What is Creative Nonfiction and Why Now is The Best Time to Write It
By: Kelly Eden
Tags: Creativity, Freelance, Nonfiction, Writing, Writing Tips

What is Creative Nonfiction and Why Now is The Best Time to Write It

Get onboard with the most popular writing genre

Photo by Goffkein@Freepik.com

“Creative nonﬁction has become the most popular genre in the literary and publishing communities.” — Lee Gutkind, Writer and Editor

One of the best things about creative nonfiction is anyone can learn to write it. You don’t need to be a trained journalist or have an exceptional story to tell. Creative nonfiction has such a broad scope that there’s something for everyone, regardless of your background or experience.

As a bonus, it’s the perfect genre for stretching your creative writing muscles, especially if you’re new to writing or, like me, spend a good portion of your writing time creating listicles, numbered content, or copywriting.

I’ve been a professional writer for over twelve years now and while most of my income comes from numbered content and magazine style articles, as a writer I need more than that to feel satisfied creatively.

Listicles tend to kill creativity (10 Ways To Kill Your Creativity?) and while magazine features and copywriting are both challenging in their own ways, they’re often quite formulaic too.

Creative nonfiction lets you shake off all those restrictions. There are no rules! (Well, there is one rule, but we’ll get to that soon.) Let’s look at what creative nonfiction covers…

What is Creative Nonfiction

Creative non-fiction resists a firm definition — it’s constantly changing — but basically it falls into two groups: story-based and idea-based nonfiction.

Story-based nonfiction centers around a narrative. It might be a story about something as insignificant as lunch with your sister, or as dramatic as a fisherman weathering a violent storm and surviving. (It doesn’t all have to be about you!)

Idea-based nonfiction centers around a concept. It might be a large topic such as poverty, or a specific one like the avocado industry. It might be a story filled with your own thoughts and musings, or be a deep study of someone else’s ideas.

Creative nonfiction includes:

True crime/ true thrillers.

Nature writing.

History.

Some biography types.

Memoir (different to autobiography!).

Travel and Sojourn memoir.

Personal essays.

Food writing.

Narrative journalism/ literary journalism.

The lyric essay, a mid-point between nonfiction prose and poetry, is a relatively new addition and may also fit within the creative nonfiction bubble. Also, the lyrical memoir.

Some people include poetry too.

As a changing, evolving genre, new styles and types of writing are included over time.

Creative Nonfiction Magazine defines the genre simply as true stories well told, “and that, in essence, is what creative non-fiction is all about,” says founding editor Lee Gutkind. As you can see, it lives up to its “creative” name and gives us plenty of freedom as writers. It can be as short as a poem, as long as a full novel, or anywhere in between.

And the one rule? Here it is:

Creative non-fiction, even though it’s creative, is always true. All of it. It may read like fiction but every fact is accurate, every character real, every event actually happened. It’s based on our own completely true stories or those of others.

How including it into your week improves your writing

Regardless of what kind of writing you usually do, adding a session of creative nonfiction into your week gives your writing skills a boost. Especially so if you take the time to challenge yourself with it. For example:

Experiment with different structures: try writing in short vignettes or focusing on a single scene.

Write a scene from your life in third or second person.

Use an object to represent an idea — a color or a favorite item from childhood.

Write about a place instead of a person.

Because creative nonfiction employs both fiction AND nonfiction techniques, you’re practicing both skills and adding to your writing tool box. Creative nonfiction writers incorporate literary techniques usually used in fiction, such as extended metaphors, vivid scenes, action, and dialogue to bring stories alive. It’s the perfect blend of fiction and nonfiction and a great creative workout for any writer!

At Inspired Writer, we are running a CNF challenge! Check it out:

There are plenty of places to share (or sell) your creative nonfiction work, too. Check out these 12:

P.S. Want to boost your creative nonfiction skills? Join me