BICOL COLLEGE INC.

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

Cor. J.P. Rizal & R.F. Tabuena Sts.
Daraga, Albay, Philippines 4501

SELF LEARNING MODULE

IN
CREATIVE NONFICTION

Principles, Elements, Techniques, and Devices of

Creative Nonfiction

QUARTER I - Module 2
Grade 11
(First Semester, School Year 2020-2021)
Content: Module 2 ( Q1 2.2.a)

Subject Teacher: Ms. Julie Ann M. Carreon

 QUARTER I

B. Principles, Elements, Techniques, and Devices of Creative Nonfiction

Content Standard:

The learner understands the delineation between creative and the nonfictional elements of creative
nonfiction text.

Learning Competency:

1. Do a close reading of creative nonfictional texts.

2. Identify the fictional elements in the texts.
3. Analyze and interpret factual/nonfictional aspects in the texts.
4. Evaluate the relationship of creative and nonfictional elements of the texts.
5. Write a draft of a short piece using multiple elements conventionally identified with the literary genres
following these pointers:
a. Choosing a topic
b. Formulating a thesis statement
c. Organizing and developing ideas
d. Using any literary conventions of a genre
e. Ensuring that theme and technique are effectively developed.

Objectives:

In this module, the students are expected to:

1. Determine the fictional elements used in a particular text.

2. Examine the factual aspects in a given text.
3. Do a close reading of a creative nonfictional text.
4. Write a draft of a short piece using an element or multiple elements.
 FICTIONAL ELEMENTS IN THE TEXT

The Six Elements of Fiction

The six major elements of fiction are character, plot, point of view, setting, style, and theme.

1. Character -- A figure in a literary work (personality, gender, age, etc). E. M. Forester makes a distinction
between flat and round characters. Flat characters are types or caricatures defined by a single idea of quality,
whereas round characters have the three-dimensional complexity of real people.

2. Plot –- the major events that move the action in a narrative. It is the sequence of major events in a story, usually
in a cause-effect relation.

3. Point of View -- the vantage point from which a narrative is told. A narrative is typically told from a first-person
or third-person point of view. In a narrative told from a first-person perspective, the author tells the story through a
character who refers to himself or herself as "I." Third –person narratives come in two types: omniscient and
limited. An author taking an omniscient point of view assumes the vantage point of an all-knowing narrator able not
only to recount the action thoroughly and reliably but also to enter the mind of any character in the work or any time
in order to reveal his or her thoughts, feelings, and beliefs directly to the reader. An author using the limited point of
view recounts the story through the eyes of a single character (or occasionally more than one, but not all or the
narrator would be an omniscient narrator).

4. Setting –- The combination of place, historical time, and social milieu that provides the general background for
the characters and plot of a literary work. The general setting of a work may differ from the specific setting of an
individual scene or event.

5. Style -- The author’s type of diction (choice of words), syntax (arrangement of words), and other linguistic
features of a work.

6. Theme(s) -- The central and dominating idea (or ideas) in a literary work. The term also indicates a message or
moral implicit in any work of art.

How to Write Creative Nonfiction

The creative nonfiction writer produces a personal essay, memoir, travel piece, and so forth, with a variety of 
techniques, writing tools, and  methods. He/she is required to use the elements of nonfiction, literary devices of
fiction, and what Lee Gutkind called “the 5 Rs of Creative nonfiction.”  The following is a brief explanation of
each:
 WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?

Direction: Read the short story below and answer the following questions given.

The Story of an Hour

By Kate Chopin

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to
her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.

It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half
concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her.
He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had
hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.

She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to
accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms.
When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no
one follow her.

There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed
down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.

She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the
new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was
crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly,
and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and
piled one above the other in the west facing her window.

She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when
a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to
sob in its dreams.

She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain
strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on
one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a
suspension of intelligent thought.

There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did
not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching
toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.

Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was
approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as
her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered
word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: "free, free,
free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They
stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every
inch of her body.
She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted
perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would weep again
when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with
love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long
procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her
arms out to them in welcome.

There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There
would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women
believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a
cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of
illumination.

And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love,
the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she
suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!

"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.

Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for
admission. "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you
doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door."

"Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that
open window.

Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, summer days, and all
sorts of days would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only
yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.

She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish
triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped
her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the
bottom.

Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little
travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene
of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's
piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.

When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills.
 TASK:

Direction: Fill in the table of the following needed contents.

From the short story, The Story of an Hour, identify the elements of fiction used.

