Writing Creative Nonfiction

Welcome to the world of creative nonfiction. In this first lecture, investigate how something called nonfiction can be “creative,” how different perspectives can provide unique ways to tell a story, and more. In addition, preview a road map for the lectures ahead and some of the exciting techniques to be learned.

Professor Mazzeo introduces you to the three things that every good story must have: a narrative arc, some kind of conflict, and character. She also guides you through two engaging exercises that help train you to recognize these elements in both short conversations and a single historical photograph.

What’s the line between historical fact and interpretation? What are your responsibilities to your memories, even distant ones? How do you write about things beyond your experience and do it truthfully? Find the answers to these and other important questions on the ethical issues and dilemmas of writing creative nonfiction.

In this lecture, explore how to successfully undertake the hardest part of telling a great story: beginning it. You’ll discover the characteristics of a powerful opening sentence, examine great opening lines by famous writers such as Sylvia Plath, uncover several strategies to generate ideas (including the “story starter”), and more.

“Show, don’t tell”—it’s the mantra of creative writing teachers everywhere. But what exactly does it mean? Strengthen the descriptive powers of your writing by tapping into the importance of handling verbs and using more precise words, with insightful examples of both right and wrong techniques taken from published works of creative nonfiction.

Plotting a narrative arc is a part of the creative process that can seem overwhelming even to very experienced writers. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here, learn basic structures—the linear, quest, and frame narratives—you can choose from to imbue your stories with drama and tension.

Every story needs good pacing, and that’s where chapters come in. What does an effective chapter do, and what does it look like? Professor Mazzeo uses a series of examples to show how chapters can effectively deepen your story’s narrative arc and—most important—keep your readers reading.

Unpack the technical aspects and secrets of sentences that create pacing and tension. First, investigate the importance of word order in your sentences. Next, explore the effectiveness of compound sentences. Finally, uncover how changing different sentence types in your writing can dramatically alter the impact of your work.

Take a closer look at more rhetorical devices that can dramatically alter the quality and impact of your creative nonfiction. Among the devices you explore: parallelism, anadiplosis (repeating the word at the end of a clause at the start of the next), isocolons (clauses of the same length), and alliteration.

Here, Professor Mazzeo walks you through the revision process, which is just as important as the actual writing itself. Using the skills and techniques you’ve learned in previous lectures, you’ll take a brief story and explore numerous ways to improve and enhance its sentences, its dialogue, its perspective, and more.

First, learn why details are so essential to creating three-dimensional characters in creative nonfiction. Then, investigate the stylistic pros and cons of writing from three different points of view: first person, second person, and third person. Your (surprising) case studies for studying the importance of these two topics: personal ads.

Explore working with characters that don’t play starring roles in your narrative (minor characters) as well as unlikable characters no one likes to deal with in real life (antagonists). How do you write about minor and flawed characters that move your narrative along while still being portrayed three-dimensionally?

Investigate the role metaphor plays in revealing the psychological motivations of complex characters. Among the skills you learn are using metonymy (where something associated with an object is used to represent it) and deciding when to use direct discourse (directly quoted speech) or indirect discourse (attributing speech without quotation marks).

Focus here on the unique advantages of using free indirect discourse, which provides a productive ambiguity by balancing on the line between a character’s thoughts and words and those of an author-narrator. You’ll see this at work in an excerpt from one of the masters of the form: Virginia Woolf.

Professor Mazzeo reveals even more different narrative perspectives you can use to frame your stories and provide your readers with an entry point into your work. After a quick review of “I” and “you” point of views, you’ll zero in on three modes of the third-person perspective: omniscient, objective, and subjective.

What is an implied author? How do you develop one in your own nonfiction narratives? What is “purple prose,” and why is it such a common error by beginning writers? How does it undermine great creative nonfiction? Get answers to these and other questions in this lecture on the power of narrative voice.

While it may sound counterintuitive, smart creative nonfiction writers know when not to tell something. Discover how learning when to keep quiet can actually be a storyteller’s most powerful tool—creating drama, strengthening a sense of suspense, and allowing readers themselves to become active participants in your work.

Professor Mazzeo reveals how to recognize—and overcome—the challenges of writing dialogue in creative nonfiction, where nothing can be made up. Focus on three keys to good dialogue: using it to intensify character and propel narrative; writing it to sound realistic (but not too realistic), and making sure it’s not overwritten.

Delve into research, a skill that all successful creative nonfiction writers need to master with real aplomb. You’ll learn where (and where not to) look for materials for your creative nonfiction, what to do when you get stuck with your research, how to evaluate the reliability of sources, and more.

As a writer of creative nonfiction, you have an immense responsibility to your subject (and your readers). Investigate ways to tell your stories dramatically and truthfully—all while avoiding conflict with your subject. Two of the tips you learn here: Use comedy extremely carefully and watch out for turning living people into simple stock characters.

Think a bit more about the revision process. Who are the right people to read a work in progress? What are the differences between positive and negative feedback? How do you manage the complicated feelings behind and investments in your work—especially when facing constructive criticism from your peers?

You’ve finally written the piece you’ve always wanted. Now what? In the first of two lectures on breaking into the world of publishing, learn how to take a realistic approach to the process, how to determine who your audience is, and how to write a solid book proposal for a potential agent.

Finding out where to get your work published. Deciding which publication is right for your work. Crafting a successful pitch to an editor. These are some of the topics covered in this insightful lecture on the art and crafting of marketing and showing your creative nonfiction to a world of readers.

Conclude the course with a look at the habits of effective writers. First, learn several steps you can take to silence your internal critic and survive writer’s block. Then, examine seven ways you can make space in your life for writing, including setting concrete goals, reading more, and befriending other writers.