Creative nonfiction encompasses prose pieces that spring from the real world, which are told with the finesse and fizz of fiction. The truth is shaped into stories that embrace all styles, from straight to zany to brainy to lyrical, encompassing every topic imaginable from schoolyard memories to a trek in Nepal to the creation of the universe. You’ll see such pieces everywhere: books, magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs, newsletters.
Here you will gain an introduction to six major forms of creative nonfiction— memoir, personal essay, feature articles, profiles, reviews, and travel writing. You’ll learn what they are and how to create them. It’s a sampler platter, with no pressure to work on a specific project or settle on which type of nonfiction you prefer.
If you’re eager to explore the endless possibilities of nonfiction, your guided tour begins here.
Creative Nonfiction 101 is a 6-week class, which includes a mixture of lectures and exercises. It’s for beginners or anyone who wants a refresher. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
This course gives an overview of how to realize great characters, in any genre.
Course components:
- Lectures
- Writing exercises
Zoom classes
- Week 1
- Introduction to Creative Nonfiction: What is Creative Nonfiction? The difference between articles and essays. The role of the angle. Imagination in nonfiction writing.
- Focus: Feature articles.
- Week 2
- Characters in Nonfiction: Transforming flesh-and-blood people into characters in a story. Using angles to define characters. Using character sketches to craft angles.
- Focus: Profiles.
- Week 3
- Being Subjective: The art of description in nonfiction. When to be subjective. How to be opinionated but fair.
- Focus: Reviews.
- Week 4
- Sense of Place in Nonfiction: Setting descriptions. Finding and re-creating the mood. Use of observation. The difference between travel articles and travel essays.
- Focus: Travel writing.
- Week 5
- Personal Narratives: Differences between forms of personal narrative. Structure of essays vs. articles. Use of reflection and point of view.
- Focus: Personal essay.
- Week 6
- The Life of the Writer: Drawing from your own life for your stories. Making room in your life for storytelling. Persistence and perseverance.
- Focus: Memoir writing.
About
- Zoom classes happen in real time.
- The Zoom classes unite students from all over the world at Gotham—New York City’s most well-established writing school.
- The Zoom classes happen on videoconference, in “real time.” Very much like an in-person class except everyone is on a computer or device in their own space. The Zoom software is free and simple to use.
- You can take a Zoom writing class from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection. The majority of our Zoom students are located in the U.S. but we also draw students from practically every country in the world.
- Tech support will be available. Out of respect for everyone’s privacy, the Zoom sessions are not recorded.
