What Is Creative Nonfiction?

The banner of Creative Nonfiction defines the genre simply, succinctly, and accurately as “true stories, well told.” 

In some ways, creative nonfiction is like jazz—it’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and techniques, some newly invented and others as old as writing itself. Creative nonfiction can be an essay, a journal article, a research paper, a memoir, a tweet; it can be personal or not, or it can be all of these.

The words “creative” and “nonfiction” describe the form. The word “creative” refers to the use of literary craft, the techniques writers use to tell stories about real people and events—that’s the “nonfiction” part—in a compelling, vivid, dramatic manner. The goal is to communicate a bit of  the real world—a personal experience, a scientific discovery, a history, a place, a person—in a way that will sing on the page, inform and change readers, and make an impact.

The word “creative” has been criticized in this context because some people think it implies the writer can pretend or exaggerate or make up facts and embellish details. This is completely incorrect. It is possible to be honest and straightforward and brilliant and creative at the same time.

“Creative” doesn’t mean inventing what didn’t happen or reporting and describing what wasn’t there. It doesn’t mean that the writer has a license to lie.

The cardinal rule is clear—and cannot be violated.

This is the pledge the writer makes to the reader—the maxim we live by, the anchor of creative nonfiction: You can’t make this stuff up!

EXPLORE

Nuts & Bolts

• “The Five ‘R’s of Creative Nonfiction” | Lee Gutkind
• “The Essence of Immersion” | Maggie Messitt
• “Picturing the Personal Essay: A Visual Guide” | Tim Bascom

History of the Genre

• “Great (& Not So Great) Moments in Creative Nonfiction, 1993-2010” | CNF Staff
• “On the Fine Art of Literary Fist-Fighting” | Lee Gutkind
• “Expanding the Essay Canon” | Ned Stuckey-French
• “A Genre By Any Other Name” | Dinty W. Moore
• “Putting the ‘Creative’ in Nonfiction” | William Bradley

Why True Stories Matter

• “The Line Between Fact and Fiction” | Roy Peter Clark
• “The Braided Essay as Social Justice Action” | Nicole Walker
• “Confessions of a Navel-Gazer” | Robin Hemley
• “Creative Nonfiction in the Age of the Expert” | Lee Gutkind
• “Writing Memoir & Writing for Therapy” | Tara DaPra
• “Writing for Life” | Jill Patterson
• “The Joy of Writing” | Jennifer Niesslein

Under the Umbrella

Learn more about subgenres

• “Stunt Writing” | Hattie Fletcher
• “Family History Narrative” | Sharon DeBartolo Carmack
• “The Quiet Pleasures of Quotidian Nonfiction” | Patrick Madden
• “Sex Workers Bare All On the Page” | Shawna Kenney
• “The ‘Little Did I Know’ Memoir” | Elizabeth Stone
• “A Brief History of the #cnftweet” | FRED
• “Hermit Crab Essays” | Suzanne Cope
• “Making a Hummingbird of Words” | Beth Ann Fennelly

Be Inspired

• “Cheryl Strayed on Fame, Success, and Writing Like a Mother#^@%*&” | Elissa Bassist 
• “How to Have More Fun on the Job” | Susan Bruns Rowe
• “Contagious Empathy” | Sherrie Flick