ELEMENT Sample lines or sentences in the text Description/ Interpretation

Character/s

Setting

Plot

Point of View

Theme

Elements of Creative Nonfiction

The creative nonfiction writer often incorporates several elements of nonfiction when writing a memoir, personal

essay, travel writing, and so on. The following is a brief explanation of the most common elements of nonfiction:

 Fact. The writing must be based on fact, rather than fiction. It cannot be made up.
 Extensive research. The piece of writing is based on primary research, such as an interview or personal
experience, and often secondary research, such as gathering information from books, magazines, and newspapers.
 Reportage/reporting. The writer must be able to document events or personal experiences.
 Personal experience and personal opinion. Often, the writer includes personal experience, feelings,
thoughts, and opinions. For instance, when writing a personal essay or memoir.
 Explanation/Exposition. The writer is required to explain the personal experience or topic to the reader.
 Essay format. Creative nonfiction is often written in essay format. Example: Personal Essay, Literary
Journalistic essay, brief essay.

Literary Elements
Creative nonfiction is the literature of fact. Yet, the creative nonfiction writer utilizes many of the literary devices of
fiction writing.  The following is a list of the most common literary devices that writers incorporate into their
nonfiction writing:
 Storytelling/narration. The writer needs to be able to tell his/her story. A good story includes an inciting
incident, a goal, challenges and obstacles, a turning point, and resolution of the story.
 Character. The nonfiction piece often requires a main character. Example: If a writer is creating his/her
memoir, then the writer is the central character.
 Setting and scene. The writer creates scenes that are action-oriented; include dialogue; and contain vivid
descriptions.
 Plot and plot structure. These are the main events that make up the story. In a personal essay, there might
be only one event. In a memoir, there are often several significant events.
 Figurative language. The writer often uses simile and metaphor to create an interesting piece of creative
nonfiction.
 Imagery. The writer constructs “word pictures” using sensory language. Imagery can be figurative or
literal.
 Point of view. Often the writer uses the first person “I.”
 Dialogue. These are the conversations spoken between people. It is an important component of creative
nonfiction.
 Theme. There is a central idea that is weaved through the essay or work. Often, the theme reveals a
universal truth.

The 5’Rs of Creative Nonfiction

Lee Gutkind, who is a writer, professor, and expert on creative nonfiction, wrote an essay
called “The Five R’s of Creative Nonfiction.” In this essay, he identified five essential
elements of creative nonfiction. These include:

1. Creative nonfiction has a “real life” aspect. The writer constructs a personal essay, memoir, and so forth,
that is based on personal experience.  He also writes about real people and true events.
2. Creative nonfiction is based on the writer engaging in personal “reflection” about what he/she is
writing about. After gathering information, the writer needs to analyze and assess what he/she has collected. He
then must evaluate it and expression his thoughts, views, opinions. Personal opinion is permissible and
encouraged.
3. Creative nonfiction requires that the writer complete research. The writer needs to conduct research to
learn about the topic. The writer also needs to complete research to discover what has been written about the
topic. Even if a writer is crafting a personal essay, he will need to complete secondary research, such as
reviewing a personal journal, or primary research, such as interviewing a friend or family member, to ensure that
the information is truthful and factual.
4. The fourth aspect of creative nonfiction is reading. Reading while conducting research is not sufficient.
The writer must read the work of the masters of his profession.
5. The final element of creative nonfiction is writing. Writing creative nonfiction is both an art and craft.
The art of creative nonfiction requires that the writer uses his talents, instincts, creative abilities, and imagination
to write memorable creative nonfiction. The craft of creative nonfiction requires that the writer learns and
deploys the style and techniques of creative nonfiction in his/her work.
 USING ELEMENTS OF CREATIVE NONFICTION

A. PLOT

In a narrative or creative writing, a plot is the sequence of events that make up a

story, whether it’s told, written, filmed, or sung. The plot is the story, and more
specifically, how the story develops, unfolds, and moves in time. Plots are typically
made up of five main elements:

1. Exposition: At the beginning of the story, characters, setting, and the main conflict are typically
introduced.

2. Rising Action: The main character  is in crisis and events leading up to facing the conflict begin to
unfold. The story becomes complicated.

3. Climax: At the peak of the story, a major event occurs in which the main character faces a major
enemy, fear, challenge, or other source of conflict. The most action, drama, change, and excitement
occurs here.

4. Falling Action: The story begins to slow down and work towards its end, tying up loose ends.

5. Resolution/Denouement: Also known as the denouement, the resolution is like a concluding

paragraph that resolves any remaining issues and ends the story.

* Plots, also known as storylines, include the most significant events of the story and how the characters and their
problems change over time.

B. CHARACTERS

Characters are the soul of what’s come to be called creative nonfiction, an umbrella term that covers memoir, the
personal essay and literary journalism, among others. But characters in nonfiction present special problems: While
characters in fiction are often based on real people, there’s still that screen. In nonfiction, by contrast, the writer is
telling the reader: These people I’m bringing to you are real.
A lot has been written about characters and character when it comes to fiction. Many of the same techniques apply
to nonfiction: Through detail, through gesture, through talk, through close understanding of whole lives before and
after the scope of your story, you make your people vivid in your reader’s head.

