Creative Non-Fiction
Creative nonfiction is the act of taking a historical happening, adding drama, interest, and imagination, while sticking to the truth.
Creative nonfiction means making your story more dramatic and interesting through description and detail while keeping to the historical facts. First of all, read, read everything. Fiction, non-fiction, classics, poetry, news stories, history. When you know what you want to write about, write for your readers. The more you read, the more you will write. You can keep reading classics all your life and learn something new every time. That’s why they are called classics. They never grow old. There are no rules saying what you can and can’t do as a writer of creative nonfiction but the idea is to stick to the truth and make it sound interesting.
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If you find an event in history you want to write about. Write it as creative non-fiction. Writing about history as a novel is like looking through a mirror darkly. Bring your story to life by making it more dramatic through descriptive dialog, scenery, and character. Do your research and arrange your material as looks best to you. Look at every sentence and see how you think it will appear to your reader. Don’t worry too much about the beginning. You will likely rewrite or strike it all out so don’t waste your time on it. As you write you will have a clearer sense of what you want to say. Don’t use any word for walk other than “walk” and don’t use any word for say other than “say.” Never use a fancy word when a simple one will do.
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Start your article with the time and place, the look of the person, land, or country. Use first and last names. Don’t describe feelings. The way to the readers emotions is through the senses. Give short shift to small unimportant details and stretch your important scenes out. Describe it so your reader can see and imagine it. Learn to ignore your feelings about your work. If you get discouraged, lay it aside a few days and read it again. If you feel it is really terrible, throw it away and start again. Don’t waste time on something that was likely a bad idea in the first place.
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Just because you can’t get your work published, don’t think it isn’t good. The chance of any work being published is one in three thousand. Many publishers publish only famous people and will reject yours even if it is better. Or the magazine might just not have space for your article. It’s well to remember that eight books of nonfiction are published for every book of fiction. Keep all these facts in mind, then go write whatever you wanted to.
http://socyberty.com/religion/demons-and-sex/
http://socyberty.com/psychology/conscioness-during-dreams/
http://therealowner.co/health/how-to-help-your-pet-in-an-emergency/
http://sportales.com/football/how-to-throw-and-kick-a-football/
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Tags: Creative nonfiction, Dramatic, events, history, interesting, publishers, read, write
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October 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 am
This is good solid advice. I enjoyed reading it. I am glad that I came across your articles and contributions. Have a nice day.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:18 am
A fab article, what a good read thanks for the share.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:21 am
Great article with excellent advice. Thanks for sharing.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:25 am
A lot of good information in this article, especially at the end. Play to your audience and for goodness sake don’t self-publish. You will very quickly stop being a writer and become a book salesman. You will fail at that too.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:10 am
thanks for sharing this great article.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:26 am
I found this so interesting and helpful
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 am
Lots of really good advice here, Ruby. I enjoy writing in this genre myself. Great work.
Christine
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:16 am
Nice info about creative non fiction. It’s an interesting article.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 am
Good post. Thank you.
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:14 pm
This is something I have always wanted to do. A creative non-fiction of the struggles of my family during turbulent times in history… Thanks for this post Ruby. It does give me ideas..:)
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Some solid advice here, Ruby. Creative non-fiction is a fascinating genre.
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Thanks for the lesson.
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I learned a lot from this article.Thank you.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:27 pm
My kind of article Ruby! Ace advice for all to absorb. It is so much fun to write creatively based on real events. At times…..the truth as far more strange and real than fiction. Excellent article for ALL writers. Thumbs up piece of work!
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Ahaaa that is why your historical articles are always so brilliant!!Thanks for sharing this Ruby!This is fabulous advice for anyone looking to write an historical article!!
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
You give me lots of inspiration. Thanks for the tips Ruby.
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
What an amazing piece Ruby. So inspiring and helpful.
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Your own historical articles are always well written too!
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Thank you, this article was very helpful, with lots of good advice.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:28 pm
This is great advice, Ruby. I think that we should read more and it will help us create more articles.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Great article. What we read is what we are.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Great lesson. Thank you.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Thank you Ruby. You have provided us with excellent tips.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:19 pm
This is a very sound advice we could all use, thanks, Ruby.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:03 pm
I love those creative non-fiction. Very interesting, Ruby.
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Hey good article. Creative Non-fiction is more difficult than fiction. But after this article i think i will give it another shot.
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Great article, Ruby, and congrats on getting to #1 on the Hot Content list!
October 24th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Maybe I shall be able to stick on to triond for some more time after reading this, for my stock is exhausting
October 24th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Yes, Truman Capote used this technique in his masterpiece “In Cold Blood.” Keep writing….
October 24th, 2009 at 1:58 am
This is a genre I have yet to reexplore and fully develop as a writer. It’s been such a long time since I last did such– like back in college…
You inspired me to try this again. Thanks.
October 24th, 2009 at 3:47 am
The style fits the bill; perfect how you bring home some basic truths!
October 24th, 2009 at 5:36 am
Good piece.
October 24th, 2009 at 6:21 am
I so agree that making history more interesting by adding creative details makes it easier to read. I think i got most of my history from victoria holt rather than a text book
October 24th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Great advice Ruby
I love to read non fiction…except it can’t be like text book boring 
October 24th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
There is a lot of good, solid advice in this article. I’ve made the things that you suggest the very core of my writing routine. Excellent advice.
October 24th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Good article here with good advice. I for one know how hard it is to have anything published even with an agent I can’t find anyone who wants my children’s book. Ruby, you are the queen of creative non-fiction. I love to read your work.
October 24th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Interesting article as always Ruby…
October 25th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Great article and wise words of wisdom!
October 25th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Thank you everyone for your support and your time. I thank you for your kind words. I have been so lucky on triond to find such good people and I can never thank you enough. It’s a dream come true to actually have my work read.I enjoy it all to the fullest.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Thank you Ruby, this article was very helpful!
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Good points all. Incidentally practicing writing non-fiction helps build a lot of skills–including weeding out florid descriptive words.