Creative Nonfiction: resources for teachers and students.

Should your story be fictionalized or be a true telling of your life? You have to decide. Here are 10 factors to consider.

"I really am going to tell you everything you need to pursue a successful and financially rewarding career writing fiction, and I really am going to do it in ten minutes, which is exactly how long it took me to learn."...

"Thread" at Yale was billed as a gathering for people interested in storytelling in modern media. Or, as the website explained: It’s not a conference, and it’s not a workshop. It’s both. Maybe it’s neither.

Because why not a list of lists? Ten* worth the storyteller's time: 1) “130 years of must-read stories for digital journalists: five lessons from 1851-1981

"Schools should look beyond Shakespeare and short stories...It's time to put beautifully-written nonfiction books into our English classrooms."

“Plotting the Course: Narrative strategies for long-form non-fiction,” focused on three techniques for managing true stories: arc, shape and voice.

Constance Hale defines the literature of fact

"I’ve taught narrative journalism at Harvard, organized conferences on the subject, written criticism about it, and practiced it for more than 20 years.

The name 'narrative journalism' is inelegant, but this genre of reportage takes the literary techniques of fiction and poetry and applies them to telling true stories."

Fall 2000

"In college classes, students read great storytellers and learn how to tell a story...  learn about the LARGER CULTURAL CONTEXT of their work, as well." (College professor, Madeleine Blais)

"The word “creative” refers to the use of literary craft to present nonfiction—factually accurate prose about real people and events—in a compelling, vivid dramatic manner. The goal is to make nonfiction stories read like fiction  "

"I honestly think that structure is one of the most important tools in writing... When I was working on my book, I knew very early on that I wanted it to be a disjointed structure that told multiple stories at once and jumped around in time between different characters."

Rebecca Skloot

"This essay is adapted from Rick Meyer's notes for a talk at the 2005 Nieman Narrative Editors' Seminar. "

"The author and former New York Times reporter says that some of the very best writing today is non-fiction — and that seductive narratives can yank readers into the most diverse range of subjects. "