CREATIVE NON FICTION

TRUE NARRATIVE
 FORMS AND TYPES OF CREATIVE NON FICTION

Autobiography/ Biography
Literary Journalism/Reportage
Personal narratives
Travelogue
Reflection essay
True narratives
Blogs
Testimonio
WHAT IS NARRATIVE WRITING?

What is the difference and similarity

between 'Goldilocks and the Three
Bears' and a newspaper article on
bear attack statistics/data?
 WHAT IS NARRATIVE WRITING?

Similarity: Both are about human interaction with bears

Difference: the first is a made-up story about a girl meeting some
bears, while the second is reporting on facts about bears.
Remember…
A story has many obvious differences from a statistical report.
'Goldilocks' is an example of narrative writing, which is any kind
of writing that tells a story.
 NARRATIVE WRITING AS FICTION

Usually, narrative writing is categorized as fiction, which is based on

imaginative events or stories that did not actually happen.
The other category of writing is known as nonfiction, which would
be writing that is based on real facts. This usually consists of
newspapers, essays, reports, and other informative writing. In the
case of nonfiction, the story must be a true story with real people
and events. Autobiographies and biographies are examples of
nonfiction that is narrative writing, as they tell the real story of a
person's life.
TRUE NARRATIVE

A true narrative essay is a story based on actual

events.
You compose a true narrative essay about an
incident that you experienced or observed.
The purpose in telling the story is to express
a point or observation.
TRUE NARRATIVE ESSAY

A narrative is a story. A true narrative essay is

a true story, with plot, action, suspense
characters and setting which delivers a
theme (a lesson observed). The events in your
essay represent the facts.
 TRUE NARRATIVE ESSAY

A true narrative is the most informal of the various types of essays, thus it
does not follow a set format because you are telling a story according to
your sense of style–the narrative voice (the art or process of telling a
story or giving an account of something). The diction (choice of words
to fit your context) and your ability to construct the telling of the story in
order to interest and provoke the reader are essential. Metaphorical (all
language that involves figures of speech or symbolism and does not
literally represent real things) expression is one popular device in crafting
the art of storytelling that appeals to your reader.
 BASIC QUALITIES OF A TRUE NARRATIVE ESSAY:

A true narrative essay is a piece of writing that recreates an experience

through time.

A true narrative essay can be based on one of your own experiences,

either past or present, or it can be based on the experiences of
someone else.

In addition to telling a story, a true narrative essay also communicates

the main idea or a lesson learned.
 STEPS FOR WRITING A NARRATIVE ESSAY:

Identify the experience that you want to write about.

Think about why the experience is significant.
Spend a good deal of time drafting your recollections about the details of the experience.
Create an outline of the basic parts of your narrative
Using your outline, describe each part of your narrative.
Rather than telling your readers what happened, use vivid details and descriptions to actually
recreate the experience for your readers.
Think like your readers.Try to remember that the information you present is the only
information your readers have about the experiences.
Always keep in mind that all of the small and seemingly unimportant details known to you are
not necessarily known to your readers.
 WRITING PROMPTS

If I could go back in time.

If I could change anything in the history, what would I choose?
The time I saw the weirdest thing in my life.
My most frightening experience.
One thing I’m afraid to lose.
If I could change one thing about me.
If I had a billion dollars.
If I could stop the time.
The most beautiful thing in the world for me.
WRITING PROMPTS
The most pleasant sound for me.
My first day at a new school.
The time I lost my friend.
The time I got a new friend.
My first day at a new job.
My most disastrous day ever.
My happiest day ever.
The most irritating things in my life.
An experience that left me disillusioned.
The time I was wrong about the person.
WRITING PROMPTS

How I met and conquered my fear.

The moment I overcome my phobia.
The achievement I’m proud of.
My most dangerous experience.
The journey that has changed me.
WRITING PROMPTS

The experience that taught me how appearance can be deceiving.

My act of heroism.
My act of cowardice.
A thing I would like to change in my past.
My first month of living on my own.
The most successful day in my life.
The time I was wrong about the person.
Examples
A CAR ACCIDENT

Disappointment, disbelief and fear filled my mind as I lye on my side,

sandwiched between the cold, soft dirt and the hot, slick metal of the
car. The weight of the car pressed down on the lower half of my body
with monster force. It did not hurt, my body was numb. All I could feel
was the car hood's mass stamping my body father and farther into the
ground. My lungs felt pinched shut and air would neither enter nor
escape them. My mind was buzzing. What had just happened? In the
distance, on that cursed road, I saw cars driving by completely
unaware of what happened, how I felt. I tried to yell but my voice was
unheard. All I could do was wait. Wait for someone to help me or wait
to die.
A CAR ACCIDENT

