S t ru c t u r e

Organization is essential in creative nonfiction that would serve as the blueprint to our

essays and help us focus and arrange ideas according to the timeline that they happen or

on its degree of importance:

 TYPES OF STRUCTURE
Chronological Structure – arrangement of events in a linear/ sequential fashion as they occurred
in time.

Explanation-of-a-process Structure – used to describe a process/ procedure such as in How-to

articles

Flashback Structure – begins at some point in time then goes backwards to the past

Parallel Structure – consists of several stories running side-by-side. Parallelism may also refer to
how paragraphs or sentences are structured or arranged.
 TYPES OF STRUCTURE
Collage or Mosaic Structure – using several accounts and pasting these small
fragments to build a total picture such as when writing about disasters or calamities.

Diary or Logbook Structure - personal chronicle of what is happening in one’s life; one’s
experiences arranged chronologically as in chronological narratives.

Question-and-answer Structure – used in interview stories; often directly quoting the subject in
the story for a more intimate glimpse of the person or the subject matter

Frame/ story-within-a-story Structure – telling two stories; a secondary story from within the
actual story
Instructions: Identify the type of structure most appropriate for each scenario.

____ 1. A prisoner about to be executed in a month’s time chronicles last-ditch efforts

to avoid death as well as his innermost thoughts and wishes as the day of doom is fast
approaching.

____ 2. An immigration lawyer runs down requirements to secure legal documents for
working in Canada

____ 3. Writing his speech for their 25th wedding anniversary, he recalls the ups and downs
of his marriage.

____ 4. The investigative reporter puts together the accounts of different individuals
concerning their ordeal that fateful day in November as Typhoon Yolanda lashed its fury
over the islands of Leyte and Samar.

____ 5. The writer documents how the wife curled in bed, silently crying herself to sleep
after a phone call to her family on Christmas eve; on the other hand, her family and their
friends were happily celebrating Christmas at home with joyous noise and singing.