creative writing non fiction activities

21 Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompts to Inspire True Stories

by Sue Weems | 0 comments

If you've ever wanted to tell a true story using more literary techniques, then the genre you're exploring is creative nonfiction. Let's define creative nonfiction and then try some creative nonfiction writing prompts today. 

What is creative nonfiction?

Creative nonfiction is a literary genre of writing that uses fiction techniques and stylistic choices to express real-life experiences. It depends on story elements especially, so everything you've learned about structure will serve you well in creative nonfiction. 

It often includes personal essays, memoirs, biographies, and other related genres such as travel writing or food writing. Creative nonfiction writers strive to make their pieces engaging to readers with narrative techniques typically found in fiction, such as vivid descriptions and dialogue, but in addition to that, they approach their subject matter with a thoughtfulness about the larger meaning of experiences. 

It's an extremely flexible form. You can begin by writing out a personal experience and then layering it with narrative or thematic elements. You can infuse your writing with poetic elements to make the writing more lyrical. The possibilities for your writing practice are endless.

Because of that, it's the perfect form for practicing new techniques and experimenting with your storytelling. You could use any nonfiction prompt, but let me give you a few to try today. Remember the one thing you want to do is tell a true story (or as true as you can tell it!).

And if you've always dreamed of writing a memoir, check out our full guide to writing a memoir here . 

21 Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompts

1. Tell a personal story about a time you lost something that changed your life.

2. Relate a childhood experience where you felt locked out literally or figuratively. 

3. Think about a road trip—maybe not the epic, once-in-a-lifetime trip, but a smaller one that surprised you with something on the way. Write about the vivid details and what defied your expectations.

4. Write about finding unexpected love or friendship.

5. Tell a story about the last time you felt at home.

6. Relate a time when you had to leave something important or precious behind. 

7. Tell about a time you had to dig.

8. Write about the first time of drove or traveled alone and it changed you.

9. Tell about a painful or poignant goodbye.

10. Relate a favorite memory about a significant figure in your life. 

11. Write the story of the most difficult decision you made in each decade of your life. 

12. Tell the story of a birth: of a person, an idea, a business, a relationship.

13. Relate the most life-changing conversation you've had using only dialogue. (or stream-of-consciousness or alternating point of view)

14. Recreate the earliest significant experience you had with school or learning.

15. Write about a tiny object that changed your life. 

16. Tell the story of an argument that ended in a surprising or unexpected way. 

17. Recreate a scene where you had to defend yourself or someone else. 

18. Share a story about trying something new (whether you failed or met success).

19. Write about the moment you knew you had to keep a secret.

20. Tell about a time you interacted, viewed, or read a piece of art and it changed you. 

21. Share about a letter, email, or text that disrupted your life and caused you to change course. 

Put your writing skills to the test

Now it's your turn. Dig into those childhood memories or visceral experiences that have made you who you are. Tell the story and then look for ways to explore literary technique as you revise. 

Choose one of the prompts above and set your timer for fifteen minutes . Write the experience as vividly and direct as you can. Often, the magic of creative nonfiction comes in revision, so don't worry about focusing on too many stylistic choices at first. 

When finished, share your creative nonfiction piece in the Pro Practice Workshop here , and encourage a few other writers while you're there. 

Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

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Creative non-fiction writing exercises

(Re-posted from:  http://www.keepwriting.net/prompts.htm)

Writing Prompts

These prompts are intended to help inspire your creativity. Try your hand at any one of them or use them as quick ten minute writing exercises. More exercises will be added as time goes by, so please check this page periodically – the most recent prompts appear at the top. Remember what Natalie Goldberg says about writing practice: Keep your hand moving. Note: prompts #1 through #10 are preserved from the original Keep Writing classes, hosted by Linda Rome.

# 18:  Self-Searching

When you’re struggling with what to write about, sometimes it helps to get reacquainted with yourself…who you are…what matters to you. Here is an exercise designed to help you discover, and inspire you to explore in your writing, those things you feel most passionate about.

Take out two pieces of paper. Now answer every question in Phase One on the list below. If you would be willing to share your answers with the wider world, put those answers on the first sheet of paper. Any answers you are not willing to share should go on the second piece of paper. But all questions must be answered fully and honestly.

Once you’ve finished with Phase One, go through all your answers carefully, expanding on them by answering the corresponding questions in Phase Two.

If you find that those things you feel most passionate about are the ones you aren’t willing to share…don’t despair. Creative writing recreates reality – frequently changing events and characters, times and places – while staying true to the heart of the story – its emotional truth.

Pick one of your answers and recreate it into a story, an essay, a poem, a performance piece, that you would like to share.

# 17:  Sketching

Think you might enjoy writing about some far-off place and time…or maybe even inventing an imaginary place and culture all your own? Here’s a basic exercise to help you define place, time, and cultural mores as a context for your story.

# 16:  Characterization

Use the following format to create your own character. No cheating. Do not simply fill in the blanks by describing yourself or someone you know. Instead, fill in the blanks describing someone you’d find it interesting to know. Then, remembering that conflict is the essence of all dramatic writing, repeat the process by imagining a character whose value, attitudes, etc. would likely put them in opposition to the first character you invented.

Full Name: Nicknames: Sex: Age: Height: Weight: Hair: Eyes: Skin: Posture: Appearance: Health: Birthmark: Abnormalities: Heritage: Where born: Where live: Favorite food: Favorite subject in school: Favorite game as child: Best memory: Worst memory: Smoke/Drink/Drugs Profile: Favorite section of newspaper: Favorite type of music: Last book read: Last movie seen: Morning or night person: Introvert/Extrovert: Indoor or outdoor person: Greatest fear: Closest friend: Dearest possession: Favorite season: Class: Occupation: Education: Family: Home Life: IQ: Religion: Community: Political Affiliation: Amusements/Hobbies: Reading Interests: Sex Life: Morality: Ambition: Frustration: Temperament: Attitude: Psychological Complexes: Superstitions: Imagination

# 15:  Word Lists

Word lists can sometimes be a great spur to creativity. Try this one. Set your timer for ten minutes, then read the word list below and attempt to write something (a poem, a story, a short play) that contains all nine of these words.

Once you’ve completed this exercise, reread what you have written. Is there a character or a situation worth pursuing farther?

Another variation of this exercise is to create your own word list, listing only words that in some way are significant to you as a person. Then, use this list as your jumping off place, following the same rules as those given above.

# 14:  Recollections

Write some memoirs about a favorite teacher..

# 13:  Celebration

Write about a special birthday.

# 12:  Reinvention

Write about an incident in your past that you would like a chance to relive and do differently.

# 11:  Suspense

Write in any form (poetry, drama, short story, nonfiction, memoir, etc.) a piece that incorporates the phrase, “Don’t pick up the phone.”

# 10:  Explorations

A. Write a paragraph or story about noise.

B. Make a list: Start each phrase with “It would be crazy to. . . ” Go until you run out of sentences. Then, write the other side of the coin: Start each phrase with “It would be perfectly sane to. . . .”

C. Explore the differences of the two lists – either in an essay or poem or put two characters in a dangerous situation together where one is more likely to have said the “it would be crazy” statements and the other would be more likely to say their opposite.

D. Put on a piece of music and write where it takes you.

E. Comment on a newspaper or T.V. clip.

F. Imagine yourself as a child, looking at your mother’s wallet. What do you see? How do you feel? Tell a story from this child’s perspective.

# 9:  Disclosures

A. Make up a word and tell us what it means. Use it in a sentence, a story, a scene. The word can reflect something you always thought needed a word or it can be a set of sounds that trigger your imagination. Try it as a verb, an adverb, or a noun. Be playful.

B. Write a short paragraph/essay about something you used to do with your grandmother or grandfather that you still do today. Questions you might ask and answer: Why do I still do whatever it is? Do I enjoy it, how have my feelings for the activity changed? Why? Have I passed this on to my children? Explore the then and now.

C. Look at a picture. What is the secret hidden in the picture? Explore it, push the characters until they reveal the secret knowledge, power, or pain that they conceal.

# 8:  New Perspectives

A. Write a story about a person turning eighty.

B. Write a dialogue between two people who have to share a seat on a plane and who are attracted to one another. Introduce an obstacle to the smooth sailing of this attraction.

C. Write about an ugly moment between two people, but don’t label it. Make the reader experience it without you telling them what is going on.

E. Choose one aspect of the natural world that you feel has something to teach you. What specific quality does it express that speaks to you about your own life? Cluster your thoughts and shape them into a poem. (From Poetic Medicine by John Fox).

F. Write about a birthday.

G. Write the saddest thing you know about friendship.

H. Go back to one of the exercises you’ve done since the beginning of class and edit it with an eye to new ideas, different approaches, clearer sentences. Add a sustaining metaphor or an apt simile. Approach it creatively.

# 7:  In the Moment

Today celebrate what you still don’t know. Make a list of the elements you are unsure of in the plot of your story; the ideas as yet undeveloped in a poem; or the point of an essay that hasn’t yet crystallized. These are your reasons to keep on writing. Or, write the phrase “I still don’t know” as a diving study and fill the page with whatever comes out. Select one thing you don’t know to write/learn about today. — From Bonni Goldberg, Room to Write

A. In this exercise we’re going to practice being present to what is around us and reflecting that present reality in our writing. Get up and walk around the house, the porch, the deck, and/or the yard. Spend five or six minutes. Then write three pages about whatever comes to mind. This isn’t even a rough draft; this is just flow; pure mental, emotional, associative pure flow.

B. Go through your three pages and underline the sentences or paragraphs, phrases, or ideas you think are most interesting, provocative, amusing, enlightening. Underline or bracket them. With these thoughts in mind, again walk around. Then sit down and write something you might be willing to share, building on your first efforts. Let the ideas and subject matter pick the form.