The third maddening buzz of my alarm woke me as I

groggily slid out of bed to the shower. It was the start of
another routine morning, or so I thought. I took a shower,
quarreled with my sister over which clothes she should
wear for that day and finished getting myself ready. All of
this took a little longer than usual, not a surprise, so we
were running late. We hopped into the interior of my
sleek, white Thunderbird and made our way to school.
With music blasting, voices singing and talking, it was another typical ride to school with
my sister. Because of our belated departure, I went fast, too fast. We started down the
first road to our destination. This road is about three miles long and filled with little hills.
As we broke the top of one of the small, blind hills in the middle of the right lane was a
dead deer. Without any thought, purely by instinct I pulled the wheel of the car to the left
and back over to the right. No big deal but I was going fast. The car swerved back to the
left, to the right, to the left. Each time I could feel the car scratching the earth with its
side. My body jolted with the sporadic movements of the car. The car swerved to the
right for the last time. With my eyes sealed tight, I could feel my body float off the seat of
the car.
I opened my eyes to see the black road in the distance above me.
A LESSON LEARNED

A lesson learned… I wonder, is it at all possible to learn harsh lessons of our

life? Indeed, in most spheres of human activity we can hope to take our previous
mistakes into consideration and avoid them in the future. But concerning human
feelings, is it right to blame ourselves if it turns out that we had made a mistake
by sincerely investing a part of us into a wrong person who has lead us into the
devastating emotional state? And can we avoid such mistakes in the future
without becoming desensitized? Confusion over these questions constitutes the
kaleidoscope of my memory of Kim, the relationship with whom ended with the
shattering argument over one of the most important questions – what is the
nature of commitment between man and woman?
A LESSON LEARNED

How fitting was her glowing red pullover when she blazed up in response to my
question about whether she had spent the Saturday`s night at the Chicago Blues Club
and had left with Craig: “You better care about your own leisure as mine is definitely
much cuter!” This phrase was the last one between us as a couple, and, truly, “care
about your own whatever” is probably the epitome of the fundamental problem that
any couple face in one way or another. I am even grateful to Kim for such an exact
formulation. Despite the great time that we had together, this ending of our relationship
was in no need of talk. Earlier, when we had petty quarrels words channeled negative
emotions, but this time words suddenly turned into the irreversible verdict. I only could
respond in my mind: “How funny, here we have two people who cannot in principle
understand each other”. The realization of this killed in me all desire to engage into
mutual accusations, and made me feel fully implicated in this unpleasant situation.
Now that time has passed, I of course remember well the emotional
turmoil that accompanied me after our break-up. But while being perhaps
less naive now, I am no longer too pessimistic.Yes, as I have said before, it is
a daunting task to learn all lessons of our life because we tend to forget
them. But if we manage to leave a trace of our emotional experiences, then
probably we can overcome even arguments without the principal solution.
Well, this is exactly what I have tried to do, and while I think that ordering
of human emotions may dissolve the essence of human experience, I
believe that it is necessary to turn our experiences into words that
represent them as close as possible, so that we and others could relive
them upon reading.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

When I think about what counts as learning to me, I think

about my life. Just being able to live in this world to me is a
learning experience, because I feel that my life is full of lessons
and I believe that it takes lessons to learn in life. I feel that I
have learned to understand learning more and to also
understand the value of learning. As I get older I can
comprehend subject matters more than I could ever do before.
I am learning to be more serious and I find myself not taking life
for granted anymore.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

I also feel that maturing counts as learning for me because growing up I was
continuously being called immature. For me, maturing counts as learning because I find
myself doing things I never thought I would be doing, like going to college, for example. I
am learning that I am getting a chance to attend college and to have the chance to make
something out of myself. I feel this way because I realized that a lot of people do not get
a chance to go to college and make something out of their lives. Since I have this
chance, I will take full advantage while I am in college. I have learned that I need to
concentrate more if I want to make it through college. I need to concentrate more
because I know college is not like high school and I really did not concentrate in high
school. College is also a big learning experience for me because it is helping me to get
rid of bad habits that I used to have. These bad habits include things like not being
prepared for when I have to take a test and not studying.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

I realized that I needed better study habits when I did not pass my first test in college. I
did bad because I did not study; that was an old habit I was used to and the main reason
I did bad...

...know that I need more learning if I want to find what I want to be in life. I feel that a
person needs learning to become successful.

I am looking forward to learning more things as my life goes by. I view the world as
being brand-new because I am growing and maturing. I think it is amazing that I feel this
way because I did not think I would ever be like this, ever. Finally I feel that I will achieve
my goal and find a passion that is right for me if I continue to learn and mature more, I
feel I will be a new and better person. I honestly can say I am proud of myself.