C. CHARACTERIZATION

ENHANCING CHARACTERIZATION

When writing nonfiction, much of the work of characterization is done for you. The character has been made,
characterization is complete, the family history is in place, the physical description is a given. But that doesn’t make
anything easier. The chore is merely different: doing justice to a person who you and many others have known,
while also doing justice to the fact that you know that person in your own way, filtered through your own emotions,
biases and experiences.
 In The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, we don’t meet her father right away. The first scene in the book
gives us little Jeannette, age 3, cooking hot dogs for herself, life as normal in her nutty household, at least until she
sets herself on fire. We meet her father, the redoubtable Rex Walls, when he comes to the hospital to visit her—
she’s been badly burned. He thinks the little girl should have been taken to the witch doctor that cured her older
sister’s scorpion sting. He threatens a doctor with a beating for saying that bandages are necessary and finally gets
thrown out of the hospital by a guard. Then we see him again (and hear him, smell him, touch him, very nearly taste
him):

A few days later, when I had been at the hospital for about six weeks, Dad appeared alone in the doorway of my
room. He told me we were going to check out, Rex Walls–style.

“Are you sure this is okay?” I asked.

“You just trust your old man,” Dad said.

He unhooked my right arm from the sling over my head. As he held me close, I breathed in his familiar smell of
Vitalis, whiskey and cigarette smoke. It reminded me of home.

Dad hurried down the hall with me in his arms. A nurse yelled for us to stop, but Dad broke into a run. He pushed
open an emergency-exit door and sprinted down the stairs and out to the street. Our car, a beat-up Plymouth we
called the Blue Goose, was parked around the corner, the engine idling. Mom was up front, Lori and Brian in the
back with Juju. Dad slid me across the seat next to Mom and took the wheel.

“You don’t have to worry anymore, baby,” Dad said. “You’re safe now.”

D. POINT OF VIEW

Point of view is the perspective from which a speaker or writer recounts a narrative or presents information also known
as a viewpoint. Point of view is the perspective from which a speaker or writer recounts a narrative or presents information.
... Depending on the topic, purpose, and audience, writers of nonfiction may rely on the first-person point of view (I, we),
the second-person (you, your, you're), or the third-person (he, she, it, they).

The angle is the point or theme of a news or feature story, which is most often found in the lead of the article. It's the lens
through which the writer filters the information he or she has gathered. There may be several different angles to a single
news event.

E. ANGLE

The angle is the point or theme of a news or feature story, which is most often found in the lead of the article. It's the lens
through which the writer filters the information he or she has gathered. There may be several different angles to a single
news event.

For instance, if a new law is passed, angles might include the cost of implementing the law and where the money will
come from, the legislators who authored and pushed for the law, and the people most closely affected by the law. While
each one of these could be included in the main story, each one also lends itself to a separate story.
 Types of Story Angles

Both news and feature stories can have different angles. A few examples include the local angle, the national angle, and
the follow-up story. 

 Local angle: Sometimes reporters are asked to "localize a story." You can have a national news story, like
hurricane ravaging shorelines across the East Coast. But a news outlet in Florida would focus specifically on the area
where its readers/viewers are located.
 National angle: This approach is taken for major stories, trend pieces, and issues that affect the country as
a whole. An example would be how President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act affected Americans of different
socioeconomic groups.
 Follow-up story: After breaking news story hits the Internet and newspapers, reporters will often write a
follow-up story where the lead focuses on the new information. Using the inverted pyramid style of writing—where the
most relevant information is at the top of the story—a follow-up article gives readers new details followed by the
background that is found in the initial story.

F. SETTING and ATMOSPHERE

Setting and atmosphere provide a backdrop for your stories, and help put readers in the moment. But that’s their most
basic effect. Skilfully written atmospheric detail creates tension and drama.

G. SYMBOLS and SYMBOLISM

Symbolism is used in literature when one thing is meant to represent something else. Metaphors and allegory
are literary elements that help writers create symbolism in their literary pieces. Colors, objects, seasons, people,
situations and words are all types of symbolism that might be used in a literary work.

Symbols and Symbolism

In Alice and Wonderland, a white rabbit appears, and Alice follows him down the rabbit hole that leads to Wonderland.
The white rabbit is a herald — a character archetype that signifies the first challenge or the call to adventure. This is the
change in the main character’s life that marks the beginning of the story.
Symbolism in Fiction
The white rabbit became so widely known that it eventually evolved into a symbol. Because it’s white, it can symbolize
purity. Because it’s a rabbit, it can symbolize fertility. But because it was the herald that called Alice to her adventure,
the white rabbit is often used as a symbol to represent change. Sometimes, it’s simply used as a herald.