# 6:  Motivation

“Always do what you’re afraid to do,” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s visionary Aunt Mary advised him. We tie ourselves in knots to sabotage the energy that might be unleashed if we move resolutely ahead. The risks of making changes are great. . . especially great changes. — Gail Sher, One Continuous Mistake

Write out all the things you are afraid to do concerning your writing and your writing life. Do not simply make a list, but use sentences so you can experience the flow of your thoughts. If you are stuck, start your sentences with something like, “I am afraid my writing will. . . .” or “I am afraid writing is . . . .”

Now make a list of other things you’re afraid of doing. Be as outrageous as you can.

In this exercise, we’re going to use quotations as our jumping off place into writing. You may choose the form: narrative or essay or dialogue. Spend the first five minutes thinking, jotting notes, clustering, doodling, gnashing your teeth, or wandering around, if you choose. If no response comes together for you, write three pages on what is going on in your mind, starting with the quote:

“Where we are going is here.” or “Both ways are best.” or “What is the straight within the bent?”

Who might say such words? In what context? You may use them as dialogue or images or theme. Write a poem or a story or a reflection. Let yourself play.

# 5:  Dialogues and Expositions

A. Write about a day in the “life” of an inanimate object. (Suggestions: a mirror, football, computer, refrigerator, rug, or paperclip.)

B. Write some funny dialogue between a father (or mother) and his/her daughter (or son) who must explain explain why she/he is two hours past curfew.

C. Expository essays that define call for short or extended definitions to help both the reader and the writer understand the meaning of a word. Depending on its length, you may develop your definition by examples, comparisons, and/or functions. Fill in the blank. Go for 10 minutes. Bad luck is __________.

D. Write a story about a factory.

E. Describe a lake as seen by a young man who has just committed murder. Do not mention the murder. (Exercise taken from John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction .)

F. Look around the room you’re in. Write about an object that you have an emotional attachment to or that triggers an emotional response in you. Some tips for writing ten minutes a day: Try to do it around the same time every day. It helps build a habit. Go with your first thoughts. Get down the sentences as they occur to you. Trust yourself. You can edit later. This ten minutes is for writing, not editing, not note taking, not planning. If you pick up a piece from the day before, you must make forward progress – at least one sentence. Keep writing!

# 4:  Narratives

Writing has tremendous energy. If you find a reason for it, any reason, it seems that rather than negate the act of writing, it makes you burn deeper and glow clearer on the page. Ask yourself, “Why do I write?” or “Why do I want to write?” but don’t think about it. Take pen and paper and answer it with clear, assertive statements. Every statement doesn’t have to be one hundred percent true and each line can contradict the others. Even lie if you need to, to get going. If you don’t know why you write, answer it as though you do know why. — Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones

Tip: If you feel stuck, start out: I don’t know why I write, but . . . . or I feel that as a writer I have something to say, but. . . . But? But what? Stay with this “but” until you are about “but,” the most knowledgeable person in the world.

Since everyone likes a good story, it’s no wonder that the narrative is such a popular form of writing. Fairy tales, anecdotes, short stories, novels, plays, comics, and even some poems are all examples of the narrative form. Simply stated, a narrative is a story based on fact or fiction. Any type of narrative (or story) writing is built on a series of events. By telling about these events one after the other, just as they occurred, your story will satisfy a reader’s curiosity about what happens next. (A more complex narrative device of moving back and forth from past to present within a story is call the flashback technique.) A narrative composition can be used to entertain, make a point, and/or illustrate a premise.

A. Write a story about wanting and glue and staring.

B. Respond to the following quote. Follow where the words lead you.

A man’s life is nothing but an extended trek through the detours of art to recapture those one or two moments when his heart first opened.  — Albert Camus

# 3:  Highlighting Details

A. Start a story with a word that starts with the letter B – any B, any word.

B. Pick a particular time of day and a particular window. Spend 10 minutes each day for three days describing what you see out of the window.

C. Write about what you hate most about writing.

D. Create a lovable character with one disappointing flaw. Put that character in the same room as you and a very favorite small child in such a way that the disappointing flaw is evident. What happens?

E. Remember haiku? Those 5-7-5 syllable poems that have a touch of nature and a hint of epiphany in them? Try writing one every day this week. Or try your hand at a sonnet!

# 2:  Found Objects

A. You find a checkbook on the ground-perhaps you’re in a park, jogging along the highway, or in the parking lot at the Mall. You decide to return it. What happens next?

B. You’re tired. Who isn’t? You make a mistake, a costly mistake. What happens next?

C. Question of the year: What do you see in that new piece of art your spouse or significant other brought home? How do you feel when you find out it cost the equivalent of three months pay? Write this story in the third person.

D. Let’s revisit the expensive piece of art your significant other brought home. Write a story from the point of view of the person who brought it home.

E. Paper clips. How important are they? Pick up your pen and write about paper clips for ten minutes.

F. Pick out one piece of your writing. Look in Writer’s Market or some other marketing tool and pick out three possible places to send it. Write them down, bookmark them. Or type up a query and send off your piece.

G. Pick out three current market listings that sound appealing to you. Think of an article idea that you would be able to write for that market. Write your idea and the approach you’d take down. Write down the names of possible contacts to interview or the titles of books for quotes you might need or use. Play around with a first sentence. Write a rough draft. (Take ten minutes to do each of the previous directions.)

# 1:  Observe and Analyze

A. Sit in your favorite chair. Write about the view. If you want to write a piece of fiction, imagine someone who is the total opposite of how you see yourself, and put him or her in that same chair. How does the view change?

B. The pair of shoes, scuffed and worn, stood sentinel, at the door. Use the previous sentence as the beginning or ending sentence for a short story-maximum 1200 words.

C. Today, notice all the people that grease your day but who you rarely think about: the newspaper delivery person, the mailman, the elevator doorman, the pizza delivery guy, the cashier at the grocery store or the hostess at your favorite eatery. One of them is a murderer. What’s the story here? Who tells it? What happens next?

D. Pick out one page of your work. Look at it very carefully, sentence by sentence. Cull 10% of the words. Look at the verbs in each sentence. Punch them up by choosing more vigorous, more active verbs. On your word processor, take out all the adjectives and adverbs. Add them back sparingly.

E. Pick out another page of your work. Look at it very carefully, sentence by sentence. Where do you make leaps of logic that may leave your reader confused? Where do you make assumptions about what the reader knows? Are those assumptions valid? Do you actually portray the scene you see in your mind’s eye-or are there important details you’ve left out? Add them in. Pay attention to the sensory details: add in whatever is necessary to make the reader hear, smell, taste, or feel what’s going on in the scene (or essay or poem).

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50 Creative Nonfiction Prompts Guaranteed to Inspire

But not to worry. I present one whole hefty list of prompts just for creative nonfiction writers.

One small note before you dive in: don’t be afraid to mix and match the prompts. Each suggestion was meant to highlight a specific line of inspiration. There is absolutely no reason that two or three of these can’t be explored within one piece.

In fact, just use my tiny suggestions as springboards. Good luck!

1. Explore a scene or story from your memory by reimagining it from an alternate perspective. Write the event from the point of view of a passing bystander, another person close to the event, a pet, or even an inanimate object. When choosing your narrator, pay attention to how objective they would have been, what they would have paid attention to, and what sort of background knowledge they would have had about the scene.

2. Tell the nonfiction story that you don’t want your mother to read. You know the one. Don’t censor yourself.

3. Recall a moment in which you felt a strong spiritual or unidentifiable energy. Describe the scene in vivid detail, with special attention to the senses. Connect that scene to your relationship with your own religious beliefs or lack thereof. Examine how you incorporated that experience into your worldview.

4. Create a timeline of events depicting your life by using newspaper headlines. Try to focus on events that didn’t involve you directly, but connect them to the pivotal events in your life.

5. Tell the story of one of your family holiday gatherings. Identify any of your family’s common trademarks, such as your one aunt that seems to tell the same joke at every Christmas, or your two uncles that always hide from the rest of the family by doing the dishes. Explore how you are linked within this family dynamic, and how these little quirks evolved and changed over the years.

6. Tell the story of a location. Possibly one that is very close to your heart that you already know well, or a new one that inspires your curiosity. Pay particular attention to your own connection to the location, however small or large that connection may be.

7. Choose a location that you’ve come to know as an adult. Compare how you interact with this setting now to how you interacted with similar settings when you were a child. How has your perspective changed?

8. Describe a time in which you expected or wanted to feel a religious or spiritual moment, but couldn’t. What were you hoping would happen? How do you choose to interpret that?

9. Recall a key lesson that parents or family members tried to impart onto you as a child. For example: “live with a healthy mind and healthy body,” or “put others before yourself.” Revisit that lesson as an adult and connect it to how you have come to interpret it as you grew up or in your adult life. Feel free to pick a less serious lesson and have a little bit of fun with it.

10. Revisit a special birthday from when you were younger. Describe specific details, with emphasis upon the senses. Now that you have years of context, how do you feel about what your parents and family did or did not do for you? What does that event mean to you now?

11. Choose an event in your life that someone else remembers differently. Describe both memories and debate the differences. Who do you think is right? Why do you think you remember it differently?

12. Choose a strong emotion and think of two memories associated with it. What are the links between those two memories?

13. Think of a lesson you learned recently and apply it to a memory. How would your behavior have changed if you had applied the lesson back then?

14. Choose a commonplace or otherwise unremarkable memory and describe it in the most dramatic and absurd way possible. For inspiration, I’m leaving you with some quotes from Douglas Adams. “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” “He leant tensely against the corridor wall and frowned like a man trying to unbend a corkscrew by telekinesis.” “It was a deep, hollow malevolent voice which sounded like molten tar glurping out of a drum with evil on its mind.”

15. Have you seen those bizarre Illuminati videos in which some automated voice tries to prove that Arch Duke Ferdinand is actually alive and has a monopoly on the world’s dairy farms? For this prompt, think of people in your life who have believed in crazy conspiracy theories, and write about the time they first shared them with you. Think of how your beliefs might seem naïve to them, and explore the tension between the competing versions of history.

