creative nonfiction

Definition:

A branch of writing that employs the literary techniques usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on actual persons, places, or events. The genre is broad enough to include travel writing and nature writing, biography, memoir, and the familiar essay. See also:

• 100 Major Works of Modern Creative Nonfiction: A Reading List
• Nonfiction
• "The Watercress Girl," by Henry Mayhew
• "Rural Hours," by Susan Fenimore Cooper
• "An Experiment in Misery," by Stephen Crane
• "In Mammoth Cave," by John Burroughs
• "The San Francisco Earthquake," by Jack London
• "Outcasts in Salt Lake City," by James Weldon Johnson

Observations:

• "Creative nonfiction . . . is fact-based writing that remains compelling, undiminished by the passage of time, that has at heart an interest in enduring human values: foremost a fidelity to accuracy, to truthfulness."
  (Carolyn Forché and Philip Gerard, Introduction, Writing Creative Nonfiction, Story Press, 2001)



• "[There] is a significant way in which creative nonfiction differs from journalism. Subjectivity is not required in creative nonfiction, but specific, personal points of view, based on fact and conjecture, are definitely encouraged. . . .
  
  "I would like to recommend a code for creative nonfiction writers--kind of a checklist. . . .
  
  "First, strive for the truth. Be certain that everything you write is as accurate and honest as you can make it. . . .
  
  "Second, recognize the important distinction between recollected conversation and fabricated dialogue. Don't make anything up. . . .
  
  "Third, don't round corners--or compress situations or characters--unnecessarily. . . .
  
  "Fourth, one way to protect the characters in your book, article, or essay is to allow them to defend themselves--or at least to read what you have written about them."
  (Lee Gutkind, "The Creative Nonfiction Police?" In Fact, W.W. Norton & Company, 2005)

Also Known As: literary nonfiction, literary journalism, literature of fact