What is Creative Non-Fiction?

Simply put: Creative nonfiction is true stories, well told.

If novels are fiction and poems are, well, poetry, then what are memoirs? What about essays, narrative journalism, and so many other kinds of true stories that give us new ways to consider the world around us and our place in it? From books to magazine articles to podcasts, creative nonfiction surrounds us.

The banner of Creative Nonfiction defines the genre simply, succinctly, and accurately as “true stories, well told.”

In some ways, creative nonfiction is like jazz—it’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and techniques, some newly invented and others as old as writing itself. Creative nonfiction can be an essay, a journal article, a research paper, a memoir, a tweet; it can be personal or not, or it can be all of these.

It is possible to be honest and straightforward and brilliant and creative at the same time.

The words “creative” and “nonfiction” describe the form. The word “creative” refers to the use of literary craft, the techniques writers use to tell stories about real people and events—that’s the “nonfiction” part—in a compelling, vivid, dramatic manner. The goal is to communicate a bit of the real world—a personal experience, a scientific discovery, a history, a place, a person—in a way that will sing on the page, inform and change readers, and make an impact.

To read more, go here: https://creativenonfiction.org/what-is-cnf/