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

16. What do you want more than anything in your life? Write about the burning hot core of your desire, and how that desire has changed over your life.

17. Recall what stressed you out most as a child. Was it the creaking stairs leading to the basement? Or being lost at the store? Explore your current relationship to that stressor. Did you ever move past that fear or anxiety? How do you interact with it now?

18. What relationship in your life has caused the most pain? Write the key scene in that relationship, when everything was at stake.

19. Write about a road trip you took, and about where all your fellow travelers ended up in life versus where you ended up. Are you glad you didn’t end up where they did, or are you jealous?

20. How has your identity changed over the course of your life? Write a scene from your teenage years that epitomizes the type of person you were, and then write a scene from recent life that shows how you’ve changed.

21. What event in your life has angered you the most? Write the scene where it happened, and tell us what you would do if it happened again.

22. What single experience most shaped who you are? Describe the experience in a single, vivid scene.

23. Who was your first friend to die? Write about how you learned of their death, and how you and their other friends mourned them.

24. Choose a happy or comfortable memory and write it in a way that makes the memory creepy or eerie to the reader. Don’t change the basic facts of the event, only select different facts and present them differently.

25. Show yourself in a scene pursuing the thing you want most in the world. Try to show the reader, without telling them, about your character flaws.

26. If you could throw five items into the fire, what would they be and why? To be clear, by throwing them in this fire, there would be no trace of them left anywhere, even if it’s something on the Internet or a memory. This is a very powerful fire. What would the consequences be?

27. What physical object or family heirloom ties together your grandparents, your parents, and yourself? Describe this object in great detail, and what it has meant to generations of your family.

This is seriously the best anthology out there for creative nonfiction.   

Lee Gutkind and Annie Dillard have created a fantastic repository of classics.

In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction

28. Tell a story from your life in inverted chronological order. Start with the end, then backpedal to the middle, then tell the beginning, and then fill in the rest of the gaps.

29. Write about your favorite trip or journey, and how that high level of happiness was eventually threatened.

30. Look at some photographs of your childhood. Look at the pictures of your old room, the clothes you wore, and the places you had been. Try to remember a friend from that time period, and describe the first memory of a time when they pressured you or made you uncomfortable or angry.

31. Take a small, boring moment that happened today and write as much as you can about it. Go overboard describing it, and make this boring moment exciting by describing it in intense detail with ecstatic prose. Eventually connect this small, boring detail with the grand narrative of your life, your bigger purpose and intentions.

32. Describe the best meal you ever ate. Then describe a conflict you had with the people you shared it with, one that happened before, during, or after.

33. Recall an individual that you particularly hated. Describe their cruelty to you, and try to write yourself into an understanding of why they might have done it.

34. What was the best/worst letter you ever received or wrote? Write about the situation surrounding that letter, and why it was so important.

35. Recall a name you’ve given to a toy, a car, a pet, or a child, and tell us the story of how you and your family selected that name. Who fought over the name? What was the significance of that name? What happened to the animal or thing you named?

36. Write about experiencing the craziest natural event you’ve ever seen — tornado, earthquake, tsunami, hurricane. Dramatize the physical danger of the natural event as well as the tension between you and the people you were with.

37. Tell the story of the most important person that has shaped your town and its culture (you might have to do some research). How did the activity of that person  influence the way you grew up or live currently?

How do you find good creative nonfiction stories?    

This book masterfully teaches you how to discover the stories others will want to hear.

Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life

38. Scientists have wondered for years how nature and nurture plays into the development of human minds and their choices. Explore where you and your siblings are today and the choices that brought you there. Would you like to trade places with your sibling? Would you be happy living in their shoes? How have your personal choices differed over the years?

39. Write a scene of a time when someone older than you gave you advice, and write about how you followed it or ignored it and the consequences.

40. Write a single, three-paragraph scene when your sexual desire was thwarted by yourself or someone else.

41. Describe a scene when you were stereotyping someone. Did someone challenge you, or if you only felt guilty by yourself, how did you change your behavior afterwards?

42. Describe the biggest epiphany of your life, then backtrack and tell the lead-up to that scene or the aftermath. In the lead-up or aftermath, show how the epiphany was either overrated or every bit as valuable as you’d previously thought.

43. Write about a fork in the road in your life, and how you made the decision to go the direction you did.

44. Explore an addiction you had or currently have. Whether the addiction is as serious as alcohol or cigarettes, or something much more mundane like texting, video games, or internet usage, describe in vivid detail the first time you tried it. If you quit, tell the story of how you quit.

45. Recall a scene in which you chose to remain silent. Whether it was your boss’s racist rant, or just an argument not worth having, explore the scene and why you chose not to speak.

46. Revisit a moment in your life that you feel you will never be able to forget. What about that moment made it so unforgettable?

47. What makes you feel guilty? Revisit a moment that you are ashamed of or feel guilty for and explore why that is. Describe the scene and the event and communicate why you feel this way.

48. Write about a moment in which you acted selflessly or against your own benefit. What motivated you to do so? What were the circumstances? How did you feel after words?

49. Write about the most pivotal scene in a relationship with someone in your extended family — Uncle, aunt, cousin, grandmother. Describe the tension or happiness you shared, and how that came to affect your relationship from that point onward.

50. If all else fails, try a writing-sprint. Set an alarm for 5, 10, or 15 minutes and write as much as possible within that time span. Even if you begin with no inspiration, you might be surprised with what you come up with by the end.

The definitive guide to creating riveting true life stories.     

Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction

For added pressure, try these writing websites:

• Write Or Die

If you stop writing for more than 5 seconds, everything you’ve written disappears. It’s like writing with someone with a whip behind your chair. But with this new update you can choose to get positive reinforcements, too, like a kitten or candy, or to have your words disemvoweled rather than disappear.

A points-based system to encourage writers to write 750 words every single day. You get bonus points for not skipping days, and bonus points for writing more than 750 words.

• Written? Kitten!

Every 100 words you write, you get shown a picture of a kitten. Ah, simple motivation. No word whether a dog version of the site is in the works for those who are more dog people.

For more on creative nonfiction writing, I suggest Creative Nonfiction . This website works with its print magazine counterpart to specifically cater to creative nonfiction writers and operates as an excellent starting point for more inspiration. Happy writing!

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Thank you for adding Written Kitten to the list, Bridget! We have bunnies and dogs now!

Thank you for this. Very helpful for a useless person like me

Stfu, you are amazing, and no one in this entire universe is useless, except for me, so love yourself.

This is super awesome & I am so happy to have some new ideas… creative block has been beyond bad. this is what I have needed to start unclogging it!

do you have topics i can write about

This is very helpful!

I am searching for non-fiction writing topics

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50 Creative Nonfiction Prompts to Spark Your Inspiration

Creative nonfiction is a unique blend of storytelling and reality, where the facts of life meet the art of narrative. It’s a genre that invites writers to explore their experiences, thoughts, and observations, weaving them into stories that resonate with truth and authenticity. In this realm, the line between the mundane and the extraordinary is often blurred, turning everyday experiences into captivating tales.

Prompts, in this context, serve as a starting point, a spark to ignite the imagination and draw out stories that might be hiding just beneath the surface. They encourage writers to dig deeper, reflect on their experiences, and discover the narratives that have shaped their perspectives. 

Whether it’s exploring personal memories, observing societal dynamics, or simply musing on the quirks of daily life, these prompts are designed to cover a wide array of themes. They offer a launchpad for anyone looking to delve into the rich and varied world of creative nonfiction, guiding them through a journey of self-discovery and storytelling.

Personal Reflections

• Recall an experience that changed your perspective on life.
• Describe a tradition in your family and its personal significance.
• Write about a moment of self-discovery or realization.
• Share an experience of overcoming a fear or phobia.
• Reflect on an encounter that left a lasting impression on you.

Life’s Milestones

• Describe your feelings on the day you left home for the first time.
• Write about the experience of meeting a significant other or a lifelong friend.
• Share the emotions and thoughts of a pivotal birthday or anniversary.
• Reflect on the experience of achieving a long-sought-after goal.
• Describe a moment of failure and what it taught you.

Challenges and Resilience

• Write about a time you faced a significant challenge at work or school.
• Share a story of a personal setback and how you bounced back.
• Reflect on a moment you had to stand up for yourself or someone else.
• Describe a period of life-changing adversity and its impact on you.
• Write about an unexpected challenge that you turned into an opportunity.

Travel and Exploration

• Share a memorable experience from a trip that changed your view of the world.
• Write about a place you visited that felt completely alien to you.
• Reflect on a journey that did not go as planned, but taught you something valuable.
• Describe a moment where you connected with a stranger while traveling.
• Share an experience of discovering something new in a familiar place.

Societal Observations

• Reflect on a current event that deeply affected you and why.
• Write about a time when you noticed a significant social change.
• Share your thoughts on a technological advancement and its impact on society.
• Describe an encounter that challenged your long-held beliefs.
• Write about a moment you witnessed community solidarity.

Creative Musings

• Reflect on what creativity means to you.
• Write about a book, film, or artwork that profoundly affected your life.
• Share a story about how a particular song or piece of music moves you.
• Describe a time when engaging in a creative activity helped you overcome a personal challenge.
• Reflect on an instance where you found beauty in an unexpected place.

Relationships and Connections

• Write about a relationship that taught you an important life lesson.
• Share a story of a chance encounter that led to a meaningful connection.
• Reflect on the evolution of a significant relationship in your life.
• Describe a conversation that had a profound impact on you.
• Write about the complexities of a family relationship.

Self-Discovery and Growth

• Reflect on an aspect of your identity that has shaped your life.
• Write about a habit you changed and the effect it had on you.
• Share a moment that made you question your beliefs or values.
• Describe a period of significant personal growth.
• Reflect on a time when you surprised yourself.

Miscellaneous Adventures

• Share a story about an unusual hobby or interest and why it fascinates you.
• Write about an unexpected adventure in an ordinary day.
• Describe an unusual or memorable event in your community.
• Share a story of a spontaneous decision that led to an unexpected journey.
• Write about a quirky or unique family story.

