Story Embers: How Writing Creative Nonfiction Benefits Novelists

Another of my articles went live on Story Embers! This time around, it's on a branch of writing that I recently delved into and absolutely love -- creative nonfiction.

Creative nonfiction is so incredibly useful (and also incredibly fun) and yet somehow, so few people have heard of it? So I thought I'd take the chance to show y'all what creative nonfiction is and why it's such an important tool for novelists to use.

 

I used to avoid nonfiction—in both reading and writing—until I discovered that creative nonfiction employs literary techniques usually associated with fiction. How could this be? And would trying it expand my skills?

Creative nonfiction seeks to capture readers’ attention by describing actual people, places, and events in narrative format. For example, if I invent a motorcyclist character who travels across the US, that’s fiction. But if I record the experiences of a real motorcyclist I’ve spoken with, that’s creative nonfiction.

I broke out my pens and gave this hybrid genre a shot. My conclusion? That it’s an underused training weapon. Because the goal is to communicate facts in a meaningful way, you’ll add nuances to your writing that you wouldn’t have otherwise.

Read the rest of the article on STORY EMBERS

~ Savannah Grace

have you ever written creative nonfiction?