Creative Nonfiction Creative Essay Any short nonfiction text

Creative Nonfiction

Creative Essay Any short, non-fiction text written with specific attention to its aesthetic qualities and presentation that is written from the point of view of the author. It focuses on a personal experience that is a turning point, a change in direction, an event that has significant meaning, and also shares a universal truth with readers.

What is a Personal Narrative Essay? • based on memory of an event or experience or moment in time that had significant meaning to you • tell a true story about a turning point in your life • the event or experience actually happened to you • look back into your memory, to an earlier time in your life, and unearth true stories that had significant meaning to you

Inspiration • Memory. Mining your memory for turning points in your life. Turning points, such as a job loss, illness, disease, death, first encounters. • Family life. Reflecting on family-What family events had significant meaning? What do you remember about family life? • Spiritual journey. Write about your spiritual journey. • Place. Write about home. What is home? Travel experiences. The natural world, such as hiking, biking, camping, exploring the wilderness. • Popular culture. Write about film, music, fiction, poetry, photography, art—and how it has impacted you. What memories do you have? • The global village. Write about the world in which you live, such as the environment.

Other Ideas • Journey, quest, pilgrimage • Mysteries and investigations • Rituals, games, performances, events Dig up memories about a myriad of topics–from toys to technology, to milestones to accomplishments, things that have significantly affected you.

Structure • Problem (exposition)- Your goal is to describe a problem in vivid details. What is the significant event that lead to a problem? • Struggle (rising action)-This problem creates conflict, which can be external (the outside world) and internal (within your mind or psyche) obstacles or setbacks. • Epiphany (climax)- Your problem and struggle results in an epiphany or flood of new understanding. The epiphany transforms your story from merely an anecdote to a personal narrative that has significant meaning to you, and shared meaning with others. • Resolution- What you have done differently since you had the epiphany. (Does not necessarily have to be in this order—be creative)

• Creative essays are written to express, render, and entertain • frequently do not follow a standard structure • designed to move the emotions • should be rich with imagery, modifiers, and fresh language, and should vary their syntax • Usually told from the first-person voice • make sure that it tells a story • the writer should structure and present his essay in the way that best reflects the emotional timbre of the essay • should attempt to accurately and honestly relate these personal ideas

Readers Expect You to Share • Your thoughts • Your feelings • Your opinions • Personal Reflections

Keep in mind that a creative essay does not strive to provide answers to questions or even to necessarily explain a particular concept. Rather, a creative essay is meant to help create sense of the world and to raise questions that the reader may wish to explore further. Descriptions found at: essaytown. com http: //www. essaytown. com/writing/creative-essay http: //www. essaytown. com/writing/write-creative-essay davehood 59. wordpress. com http: //davehood 59. wordpress. com/2012/04/30/creative-nonfiction-writing-thepersonal-narrative-essay/