Moments of Joy and Happiness

• Reflect on an experience that made you laugh uncontrollably.
• Describe a surprise that turned out to be an incredible gift.
• Share a memory of a perfect day.
• Write about finding happiness in an unexpected place.
• Recall a time when a small act of kindness made a significant difference in your mood or day.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it – 50 stepping stones to get those words flowing and stories growing. Each prompt is a little nudge, pushing you to explore, reflect, and maybe even uncover something new about yourself and the world around you. Creative nonfiction is all about taking the real and weaving it into narratives that resonate and connect. 

These ones here are just the starting point. They’re here to break the ice, to get you thinking and, most importantly, writing. Whether you’re jotting down memories, musing over daily observations, or sharing life’s big moments, remember, every story you tell is adding your unique voice to the tapestry of human experience. So go ahead, pick a prompt, and let the adventure begin.

Further Reading...

The Power of a Morning Writing Routine

The Role of Discipline in a Writer’s Daily Routine: How to Develop a Consistent Writing Habit

The Solitude of Writing: Balancing Isolation with Social Inspiration

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Epistolary writing: crafting stories through letters and diaries.

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Last updated on Feb 20, 2023

Creative Nonfiction: How to Spin Facts into Narrative Gold

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Savannah Cordova

Savannah is a senior editor with Reedsy and a published writer whose work has appeared on Slate, Kirkus, and BookTrib. Her short fiction has appeared in the Owl Canyon Press anthology, "No Bars and a Dead Battery". 

About Rebecca van Laer

Rebecca van Laer is a writer, editor, and the author of two books, including the novella How to Adjust to the Dark. Her work has been featured in literary magazines such as AGNI, Breadcrumbs, and TriQuarterly.

Creative nonfiction is a genre of creative writing that approaches factual information in a literary way. This type of writing applies techniques drawn from literary fiction and poetry to material that might be at home in a magazine or textbook, combining the craftsmanship of a novel with the rigor of journalism. 

Here are some popular examples of creative nonfiction:

• The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang
• Intimations by Zadie Smith
• Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

Creative nonfiction is not limited to novel-length writing, of course. Popular radio shows and podcasts like WBEZ’s This American Life or Sarah Koenig’s Serial also explore audio essays and documentary with a narrative approach, while personal essays like Nora Ephron’s A Few Words About Breasts and Mariama Lockington’s What A Black Woman Wishes Her Adoptive White Parents Knew also present fact with fiction-esque flair.

Writing short personal essays can be a great entry point to writing creative nonfiction. Think about a topic you would like to explore, perhaps borrowing from your own life, or a universal experience. Journal freely for five to ten minutes about the subject, and see what direction your creativity takes you in. These kinds of exercises will help you begin to approach reality in a more free flowing, literary way — a muscle you can use to build up to longer pieces of creative nonfiction.

If you think you’d like to bring your writerly prowess to nonfiction, here are our top tips for creating compelling creative nonfiction that’s as readable as a novel, but as illuminating as a scholarly article.

Write a memoir focused on a singular experience

Humans love reading about other people’s lives — like first-person memoirs, which allow you to get inside another person’s mind and learn from their wisdom. Unlike autobiographies, memoirs can focus on a single experience or theme instead of chronicling the writers’ life from birth onward.

For that reason, memoirs tend to focus on one core theme and—at least the best ones—present a clear narrative arc, like you would expect from a novel. This can be achieved by selecting a singular story from your life; a formative experience, or period of time, which is self-contained and can be marked by a beginning, a middle, and an end. 

When writing a memoir, you may also choose to share your experience in parallel with further research on this theme. By performing secondary research, you’re able to bring added weight to your anecdotal evidence, and demonstrate the ways your own experience is reflective (or perhaps unique from) the wider whole.

Example: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking , for example, interweaves the author’s experience of widowhood with sociological research on grief. Chronicling the year after her husband’s unexpected death, and the simultaneous health struggles of their daughter, The Year of Magical Thinking is a poignant personal story, layered with universal insight into what it means to lose someone you love. The result is the definitive exploration of bereavement — and a stellar example of creative nonfiction done well.

📚 Looking for more reading recommendations? Check out our list of the best memoirs of the last century .

Tip: What you cut out is just as important as what you keep

When writing a memoir that is focused around a singular theme, it’s important to be selective in what to include, and what to leave out. While broader details of your life may be helpful to provide context, remember to resist the impulse to include too much non-pertinent backstory. By only including what is most relevant, you are able to provide a more focused reader experience, and won’t leave readers guessing what the significance of certain non-essential anecdotes will be.

💡 For more memoir-planning tips, head over to our post on outlining memoirs .

Of course, writing a memoir isn’t the only form of creative nonfiction that lets you tap into your personal life — especially if there’s something more explicit you want to say about the world at large… which brings us onto our next section.

Pen a personal essay that has something bigger to say

Personal essays condense the first-person focus and intimacy of a memoir into a tighter package — tunneling down into a specific aspect of a theme or narrative strand within the author’s personal experience.

Often involving some element of journalistic research, personal essays can provide examples or relevant information that comes from outside the writer’s own experience. This can take the form of other people’s voices quoted in the essay, or facts and stats. By combining lived experiences with external material, personal essay writers can reach toward a bigger message, telling readers something about human behavior or society instead of just letting them know the writer better.

Example: The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison's widely acclaimed collection The Empathy Exams  tackles big questions (Why is pain so often performed? Can empathy be “bad”?) by grounding them in the personal. While Jamison draws from her own experiences, both as a medical actor who was paid to imitate pain, and as a sufferer of her own ailments, she also reaches broader points about the world we live in within each of her essays.

Whether she’s talking about the justice system or reality TV, Jamison writes with both vulnerability and poise, using her lived experience as a jumping-off point for exploring the nature of empathy itself.

Tip: Try to show change in how you feel about something

Including external perspectives, as we’ve just discussed above, will help shape your essay, making it meaningful to other people and giving your narrative an arc. 

Ultimately, you may be writing about yourself, but readers can read what they want into it. In a personal narrative, they’re looking for interesting insights or realizations they can apply to their own understanding of their lives or the world — so don’t lose sight of that. As the subject of the essay, you are not so much the topic as the vehicle for furthering a conversation.

Often, there are three clear stages in an essay:

• Initial state 
• Encounter with something external
• New, changed state, and conclusions

By bringing readers through this journey with you, you can guide them to new outlooks and demonstrate how your story is still relevant to them.

Had enough of writing about your own life? Let’s look at a form of creative nonfiction that allows you to get outside of yourself.

Tell a factual story as though it were a novel

The form of creative nonfiction that is perhaps closest to conventional nonfiction is literary journalism. Here, the stories are all fact, but they are presented with a creative flourish. While the stories being told might comfortably inhabit a newspaper or history book, they are presented with a sense of literary significance, and writers can make use of literary techniques and character-driven storytelling.

Unlike news reporters, literary journalists can make room for their own perspectives: immersing themselves in the very action they recount. Think of them as both characters and narrators — but every word they write is true. 

If you think literary journalism is up your street, think about the kinds of stories that capture your imagination the most, and what those stories have in common. Are they, at their core, character studies? Parables? An invitation to a new subculture you have never before experienced? Whatever piques your interest, immerse yourself.

Example: The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

If you’re looking for an example of literary journalism that tells a great story, look no further than Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World , which sits at the intersection of food writing and popular science. Though it purports to offer a “plant’s-eye view of the world,” it’s as much about human desires as it is about the natural world.

Through the history of four different plants and human’s efforts to cultivate them, Pollan uses first-hand research as well as archival facts to explore how we attempt to domesticate nature for our own pleasure, and how these efforts can even have devastating consequences. Pollan is himself a character in the story, and makes what could be a remarkably dry topic accessible and engaging in the process.

Tip: Don’t pretend that you’re perfectly objective

You may have more room for your own perspective within literary journalism, but with this power comes great responsibility. Your responsibilities toward the reader remain the same as that of a journalist: you must, whenever possible, acknowledge your own biases or conflicts of interest, as well as any limitations on your research. 

Thankfully, the fact that literary journalism often involves a certain amount of immersion in the narrative — that is, the writer acknowledges their involvement in the process — you can touch on any potential biases explicitly, and make it clear that the story you’re telling, while true to what you experienced, is grounded in your own personal perspective.

Approach a famous name with a unique approach 

Biographies are the chronicle of a human life, from birth to the present or, sometimes, their demise. Often, fact is stranger than fiction, and there is no shortage of fascinating figures from history to discover. As such, a biographical approach to creative nonfiction will leave you spoilt for choice in terms of subject matter.

Because they’re not written by the subjects themselves (as memoirs are), biographical nonfiction requires careful research. If you plan to write one, do everything in your power to verify historical facts, and interview the subject’s family, friends, and acquaintances when possible. Despite the necessity for candor, you’re still welcome to approach biography in a literary way — a great creative biography is both truthful and beautifully written.

Example: American Prometheus  by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

Alongside the need for you to present the truth is a duty to interpret that evidence with imagination, and present it in the form of a story. Demonstrating a novelist’s skill for plot and characterization, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s American Prometheus is a great example of creative nonfiction that develops a character right in front of the readers’ eyes .

American Prometheus follows J. Robert Oppenheimer from his bashful childhood to his role as the father of the atomic bomb, all the way to his later attempts to reckon with his violent legacy.

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The biography tells a story that would fit comfortably in the pages of a tragic novel, but is grounded in historical research. Clocking in at a hefty 721 pages, American Prometheus distills an enormous volume of archival material, including letters, FBI files, and interviews into a remarkably readable volume. 

📚 For more examples of world-widening, eye-opening biographies, check out our list of the 30 best biographies of all time.

Tip: The good stuff lies in the mundane details

Biographers are expected to undertake academic-grade research before they put pen to paper. You will, of course, read any existing biographies on the person you’re writing about, and visit any archives containing relevant material. If you’re lucky, there’ll be people you can interview who knew your subject personally — but even if there aren’t, what’s going to make your biography stand out is paying attention to details, even if they seem mundane at first.

