Blog 1

Blog 1

 

Features of creative nonfiction 

 

• Powerful emotions
• Negative situations/feelings
• First person point of view
• Personal Struggles
• Looking at the good and the bad as a whole
• Sense of loneliness
• World wide controversies
• Insecurities
• Relationships
• Reality
• Being different 

After reading and analyzing the four sample essays in the text, the "essential" features of creative nonfiction seem clear. In the four samples, each essay was told in first person point of view. While the story was being told, the speakers of each essay began their stories with a sentence that grabbed the attention of the audience. A personal situation or life struggle is essential in creative nonfiction. Whether the essay is short or long, both manage to end on a more positive note/ situation than it had started off to be. Deep emotion of the speaker and dialogue with other characters are also essential features of creative nonfiction.

 

Some features may be present while others are not. In Jo Ann Beards essay "Out There," the feature of loneliness is present. She deals with her husband of thirteen years falling out of love with her by traveling across the country for weeks, all alone. Marquart's "Some things about that day," also deals with loneliness, in the fact that the speaker is alone while going through her "procedure," and her husband is at home on the couch. However, loneliness is not a feature of Ebert's "I Think I'm Musing My  Mind." Here, life struggle and self pity are main features, but loneliness is not. The speaker may not be able to speak, but has a wife and readers that fully support him. "Some things about that day," deals with the main feature of an on going controversy in the world today; abortion. Creative Nonfiction does not always have world controversies as a essential feature.

 

Long essays differ from shorter ones in the idea that the emotion is put into step by step detail. The speakers lead up to the certain battle that he or she is going through at that specific time of their life.  The "Out There," and "Portrait of my Body," both give readers a situation/life battle, and give clear descriptions of what is going on around them; telling the readers how they feel at each moment. The short essays take you right into a specific moment. "I Think I'm Musing Myself," and "Some things about that day," both start their story right at the beginning. The short essays leave out the step by step and descriptive details and just give the readers an overall picture of a specific emotion/moment/struggle.