
experience, which includes include a whole life) and
phases such as birth, childhood, focuses more on the writer's
adolescence, adulthood, etc. own memories, feelings and
emotions.
They are typically more formal in
style, made up of detailed Memoirs are typically less
chronology and other formal in style, more
information and focused on facts concerned with emotional
as its foundation. truth toward a particular part
of one’s life and feelings, and
less concerned with factual
events.
 Essays
An essay is a short piece of prose that examines a single
subject, usually expressing a personal or limited view of the
topic.
A personal essay falls into two categories: The longer essay
generally published by literary magazines or
literary online journals is about 2500 to 3000 words.
 Essays
Essays can be formal and informal. A formal essay is serious in
tone and subject and more objective in point of view. This
form is basically identical with prose writing in which the
literary effect is secondary to a serious purpose.
It is unbiased and intended to inform the reader. On the other
hand, an informal essay has an informal tone, as if the author
is speaking directly to the reader. It describes the writer’s
reaction to an experience.
Personal Narratives /True Narrative

A narrative is a story. A true narrative essay is a true

story, with plot, action, suspense characters and setting
which delivers a theme. A true narrative is the most
informal pf the various types of essays, thus it does not
follow a set format because you are telling a story
according to your sense of style-the narrative voice.
 Literary Journalism/Reportage

Literary Journalism uses the techniques of

journalism (such as interviews and review) in
order to look outside of the straight forward,
objective world that journalism creates.
 Blogs
A blog is a frequently updated online personal journal or
diary. It is a place to express yourself to the world. A
place to share your thoughts and your passions. The
content of a blog typically includes texts, pictures,
videos, animated GIFs and even scans from old physical
offline diaries or journals and other hard copy
documents.
Directions: Using a Venn diagram, compare
and contrast the indicated forms of creative
nonfiction.
elements