Of course, no one cares which brand of slippers a former US President wore — gossip is not what we’re talking about. But if you discover that they took a long, silent walk every single morning, that’s a granular detail you could include to give your readers a sense of the weight they carried every day. These smaller details add up to a realistic portrait of a living, breathing human being.

But creative nonfiction isn’t just writing about yourself or other people. Writing about art is also an art, as we’ll see below.

Put your favorite writers through the wringer with literary criticism

Literary criticism is often associated with dull, jargon-laden college dissertations — but it can be a wonderfully rewarding form that blurs the lines between academia and literature itself. When tackled by a deft writer, a literary critique can be just as engrossing as the books it analyzes.

Many of the sharpest literary critics are also poets, poetry editors , novelists, or short story writers, with first-hand awareness of literary techniques and the ability to express their insights with elegance and flair. Though literary criticism sounds highly theoretical, it can be profoundly intimate: you’re invited to share in someone’s experience as a reader or writer — just about the most private experience there is.

Example: The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar

Take The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, a seminal work approaching Victorian literature from a feminist perspective. Written as a conversation between two friends and academics, this brilliant book reads like an intellectual brainstorming session in a casual dining venue. Highly original, accessible, and not suffering from the morose gravitas academia is often associated with, this text is a fantastic example of creative nonfiction.

Tip: Remember to make your critiques creative

Literary criticism may be a serious undertaking, but unless you’re trying to pitch an academic journal, you’ll need to be mindful of academic jargon and convoluted sentence structure. Don’t forget that the point of popular literary criticism is to make ideas accessible to readers who aren’t necessarily academics, introducing them to new ways of looking at anything they read. 

If you’re not feeling confident, a professional nonfiction editor could help you confirm you’ve hit the right stylistic balance .

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Is creative nonfiction looking a little bit clearer now? You can try your hand at the genre , or head to the next post in this guide and discover online classes where you can hone your skills at creative writing.

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108 Engaging And Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompts

So you want to write a nonfiction book . Good for you! What are you going to write about ?

I know. That question stumps most everyone.

What indeed? Coming up with creative nonfiction ideas isn’t for the faint of heart.

Nonfiction is a big, broad genre of book writing, and narrowing it down to an area in which you have some expertise, background , or interest can be daunting.

And even if you kinda, sorta know what you want to write about , you’re not exactly sure how to begin or how to get your creative juices flowing.

That’s why we’ve created a varied list of nonfiction writing prompts for you — so you can narrow down your choices or pinpoint precisely the type of nonfiction you want to write.

108 Creative Nonfiction Writing Prompts

Ready to get started? Read through this list of creative nonfiction ideas, and make a note of any that resonate with you.

Or just start writing about one of the nonfiction prompts and see where it takes you.

If you’ve been wondering, “What are some nonfiction topics I might write about?” then these prompts can help you narrow down ideas for your next book project.

1. You’ve developed a new creative side-hustle, and you have enough business to bring in at least a few hundred (or even thousand) a month.

2. You know how to prepare for a specific kind of disaster, and you want to make others aware not only of the imminent danger of that disaster but how best to prepare for it.

3. The Missing Ingredient: What is one thing most people forget or overlook when making or doing something?

4. This is something most people don’t know about ______.

5. You could be more (or less) ______.

6. You need more _____ in your life.

7. Discontent is not (always) a lack of gratitude. Here’s why.

8. The right music can change everything for you. Here’s how.

9. Swap this for that and see how it changes your life!

10. Be your own devil’s advocate? Why would you want to do that?

11. What on earth does logic have to do with creative writing (or creative anything)?

12. Are your morning/nighttime habits keeping you poor? Or did they for a while?

13. How do you go on after your best friend dies (or leaves you)?

14. What one thing could you add to your workspace to make you happier and more productive?

15. What one thing in your life would you love to change? And what can you do to change it — and help others do the same?

16. Your doc says, “No more alcohol for you!” So, you look for ways to relax without it.

17. You used to take everything personally — thinking everyone was comparing you to someone else.

18. Why do bad things pile up the way they do? And what can you do about it?

19. Why would anyone want to live in < city /state/country>

20. Yeah, your desk is cluttered — and you’re okay with that.

21. Your oldest kid is driving you nuts, and you have to admit your role in that.

22. Your pets have all but destroyed an entire room in your home.

23. So, you want to do something dangerous (skydiving, parasailing, bungee jumping, learning parkour, etc.).

24. You’ve always wanted to travel to ______. How can you afford it, and what do you need to know?

25. Investing is a scary business. How do you even begin?

26. You’re moving, but you can’t find a buyer for your house. Why not rent it out instead — and how do you do that?

27. You have no Christmas budget, but you want to make this Christmas one your kids will remember fondly.

28. You learned something from writing your last book that has changed the way you write them.

29. Everything started to fall into place once you finally narrowed your focus to the kind of writing you really want to do.

30. When you changed this little thing in your diet, you started dropping weight faster than ever before.

31. Something you didn’t know about your body has been working behind the scenes, turning your own efforts against you.

32. Caffeine has always been one of your besties, but now your doc says you have to cut back — or even cut it completely from your diet!

33. Your path from the 9-to-5 job to full-time self-employment hasn’t been like the ones described by the experts whose books you’ve read, but you know you’re not alone.

34. Serendipity is nice and all, but something else is responsible for your success, and you want others to know what that is — and how they can make it work for them.

35. When was the last time you actually kept a New Year’s resolution? How did you keep it, and what difference did it make?

36. How big is your daily to-do list? And what kind of daily planning works for you?

37. What changes have you made to your monthly spending that have made a huge difference for you?

38. Desperation (i.e. lack of money and/or time) made you do it. You learned how to do something yourself, you did it well, and people are saying good things.

39. One of your kids has said, “I don’t read. I have ADHD.” You have ADHD, too, though, and you read plenty. You become determined to find out if something else is going on.

40. Adding this spice to every day’s menu has made a big difference in your health — as well as your enjoyment of cooking.

41. Only when you discovered and addressed a deficiency in a certain nutrient did you begin to feel more energetic, alive, and creative than you remember ever feeling before.

42. Your doctor suggests a new therapy for your condition but warns you that it could damage one of your other organs.

43. No one told you how hard it would be to withdraw from SSRIs (or how long it could take), but through trial and error, you found a way.

44. Everyone around you is telling you to quit taking your SSRI, but you know that — somehow — it has actually helped you.

45. Your kids have special needs, and you’re fed up with people making assumptions about their intelligence or their parenting when they act up in public.

46. You find an approach to homeschooling (or partial homeschooling) that restores your kids’ curiosity and love of learning and creating.

47. Your oldest wants to drop out of school, because so-and-so did it, and “Look how successful he is!”

48. Your marriage was deteriorating until you made this one, small change.

49. For years, all you had to do was look at a donut, and you’d gain weight. Then you changed one thing

50. You made a goal: “In the next 100 days, I will ______.”A hundred days later, you’ve exceeded your goal .

51. The first day of that “staycation” you wanted has arrived.

52. You went on a mission to where?

53. You’ve increased your own self-confidence and helped others to boost theirs, too.

54. Ditching both Netflix and your gym membership has changed your life for the better….

55. Changing your beliefs about something has caused some tension at home but has also made it possible for you to earn and accomplish more than you used to think was possible.

56. Childhood memories and the emotions attached to them have held you back for years, but not anymore.

57. Your high school education led you to college, which led you to a job you hated but felt stuck with for years.

58. What app or online tool has changed the way you do business?

59. Families can take a heavy toll on a house. What repair work have you had done to restore your home and what have you learned to do yourself?

60. Your second grader hates school and thinks reading is boring.

61. One of your kids is a writer and wants to take a page out of her main character’s book and dye her hair purple.

62. One of your kids has come out to you as gay, bisexual, or asexual.

63. One of your teenage kids has chosen a different religion and no longer wants to go to church with his family.

64. A brush with death has changed your priorities, and you’ve made some drastic changes.

65. You’ve hit your forties and found a list you made 10 years ago of the things you wanted to accomplish during your 30’s.

66. You’ve had an epiphany in the shower, and after exploring it with a journal entry, you’re thinking, “This could be a book!”

67. You’re looking at a goal and thinking, “What kind of person do I have to be to accomplish this goal in the time I’ve set for it?”

68. What does it mean to be neurotypical as opposed to neurodiverse?

69. How has marriage changed your perception of married life?

70. You learn that one of your kids is autistic, and you and your spouse have very different reactions to the news.

71. You and your spouse have opposing beliefs with regard to gender differences and sexual orientation, and it’s becoming a problem.

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72. You’ve just learned to fix something in your own house and have saved yourself thousands of dollars.

73. You can’t shake something from your past, but you’re not sure if you even remember it correctly anymore.

74. Your spouse doesn’t seem to really care about what you have to say, and it really bothers you.

75. Your significant other has started writing erotica and is making a nice, steady income with it, but you’re conflicted.

76. You’ve been writing books for years, and then your SO writes a book and sells more copies of his/her first novel than you’ve ever sold.

77. You’ve found the perfect quick remedy for canker sores, and it uses cheap and easy-to-find ingredients.

78. You’ve never really been a hat person until you saw a hat you liked on someone else.

79. You and your SO can’t agree on wall colors for your new home.

80. It all started when someone told you that you needed a professional photo taken.

81. Everyone should take a road trip, because…

82. Of all the superpowers, this would your #1.

83. You found the perfect secluded vacation spot/s with great food, and they’re not crazy expensive.

84. You’ve always had a knack for losing weight — right up until your mid-forties.

85. You have a gift for dismantling and countering other people’s arguments.

86. One of your kids has gotten her first job, and you want to help her budget her earnings without being too controlling.

