Writing creative nonfiction
can bring out
your innermost desires.

When writing creative nonfiction, realism is of key importance. Even if you are writing fiction, it still can serve a great purpose. Making your writing real and significant to your readers can bring a great deal of weight with it. Readers will be more apt to connect with what you are writing if they can find a way to be grounded in your writing and feel as though they are able to be whisked away into the world you have created.

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Creative non fiction writing employs the creation of worlds as well. Fiction writing is not the only genre that predisposes you to needing to employ interesting settings, characters, etc. You need to populate your world in non fiction and fiction writing with thorough imagination. Just because you are writing about something that has really happened does not mean that you do not need to be just as persuasive in your writing appeal. Your readers must feel some sense of connectivity. The way to create this is to put yourself right there in the thick of things. Remember how you felt at certain moments and how you dealt with certain situations.

As you probably are well aware, many non fiction that is written today is admittedly based on truth. It is not necessarily being told in exactly the same way that it occurred. Many movies and books that are based on a true story add in some extra dramatic flair here and there in order to add to the realistic feel of the movie, book, etc.

Adding dramatic, comedic, or other types of effects to a piece of non fiction writing does not take away from the non fiction style. It adds to it. That is why this page details ways of writing creative nonfiction. If you tell a story as is and make no changes, you might end up with a thoroughly convincing, truly interesting tale. However, think of when you tell a story to a friend or family member. You might elaborate a bit on certain facts to make them seem more exciting, or downplay certain events to make them seem of lesser importance. You are crafting the telling of your story in such a way that people will enjoy it all the more, at least in your opinion of what are the most important facts to highlight in the story you are telling.

Do the same with your writing. Craft creative non fiction through the use of writing topics that will help elucidate the best ways to go about writing creative nonfiction. The writing topics below will have you on your way to writing non fiction. Remember that these types of creative writing prompts are different than what if questions. What if questions rely more on the unbelievable, such as "what if babies could converse intelligently with adults?" These questions deal with more of the unrealistic, but certain questions lean toward reality. All of the following have the "what if" feel, but they also rely on memories and instinct about what could have been in order to make them come alive.

1. What if you could live your high school years over again? What would you do differently? What would stay the same?
2. Where have you lived/traveled in the world? What was special about each location? What made you choose to live/travel there?
3. What hobbies do you enjoy? What hobbies did you have as a kid? What hobbies do you have now? Are any the same? What hobbies did you used to have that you would like to take up again?
4. How many elections have you voted in? How many city, state, and national elections? How about school elections? Mock elections? Are there any votes you made that you wish you could change?
5. What was your very first job? How did you get it? What did it pay? How long did you work there? What would you have liked your first job to be, if not the one you had?
6. What toys did you enjoy playing with while you were growing up? What "toys" do you play with as an adult? Tools? Cars? Etc.?

Most all of these prompts for writing creative nonfiction rely on some sort of memory that you have. Thinking about these questions and others that elicit memories and "what-could-have-been" scenarios can be conducive in considering learning how to write a memoir. Establish the main points you want to make in your writing by detailing the ups and downs, good times and bad times, sweet and sour memories of your past. Consider how you would change these memories, and mix those changes in as you write a story with a solid basis in truth. Detail the best times of high school that you had, but then overplay the bad times if you are trying to write a story of innocence lost, or something of that nature.

The definition of "toy" might be different depending on the person, so someone who likes to work on their car may consider it a toy to tinker with, and someone else may consider a toy something more like a box of Legos. Write down the answers to any or all of these questions. Interview people to see what their memories are. This might help you pen that fiction novel you've set your mind to, but have never completely finished.

Writing creative nonfiction can be fun and easy, at least once you know just how to go about it. So just sit back, relax, and take the time to ponder what truthful encounters and ideas are most conducive to the story you want to tell. Your writing will stem from those thoughts.

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