SUNNY HILLSIDE SCHOOL OF BATAAN, INC.

Upper Ipag, Mariveles, Bataan

Email: sunnyhillsideschool@gmail.com
Contact no.: (047)612-0420

COURSE: Creative Nonfiction

TEACHER: Jessica J. Caisip GRADE AND SECTION: 12 HUMSS
WEEK/LESSON: Week 1-Lesson 1 TIME: (10:00 – 11:00)

The term creative nonfiction is credited to Lee Gutkind, who defines this genre as “true stories well
told.” However, the concept of literary nonfiction has its roots in ancient poetry, historical accounts,
and religious texts.

The word “creative” refers to the utilization of various techniques, strategies and styles in literary
writing.
The term “nonfiction” presents authentic or real events and experiences.

I. Introduction to Literary Genres

1. Understanding Conventions of Traditional Genres

Conventions are defining features or elements of particular literary genres. Genre means a type of art,
literature, or music characterized by a specific form, content, and style. There are four main genres.in
literature.

A. POETRY
Poetry is the first major literary genre. All types of poetry share specific characteristics. In fact, poetry
is a form of text that follows a meter and rhythm, with each line and syllable. It is further subdivided
into different genres, such an epic poem, narrative, romantic, dramatic, and lyric.

CONVENTIONS of POETRY:
 Simile – It makes a comparison using ‘as’ and those that make a comparison using ‘like’.
Example:
  She is as strong as an ox. She sings like a nightingale

 Metaphor – It makes comparisons between things by stating that one thing literally is
something else.
Example:
Time is money. Life is a rollercoaster

 Personification- A non-human thing or idea is ascribed human qualities or abilities.

Example:
Summer held the land with warm embrace.
The old tree bows its head to everyone who seeks its shade.

 Alliteration - The repetition of the initial consonant sound of a series of words, often
consecutively.
Example:
True love last a lifetime. Those lazy lizards are lying like lumps in the leaves.

 Assonance - Similarly to alliteration, assonance involves the repetition of sounds in a series of

words, often consecutive words. However, rather than repeating the initial sounds, assonance
focuses on the internal vowel sounds that are repeated.
Example:
Hear the mellow wedding bells.
The rain on Spain falls mainly on plain.

 Onomatopoeia - It refers to the process of creating words that sound like the very thing they
refer to.
Example:
Bang! Oink!

 Imagery – Descriptive languages used to show what is physically happening particularly using
5 senses.
 Example:
It was dark and dim in the forest. (visual images)
The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. (auditory sense)
He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. (olfactory sense)
The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. (tactile sense)
The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet. (gustatory sense)

 Rhyme - Rhyme refers to the repetition of sounds in a poem. Various types of rhyme are
possible, however in English we usually use the term rhyme to refer to the repetition of the
final sounds in a line, or end rhyme.
  Example:
  The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.

 Rhythm – It involves sound patterning. A lot of classical poetry conforms to a systematic

regularity of rhythm which is referred to as the poem’s meter. This involves the combining of
stressed and unstressed syllables to create a constant beat pattern that runs throughout the
poem. Each pattern of beats is called a foot. There are various possible combinations of
stressed and unstressed syllables, or feet, and these patterns have their own names to describe
them. While it is impossible to explore all of these in this article, we take a look at one of the
more common ones below.
Example:
 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day
[Iambic pentameter i.e. five metrical feet of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables]

B. DRAMA
Drama has one characteristic peculiar to itself—it is written primarily to be performed, not read.

CONVENTIONS of DRAMA
 Plot - refers to the action; the basic storyline of the play.
Exposition- provides background information needed to make sense of the action,
describes the setting, and introduces the major characters
Rising action - here the events of the story begin to create suspense as the character
faces conflict.
Climax - moment of greatest tension
Falling action-  the section of the plot following the climax, in which the tension
stemming from the story's central conflict decreases and the story moves toward its conclusion. 
Denouement-  the end of the story

 Theme - refers to the meaning of the play. Theme is the main idea or lesson to be learned from
the play. In some cases, the theme of a play is obvious; other times it is quite subtle.

 Characters - The people (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed by the actors in the play. It is
the characters who move the action or plot.
Protagonist
Antagonist

 Characterization - the way an author presents a character.

 Dialogue - This refers to the words written by the playwright and spoken by the characters in
the play. The dialogue helps move the action of the play along.