87. One of your kids has just announced an engagement to a person you don’t particularly like or trust.

88. Your friend has challenged you to spend a week unplugged — no internet, no cable, and no phone.

89. Your in-laws have come over to help with house projects, and since your spouse didn’t tell you they were coming, the place is a disaster.

90. You really do want to lose that weight — really — but your daily wine habit is hard to kick.

91. Oh, the joys of pet ownership! Your new fur-baby has moved right in and claimed the house as his own — with multiple visual tokens of acceptance.

92. Your spouse wants to be intimate, but you’d rather avoid it.

93. Your friend wants to start a business with you. You spend hours talking about this and addressing the main obstacles, and finally, you go for it.

94. You’re so good at writing academic papers that your college classmates start offering to pay you to write their essays and reports for them.

95. Your in-laws vilify you as a traitor because of the way you voted, and their petty attacks even extend to your children.

96. Every time you go to a potluck, people come up to you and beg you for your recipe. You’ve decided to create your own potluck recipe book — with a unique twist.

97. You’ve attended a fascinating seminar about being “limitless,” and while you’re still a bit skeptical, you really want to believe in the speaker’s message. You go all in, and things start changing for you.

98. You’re fed up with your health-obsessed teenage son constantly telling you you’re out of the foods he likes, and when you ask him to try something else, he angrily reminds you that it’s not his fault he can’t tolerate those foods.

99. Your kid wants to eat nothing but croutons and potato chips, and you can’t get him to try anything else (ironically he’s the same child who later grows into the health-obsessed teenager in the previous prompt).

100. You’re out driving and your car has a flat. You call your spouse who basically throws up his hands, sighs dramatically, and tells you to call AAA. You get a tow, and your spouse (who is at home) suggests you learn how to change a tire.

101. After twenty-three years of adhering to your religious beliefs, you have more questions than ever, and no one can answer them in a satisfying way.

102. Your best friend, who never went to college, is earning much more than you are and is loving life more. You meet him for lunch and ask how he’s gotten to where is, and what do you have to do to get there.

103. The staff at your kid’s school have called to tell you they’re having trouble with your daughter again because she just doesn’t seem to respect the authority of her teachers or other school staff.

104. You and your spouse go to an IEP meeting for your son, who has been miserable at school and who is tired of being micromanaged by the staff.

105. You’re at a pre-wedding retreat at your church, and when the leaders announce a break, your fiance heads out the large glass front door and lets it close in your face.

106. Once again, you’ve played the peacemaker at home, and relative tranquility is restored, but your relationships with your spouse and with your kids has suffered, and you’re not sure which has done the most damage: the open arguments or the forced calm.

107. Throwing fancy brunches and dinner parties is one of your favorite things, and people come to you for ideas on how to make theirs better. You’ve decided to write a book on hosting unforgettable brunches and dinner parties.

108. You’ve never forgotten how you loved the food when you lived in, and you’ve collected a variety of recipes, along with the history behind them.

Did you find some nonfiction topics to write about?

We hope our list of writing prompts has primed your creative pump and that one (or more) of them is on the shortlist for your next book.

If you don’t feel confident that your topic is one that readers are looking for, check out our post on tools and resources to help you make the best choice.

Even if you use these prompts only as creative nonfiction writing exercises, you won’t be wasting your time.

You’ll not only have a better idea about possible book topics for the future but also you’ll improve your writing and hone your skills at fleshing out an idea.

All of your efforts contribute to your success as a writer and your sense of confidence as you begin outlining your next nonfiction book.

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• #Craft of Writing
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7 Essential Tips on How to Write Creative Nonfiction (A Step-by-Step Guide!)

“The essay becomes an exercise in the meaning and value of watching a writer conquer their own sense of threat to deliver themself of their wisdom.” ― Vivian Gornick, The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative

We offer a lot of classes that will help you write Creative Nonfiction . But what makes creative nonfiction different from other types of essays? In creative nonfiction, personal details and anecdotes are used to make the story more relatable and interesting for the reader. Creators often use this style to share their personal thoughts, experiences, or beliefs in a way that can’t be achieved through fiction alone. With a little practice and the right tools, virtually anyone can write creative nonfiction. These tips will help you get started!

Introduction to Creative Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is a detailed, thoughtful style of writing that allows the author to share their experiences with the reader. It’s similar to a memoir, but it doesn’t have to be a literal account of events. In creative nonfiction, personal details and anecdotes are used to make the story more relatable and interesting for the reader. There are many ways to break down the different types of nonfiction, but broadly speaking, all nonfiction uses the truth, either remembered or researched, to braid together a compelling narrative.

Excellent examples of Creative Nonfiction Include:

• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
• The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
• Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
• Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Night Trilogy by Elie Wiesel
• Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
• Dust Tracks on a Road: an autobiography by Nora Zeale Hurston

Select a Topic That You’re Passionate About

Most importantly, choose a topic that you’re passionate about. The topic doesn’t even have to be something that interests you “professionally”—it just has to be something you’re interested in. Begin your research by asking yourself what you’re curious about and what you’ve always wanted to know more about. This can be about yourself, someone else, or the wider world. It could be a current event happening in the world, an everyday activity that many overlook, or a piece of history that has always fascinated you. If you’re struggling to come up with a topic, consider what’s important to you. Your passions, beliefs, and interests can all be great topics to explore in creative nonfiction.

Come Up With Several Ideas for Your Piece

Once you’ve settled on a topic, put together a list of ideas for your creative nonfiction piece. If you’re writing about a current event, you’ll want to make sure that it’s relevant and timely. This way, your readers will be able to connect with your work. You may want to focus on a specific part of the event that interests you. Try to come at your topic from a different angle, or with a new perspective.

Research Your Subject Thoroughly

Once you’ve decided on your topic and idea, it’s time to start researching. In addition to personal experience and anecdote, researching is one of the fundamental parts of writing nonfiction, even if you're writing creatively. If you want to make your research more interesting and engaging for the reader, include anecdotes and personal details.

Now that you’ve put together an outline and researched your topic, it’s time to start writing! It might seem simple, but the hardest part of writing is just getting started. Once you’ve got your thoughts down on paper, the rest is smooth sailing.

Try writing a messy first draft in first person as if you’re speaking directly to your reader. To tap into your voice, don't shy away from using slang, jargon, or other kinds of expression that might be only be understood by a niche audience; you can always layer in more context in a subsequent draft. But whatever you do, don't edit out your style from the beginning. Be you on the page first and polish later.

It is okay to be messy in this draft. Write as naturally as possible so that you aren't sanding away the kind of observations and perspective that amplify your voice and lived experience.

Tips to Help You Write Creatively

Here are a few tips that can help you write creatively:

Read. This may seem obvious, but when you read, you're exposed to a wide range of styles and techniques that can help you understand and use different writing styles. If you're not reading, you're missing out on opportunities to learn from people who've done what you want to do, and that can be invaluable.

Experiment. Experimenting with different writing styles, topics, and approaches will help you to find your voice and discover the types of creative nonfiction that come most naturally to you.

Learn from your peers. Look to your peers and colleagues to learn from them—both their successes and their mistakes.

Find inspiration. Inspiration can come from anywhere, so make sure that you're open to observing new experiences, even in mundane day-to-day activities. Inspiration is everywhere if you're looking for it.

Don't be afraid to fail. This is most import! We learn from our mistakes and experiences, and that's true of writing, too.

Be yourself. The most authentic and interesting writing comes from the heart.

Have fun! Writing should be enjoyable, and trying to write creatively while feeling pressured and stressed out will only make it more difficult.

Discover a Creative Nonfiction Class that is just right for you!

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• Writing Activities

105 Creative Writing Exercises To Get You Writing Again

You know that feeling when you just don’t feel like writing? Sometimes you can’t even get a word down on paper. It’s the most frustrating thing ever to a writer, especially when you’re working towards a deadline. The good news is that we have a list of 105 creative writing exercises to help you get motivated and start writing again!

What are creative writing exercises?

Creative writing exercises are short writing activities (normally around 10 minutes) designed to get you writing. The goal of these exercises is to give you the motivation to put words onto a blank paper. These words don’t need to be logical or meaningful, neither do they need to be grammatically correct or spelt correctly. The whole idea is to just get you writing something, anything. The end result of these quick creative writing exercises is normally a series of notes, bullet points or ramblings that you can, later on, use as inspiration for a bigger piece of writing such as a story or a poem. 

Good creative writing exercises are short, quick and easy to complete. You shouldn’t need to think too much about your style of writing or how imaginative your notes are. Just write anything that comes to mind, and you’ll be on the road to improving your creative writing skills and beating writer’s block . 

Use the generator below to get a random creative writing exercise idea:

List of 105+ Creative Writing Exercises

Here are over 105 creative writing exercises to give your brain a workout and help those creative juices flow again:

• Set a timer for 60 seconds. Now write down as many words or phrases that come to mind at that moment.
• Pick any colour you like. Now start your sentence with this colour. For example, Orange, the colour of my favourite top. 
• Open a book or dictionary on a random page. Pick a random word. You can close your eyes and slowly move your finger across the page. Now, write a paragraph with this random word in it. You can even use an online dictionary to get random words:

• Create your own alphabet picture book or list. It can be A to Z of animals, food, monsters or anything else you like!
• Using only the sense of smell, describe where you are right now.
• Take a snack break. While eating your snack write down the exact taste of that food. The goal of this creative writing exercise is to make your readers savour this food as well.
• Pick a random object in your room and write a short paragraph from its point of view. For example, how does your pencil feel? What if your lamp had feelings?
• Describe your dream house. Where would you live one day? Is it huge or tiny? 
• Pick two different TV shows, movies or books that you like. Now swap the main character. What if Supergirl was in Twilight? What if SpongeBob SquarePants was in The Flash? Write a short scene using this character swap as inspiration.
• What’s your favourite video game? Write at least 10 tips for playing this game.
• Pick your favourite hobby or sport. Now pretend an alien has just landed on Earth and you need to teach it this hobby or sport. Write at least ten tips on how you would teach this alien.
• Use a random image generator and write a paragraph about the first picture you see.