H. IRONY

Irony is when the opposite of what you expect occurs. This usually causes amusement or emphasis. Works of fiction,
like TV shows, movies, or novels, often use irony to entertain the audience. In this way, irony is used for the
amusement of the viewer or reader.

However, irony is not limited to just works of fiction. It can also be used effectively in factual text. In those
cases, uses of irony exist to stress or emphasize a point or idea. There are three types of irony, and the rest of
this lesson will focus on how an author will use irony in nonfiction.
 Types of Irony

Dramatic Irony

The first type is dramatic irony, which occurs when the audience knows something that the characters do not. Seen
often in plays and movies, this type of irony is limited to works of fiction.
A famous example occurs in the Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex. In the play, the audience knows who Oedipus' real
parents are, but he does not. Unknowingly, he kills his own father and marries his mother. None of the characters
realize their relation to each other at the time. This is dramatic irony.
Since this type of irony is not used in nonfiction, we won't go into any more detail on its interpretation. Just know that it
does exist.

Verbal Irony

The next type of irony is verbal irony, which occurs when a speaker intentionally says one thing while meaning the
opposite. You likely use verbal irony on a daily basis, even if you don't realize it.
Have you ever said anything similar to these statements to your mom or dad?

 I just love cleaning my room.

 I'd be so happy to pick up the dog poop.
 Oh yes, meatloaf for dinner!

I. FIGURES OF SPEECH

A figure of speech is a use of a word that diverges from its normal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not
based on the literal meaning of the words in it such as a metaphor, simile, or personification. Figures of speech often
provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of
speech introduces an ambiguity between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called
rhetoric or a locution.

J. DIALOGUE

Developing Character through Dialogue

 What is dialogue? It refers to the words spoken by real people. It can be a comment made by a person or a
conversation by two or more people. Your job is to recapture the important comments and conversations. You
can remember dialogue by carefully observing what a person says and then writing it down later. If you are
interviewing a person, you can make notes or use a tape recorder. If you are attempting to remember dialogue,
you will have to recreate the dialogue to the best of your memory. Often you will need to interview family and
friends, look at old photos, or revisit the place where the event took place.  Be forewarned, if you include
comments, conversations, or dialogue that never occurred, you are writing fiction, not creative nonfiction.
K. SCENE

Scenes and stories are the building blocks and anchoring elements of creative nonfiction.  The idea of scenes as
building blocks is an easy concept to understand, but it’s not easy to put into practice. The stories or scenes not only
must be factual and true, but have to make a point or communicate information–and fit into the overall structure of
the essay or chapter or book.  Writing in scenes represents the difference between showing and telling. The lazy,
uninspired writer will tell the reader about a subject, place, or personality, but the creative nonfiction writer will
show that subject, place, or personality, vividly, memorably—and in action.

A scene is a section of your novel where a character or characters engage in action or dialogue. You can think of
a scene as a story with a beginning, middle, and an end. A chapter can contain one scene or many scenes.

References: davehood59.wordpress.com
On Writing Creative Nonfiction
After you Read:

Respond and Think Critically

1. Think about the traits that led Annie Johnson to success. What
other traits do successful people you know have in common with
Annie? ( Connect )
2. What does the author mean by the statement, “Each of us has the
right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead”? \ TIP:
( Interpret )
3. Why does Annie carry pails of stones to th e cotton gin and the To answer question 3, use
saw mill? ( Infer ) your own knowledge to
4. Literary Element- Setting. How does the setting affect the plot of figure out what the author
this biographical narrative? Use details to support your answer. does not state directly.
( Analyze )
Here are tips to help you
5. Reading Strategy- Make Predictions about Plot. Refer to the
infer.
predictions you made on the graphic organizer as you read. Were
your predictions accurate? Explain. ( Evaluate )  Look in the
6. BIG Question. Do you agree with the author that “if the future
narrative for
road looms ominous,” a person should “step off that road into
specific details
another direction” by taking positive actions. Explain. (Conclude)
about what Annie
does after she
Vocabulary: returns from
Identify whether the paired words in each set have a similar or different
carrying the
meaning. Then write a sentence using each vocabulary word, or draw or find a picture stones.
that represents the word.  Think about what
Annie does at the
disastrous and fortunate cotton gin and the
conceded and denied saw mill.
 Consider what
balmy and chilly
carrying the stones
would help Annie
do.
Example:

conceded and denied = opposite meaning

Sentence: The candidate conceded defeat after it became obvious that his
opponent had won the election.

Summarization:
Write a Summary. Think about Annie Johnson’s journey from an unhappy
person with little money and little education to a successful store owner. Use your
own words to tell the main events in Annie’s story in the order in which they
occurred.

Reference: www.longbranch.k12.nj