 Spectacle -This refers to the visual elements of a play: sets, costumes, special effects, etc.
Spectacle is everything that the audience sees as they watch the play.
  Music/Rhythm - Music is often featured in drama, in this case Aristotle was referring to the
rhythm of the actors' voices as they speak.

 Convention - These are the techniques and methods used by the playwright and director to
create the desired stylistic effect.

 Audience - This is the group of people who watch the play. Many playwrights and actors
consider the audience to be the most important element of drama, as all of the effort put in to
writing and producing a play is for the enjoyment of the audience.

C. FICTION and NONFICTION

Fiction is make-believe, invented stories. They may be short stories, fables, vignettes, plays, novellas,
or novels. Although writers may base a character on people they have met in real life, the characters
and the experiences that the character faces in the story are not real.

Nonfiction is a prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biography or
history.

CONVENTIONS of FICTION and NONFICTION

 PLOT - Plot is the order of events in the story. The plot usually follows a particular structure
called Freytag’s Pyramid.

 SETTING- Setting is where and when the story takes place. It includes the following:
• The immediate surroundings of the characters such as props in a scene: trees, furniture,
food, inside of a house or car, etc.
• The time of day such as morning, afternoon, or night.
• The weather such as cloudy, sunny, windy, snow, or rain, etc.
• The time of year, particularly the seasons: fall, winter, summer, spring.
• The historical period such as what century or decade the story takes place.
• The geographical location including the city, state, country, and possibly even the universe,
if the writer is writing science fiction.
2 Types of Setting:
The physical setting is of course where the story takes place. The “where” can be very general (a small
farming community) —or very specific—a two story white frame house at 739 Hill Street in Scott City,
Missouri.
The chronological setting gives virtually no clues as to where or when the story is set.
  CHARACTERS - Characters are the people, animals, or aliens in the story.

Flat characters do not play important roles

Round characters play an important role, often the lead roles in stories
 CHARACTERIZATION - Is a means by which writers present and reveal characters – by direct
description, by showing the character in action, or by the presentation of other characters who
help to define each other.
Static characters - unchanging: they remain the same from the beginning of a work to the end.
Dynamic characters - exhibit some kind of change – of attitude, purpose, behavior, as the story
progresses.
 CONFLICT - struggle between opposing forces, that is usually resolved by the end of the story
2 Types of Conflict
Internal conflict is when a character struggles with their own opposing desires or beliefs. It takes
place inside the characters mind.
man against him/herself
External conflict sets a character against something or someone beyond their control.
man against nature
man against man
man against animal

 POINT OF VIEW - refers to who tells the story and how it is told.
1st Person Narrator (uses pronoun I): The narrator presents the point of view of only one
character’s consciousness, which limits the narrative to what the first-person narrator knows,
experiences, infers, or can find out by talking to other characters
Example: I tripped on the last stair, preoccupied by what my sister had said, and felt my stomach
drop.
2nd Person Narrator ( uses pronoun you/your): The writer speaks to the reader, as if the reader is
the protagonist or uses apostrophe to speak on an absent or unidentified object.
Example: Your breath catches as you feel the phantom step.
O, staircase, how you keep me awake at night.
3rd Person Narrator (uses pronouns he, she, or they):
1. Omniscient: The narrator is all-knowing and takes the reader inside the characters’ thoughts,
feelings, and motives, as well as shows what the characters say and do.
Example: Beneath the surface, his sister felt regretful. Why did I tell him that? she wondered.
2. Limited omniscient: The narrator takes the reader inside one (or at most very few characters) but
neither the reader nor the character(s) has access to the inner lives of any of the other characters in
the story.
Example: He was visibly frustrated by his sister’s nonchalance and wasn’t watching his step.
 Style - The author’s type of diction (choice of words), syntax (arrangement of words), and other
linguistic features of a work.

 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.
 Nonlinear Narrative - A nonlinear narrative may be told in a series of flashbacks or vignettes. It
might jump back and forth in time. Stories about trauma are often told in this fashion. If using
this plot form, be sure to make clear to readers how/why the jumps in time are occurring. A
writer might clarify jumps in time by adding time-stamps or dates or by using symbolic images
to connect different vignettes.

ACTIVITY:
Use the elements conventionally identified with your chosen genre for a written output.