• Write a letter to your favourite celebrity or character. What inspires you most about them? Can you think of a memorable moment where this person’s life affected yours? We have this helpful guide on writing a letter to your best friend for extra inspiration.
• Write down at least 10 benefits of writing. This can help motivate you and beat writer’s block.
• Complete this sentence in 10 different ways: Patrick waited for the school bus and…
• Pick up a random book from your bookshelf and go to page 9. Find the ninth sentence on that page. Use this sentence as a story starter.
• Create a character profile based on all the traits that you hate. It might help to list down all the traits first and then work on describing the character.
• What is the scariest or most dangerous situation you have ever been in? Why was this situation scary? How did you cope at that moment?
• Pretend that you’re a chat show host and you’re interviewing your favourite celebrity. Write down the script for this conversation.
• Using extreme detail, write down what you have been doing for the past one hour today. Think about your thoughts, feelings and actions during this time.
• Make a list of potential character names for your next story. You can use a fantasy name generator to help you.
• Describe a futuristic setting. What do you think the world would look like in 100 years time?
• Think about a recent argument you had with someone. Would you change anything about it? How would you resolve an argument in the future?
• Describe a fantasy world. What kind of creatures live in this world? What is the climate like? What everyday challenges would a typical citizen of this world face? You can use this fantasy world name generator for inspiration.
• At the flip of a switch, you turn into a dragon. What kind of dragon would you be? Describe your appearance, special abilities, likes and dislikes. You can use a dragon name generator to give yourself a cool dragon name.
• Pick your favourite book or a famous story. Now change the point of view. For example, you could rewrite the fairytale , Cinderella. This time around, Prince Charming could be the main character. What do you think Prince Charming was doing, while Cinderella was cleaning the floors and getting ready for the ball?
• Pick a random writing prompt and use it to write a short story. Check out this collection of over 300 writing prompts for kids to inspire you. 
• Write a shopping list for a famous character in history. Imagine if you were Albert Einstein’s assistant, what kind of things would he shop for on a weekly basis?
• Create a fake advertisement poster for a random object that is near you right now. Your goal is to convince the reader to buy this object from you.
• What is the worst (or most annoying) sound that you can imagine? Describe this sound in great detail, so your reader can understand the pain you feel when hearing this sound.
• What is your favourite song at the moment? Pick one line from this song and describe a moment in your life that relates to this line.
•  You’re hosting an imaginary dinner party at your house. Create a list of people you would invite, and some party invites. Think about the theme of the dinner party, the food you will serve and entertainment for the evening. 
• You are waiting to see your dentist in the waiting room. Write down every thought you are having at this moment in time. 
• Make a list of your greatest fears. Try to think of at least three fears. Now write a short story about a character who is forced to confront one of these fears. 
• Create a ‘Wanted’ poster for a famous villain of your choice. Think about the crimes they have committed, and the reward you will give for having them caught. 
• Imagine you are a journalist for the ‘Imagine Forest Times’ newspaper. Your task is to get an exclusive interview with the most famous villain of all time. Pick a villain of your choice and interview them for your newspaper article. What questions would you ask them, and what would their responses be?
•  In a school playground, you see the school bully hurting a new kid. Write three short stories, one from each perspective in this scenario (The bully, the witness and the kid getting bullied).
• You just won $10 million dollars. What would you spend this money on?
• Pick a random animal, and research at least five interesting facts about this animal. Write a short story centred around one of these interesting facts. 
• Pick a global issue that you are passionate about. This could be climate change, black lives matters, women’s rights etc. Now create a campaign poster for this global issue. 
• Write an acrostic poem about an object near you right now (or even your own name). You could use a poetry idea generator to inspire you.
• Imagine you are the head chef of a 5-star restaurant. Recently the business has slowed down. Your task is to come up with a brand-new menu to excite customers. Watch this video prompt on YouTube to inspire you.
• What is your favourite food of all time? Imagine if this piece of food was alive, what would it say to you?
• If life was one big musical, what would you be singing about right now? Write the lyrics of your song. 
• Create and describe the most ultimate villain of all time. What would their traits be? What would their past look like? Will they have any positive traits?
• Complete this sentence in at least 10 different ways: Every time I look out of the window, I…
• You have just made it into the local newspaper, but what for? Write down at least five potential newspaper headlines . Here’s an example, Local Boy Survives a Deadly Illness.
• If you were a witch or a wizard, what would your specialist area be and why? You might want to use a Harry Potter name generator or a witch name generator for inspiration.
• What is your favourite thing to do on a Saturday night? Write a short story centred around this activity. 
• Your main character has just received the following items: A highlighter, a red cap, a teddy bear and a fork. What would your character do with these items? Can you write a story using these items? 
• Create a timeline of your own life, from birth to this current moment. Think about the key events in your life, such as birthdays, graduations, weddings and so on. After you have done this, you can pick one key event from your life to write a story about. 
• Think of a famous book or movie you like. Rewrite a scene from this book or movie, where the main character is an outsider. They watch the key events play out, but have no role in the story. What would their actions be? How would they react?
• Three very different characters have just won the lottery. Write a script for each character, as they reveal the big news to their best friend.  
• Write a day in the life story of three different characters. How does each character start their day? What do they do throughout the day? And how does their day end?
•  Write about the worst experience in your life so far. Think about a time when you were most upset or angry and describe it. 
• Imagine you’ve found a time machine in your house. What year would you travel to and why?
• Describe your own superhero. Think about their appearance, special abilities and their superhero name. Will they have a secret identity? Who is their number one enemy?
• What is your favourite country in the world? Research five fun facts about this country and use one to write a short story. 
• Set yourself at least three writing goals. This could be a good way to motivate yourself to write every day. For example, one goal might be to write at least 150 words a day. 
• Create a character description based on the one fact, three fiction rule. Think about one fact or truth about yourself. And then add in three fictional or fantasy elements. For example, your character could be the same age as you in real life, this is your one fact. And the three fictional elements could be they have the ability to fly, talk in over 100 different languages and have green skin. 
• Describe the perfect person. What traits would they have? Think about their appearance, their interests and their dislikes. 
• Keep a daily journal or diary. This is a great way to keep writing every day. There are lots of things you can write about in your journal, such as you can write about the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ of your day. Think about anything that inspired you or anything that upset you, or just write anything that comes to mind at the moment. 
• Write a book review or a movie review. If you’re lost for inspiration, just watch a random movie or read any book that you can find. Then write a critical review on it. Think about the best parts of the book/movie and the worst parts. How would you improve the book or movie?
• Write down a conversation between yourself. You can imagine talking to your younger self or future self (i.e. in 10 years’ time). What would you tell them? Are there any lessons you learned or warnings you need to give? Maybe you could talk about what your life is like now and compare it to their life?
• Try writing some quick flash fiction stories . Flash fiction is normally around 500 words long, so try to stay within this limit.
• Write a six-word story about something that happened to you today or yesterday. A six-word story is basically an entire story told in just six words. Take for example: “Another football game ruined by me.” or “A dog’s painting sold for millions.” – Six-word stories are similar to writing newspaper headlines. The goal is to summarise your story in just six words. 
• The most common monsters or creatures used in stories include vampires, werewolves , dragons, the bigfoot, sirens and the loch-ness monster. In a battle of intelligence, who do you think will win and why?
• Think about an important event in your life that has happened so far, such as a birthday or the birth of a new sibling. Now using the 5 W’s and 1 H technique describe this event in great detail. The 5 W’s include: What, Who, Where, Why, When and the 1 H is: How. Ask yourself questions about the event, such as what exactly happened on that day? Who was there? Why was this event important? When and where did it happen? And finally, how did it make you feel?
• Pretend to be someone else. Think about someone important in your life. Now put yourself into their shoes, and write a day in the life story about being them. What do you think they do on a daily basis? What situations would they encounter? How would they feel?
• Complete this sentence in at least 10 different ways: I remember…
• Write about your dream holiday. Where would you go? Who would you go with? And what kind of activities would you do?
• Which one item in your house do you use the most? Is it the television, computer, mobile phone, the sofa or the microwave? Now write a story of how this item was invented. You might want to do some research online and use these ideas to build up your story. 
• In exactly 100 words, describe your bedroom. Try not to go over or under this word limit.
• Make a top ten list of your favourite animals. Based on this list create your own animal fact file, where you provide fun facts about each animal in your list.
• What is your favourite scene from a book or a movie? Write down this scene. Now rewrite the scene in a different genre, such as horror, comedy, drama etc.
•  Change the main character of a story you recently read into a villain. For example, you could take a popular fairytale such as Jack and the Beanstalk, but this time re-write the story to make Jack the villain of the tale.
• Complete the following sentence in at least 10 different ways: Do you ever wonder…
• What does your name mean? Research the meaning of your own name, or a name that interests you. Then use this as inspiration for your next story. For example, the name ‘Marty’ means “Servant Of Mars, God Of War”. This could make a good concept for a sci-fi story.
• Make a list of three different types of heroes (or main characters) for potential future stories.
• If someone gave you $10 dollars, what would you spend it on and why?
• Describe the world’s most boring character in at least 100 words. 
• What is the biggest problem in the world today, and how can you help fix this issue?
• Create your own travel brochure for your hometown. Think about why tourists might want to visit your hometown. What is your town’s history? What kind of activities can you do? You could even research some interesting facts. 
• Make a list of all your favourite moments or memories in your life. Now pick one to write a short story about.
• Describe the scariest and ugliest monster you can imagine. You could even draw a picture of this monster with your description.
• Write seven haikus, one for each colour of the rainbow. That’s red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. 
• Imagine you are at the supermarket. Write down at least three funny scenarios that could happen to you at the supermarket. Use one for your next short story. 
• Imagine your main character is at home staring at a photograph. Write the saddest scene possible. Your goal is to make your reader cry when reading this scene. 
• What is happiness? In at least 150 words describe the feeling of happiness. You could use examples from your own life of when you felt happy.
• Think of a recent nightmare you had and write down everything you can remember. Use this nightmare as inspiration for your next story.
• Keep a dream journal. Every time you wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning you can quickly jot down things that you remember from your dreams. These notes can then be used as inspiration for a short story. 
• Your main character is having a really bad day. Describe this bad day and the series of events they experience. What’s the worst thing that could happen to your character?
• You find a box on your doorstep. You open this box and see the most amazing thing ever. Describe this amazing thing to your readers.
• Make a list of at least five possible settings or locations for future stories. Remember to describe each setting in detail.
• Think of something new you recently learned. Write this down. Now write a short story where your main character also learns the same thing.
• Describe the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in your whole life. Your goal is to amaze your readers with its beauty. 
• Make a list of things that make you happy or cheer you up. Try to think of at least five ideas. Now imagine living in a world where all these things were banned or against the law. Use this as inspiration for your next story.
• Would you rather be rich and alone or poor and very popular? Write a story based on the lives of these two characters. 
• Imagine your main character is a Librarian. Write down at least three dark secrets they might have. Remember, the best secrets are always unexpected.
• There’s a history behind everything. Describe the history of your house. How and when was your house built? Think about the land it was built on and the people that may have lived here long before you.
• Imagine that you are the king or queen of a beautiful kingdom. Describe your kingdom in great detail. What kind of rules would you have? Would you be a kind ruler or an evil ruler of the kingdom?
• Make a wish list of at least three objects you wish you owned right now. Now use these three items in your next story. At least one of them must be the main prop in the story.
• Using nothing but the sense of taste, describe a nice Sunday afternoon at your house. Remember you can’t use your other senses (i.e see, hear, smell or touch) in this description. 
• What’s the worst pain you felt in your life? Describe this pain in great detail, so your readers can also feel it.
• If you were lost on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, what three must-have things would you pack and why?
• Particpate in online writing challenges or contests. Here at Imagine Forest, we offer daily writing challenges with a new prompt added every day to inspire you. Check out our challenges section in the menu.

Do you have any more fun creative writing exercises to share? Let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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Examples of Creative Nonfiction: What It Is & How to Write It

When most people think of creative writing, they picture fiction books – but there are plenty of examples of creative nonfiction. In fact, creative nonfiction is one of the most interesting genres to read and write. So what is creative nonfiction exactly? 

More and more people are discovering the joy of getting immersed in content based on true life that has all the quality and craft of a well-written novel. If you are interested in writing creative nonfiction, it’s important to understand different examples of creative nonfiction as a genre. 

If you’ve ever gotten lost in memoirs so descriptive that you felt you’d walked in the shoes of those people, those are perfect examples of creative nonfiction – and you understand exactly why this genre is so popular.

But is creative nonfiction a viable form of writing to pursue? What is creative nonfiction best used to convey? And what are some popular creative nonfiction examples?

Today we will discuss all about this genre, including plenty of examples of creative nonfiction books – so you’ll know exactly how to write it. 

This Guide to Creative Nonfiction Covers:

Need A Nonfiction Book Outline?

What is Creative Nonfiction?

Creative nonfiction is defined as true events written about with the techniques and style traditionally found in creative writing . We can understand what creative nonfiction is by contrasting it with plain-old nonfiction. 

Think about news or a history textbook, for example. These nonfiction pieces tend to be written in very matter-of-fact, declarative language. While informative, this type of nonfiction often lacks the flair and pleasure that keep people hooked on fictional novels.

Imagine there are two retellings of a true crime story – one in a newspaper and the other in the script for a podcast. Which is more likely to grip you? The dry, factual language, or the evocative, emotionally impactful creative writing?

Podcasts are often great examples of creative nonfiction – but of course, creative nonfiction can be used in books too. In fact, there are many types of creative nonfiction writing. Let’s take a look!

Types of creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction comes in many different forms and flavors. Just as there are myriad types of creative writing, there are almost as many types of creative nonfiction.

Some of the most popular types include:

Literary nonfiction

Literary nonfiction refers to any form of factual writing that employs the literary elements that are more commonly found in fiction. If you’re writing about a true event (but using elements such as metaphor and theme) you might well be writing literary nonfiction.

Writing a life story doesn’t have to be a dry, chronological depiction of your years on Earth. You can use memoirs to creatively tell about events or ongoing themes in your life.

If you’re unsure of what kind of creative nonfiction to write, why not consider a creative memoir? After all, no one else can tell your life story like you. 

Nature writing

The beauty of the natural world is an ongoing source of creative inspiration for many people, from photographers to documentary makers. But it’s also a great focus for a creative nonfiction writer. Evoking the majesty and wonder of our environment is an endless source of material for creative nonfiction. 

Travel writing

If you’ve ever read a great travel article or book, you’ll almost feel as if you’ve been on the journey yourself. There’s something special about travel writing that conveys not only the literal journey, but the personal journey that takes place.

Writers with a passion for exploring the world should consider travel writing as their form of creative nonfiction. 

For types of writing that leave a lasting impact on the world, look no further than speeches. From a preacher’s sermon, to ‘I have a dream’, speeches move hearts and minds like almost nothing else. The difference between an effective speech and one that falls on deaf ears is little more than the creative skill with which it is written. 

Biographies

Noteworthy figures from history and contemporary times alike are great sources for creative nonfiction. Think about the difference between reading about someone’s life on Wikipedia and reading about it in a critically-acclaimed biography.

Which is the better way of honoring that person’s legacy and achievements? Which is more fun to read? If there’s someone whose life story is one you’d love to tell, creative nonfiction might be the best way to do it. 

So now that you have an idea of what creative nonfiction is, and some different ways you can write it, let’s take a look at some popular examples of creative nonfiction books and speeches.

Examples of Creative Nonfiction

Here are our favorite examples of creative nonfiction:

1. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

No list of examples of creative nonfiction would be complete without In Cold Blood . This landmark work of literary nonfiction by Truman Capote helped to establish the literary nonfiction genre in its modern form, and paved the way for the contemporary true crime boom.  

2. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast is undeniably one of the best creative memoirs ever written. It beautifully reflects on Hemingway’s time in Paris – and whisks you away into the cobblestone streets.  

3. World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

If you’re looking for examples of creative nonfiction nature writing, no one does it quite like Aimee Nezhukumatathil. World of Wonders  is a beautiful series of essays that poetically depicts the varied natural landscapes she enjoyed over the years. 

4. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson is one of the most beloved travel writers of our time. And A Walk in the Woods is perhaps Bryson in his peak form. This much-loved travel book uses creativity to explore the Appalachian Trail and convey Bryson’s opinions on America in his humorous trademark style.

5. The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

 While most of our examples of creative nonfiction are books, we would be remiss not to include at least one speech. The Gettysburg Address is one of the most impactful speeches in American history, and an inspiring example for creative nonfiction writers.

6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Few have a way with words like Maya Angelou. Her triumphant book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , shows the power of literature to transcend one’s circumstances at any time. It is one of the best examples of creative nonfiction that truly sucks you in.

7. Hiroshima by John Hershey

Hiroshima is a powerful retelling of the events during (and following) the infamous atomic bomb. This journalistic masterpiece is told through the memories of survivors – and will stay with you long after you’ve finished the final page.

8. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

If you haven’t read the book, you’ve probably seen the film. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is one of the most popular travel memoirs in history. This romp of creative nonfiction teaches us how to truly unmake and rebuild ourselves through the lens of travel.

9. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Never has language learning brought tears of laughter like Me Talk Pretty One Day . David Sedaris comically divulges his (often failed) attempts to learn French with a decidedly sadistic teacher, and all the other mishaps he encounters in his fated move from New York to Paris.

10. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Many of us had complicated childhoods, but few of us experienced the hardships of Jeannette Walls. In The Glass Castle , she gives us a transparent look at the betrayals and torments of her youth and how she overcame them with grace – weaving her trauma until it reads like a whimsical fairytale.

Now that you’ve seen plenty of creative nonfiction examples, it’s time to learn how to write your own creative nonfiction masterpiece.

Tips for Writing Creative Nonfiction

Writing creative nonfiction has a lot in common with other types of writing. (You won’t be reinventing the wheel here.) The better you are at writing in general, the easier you’ll find your creative nonfiction project. But there are some nuances to be aware of.

Writing a successful creative nonfiction piece requires you to:

Choose a form

Before you commit to a creative nonfiction project, get clear on exactly what it is you want to write. That way, you can get familiar with the conventions of the style of writing and draw inspiration from some of its classics.

Try and find a balance between a type of creative nonfiction you find personally appealing and one you have the skill set to be effective at. 

Gather the facts

Like all forms of nonfiction, your creative project will require a great deal of research and preparation. If you’re writing about an event, try and gather as many sources of information as possible – so you can imbue your writing with a rich level of detail.

If it’s a piece about your life, jot down personal recollections and gather photos from your past. 

Plan your writing

Unlike a fictional novel, which tends to follow a fairly well-established structure, works of creative nonfiction have a less clear shape. To avoid the risk of meandering or getting weighed down by less significant sections, structure your project ahead of writing it.

You can either apply the classic fiction structures to a nonfictional event or take inspiration from the pacing of other examples of creative nonfiction you admire. 

You may also want to come up with a working title to inspire your writing. Using a free book title generator is a quick and easy way to do this and move on to the actual writing of your book.

Draft in your intended style

Unless you have a track record of writing creative nonfiction, the first time doing so can feel a little uncomfortable. You might second-guess your writing more than you usually would due to the novelty of applying creative techniques to real events. Because of this, it’s essential to get your first draft down as quickly as possible.

Rewrite and refine

After you finish your first draft, only then should you read back through it and critique your work. Perhaps you haven’t used enough source material. Or maybe you’ve overdone a certain creative technique. Whatever you happen to notice, take as long as you need to refine and rework it until your writing feels just right.

Ready to Wow the World With Your Story?

You know have the knowledge and inspiring examples of creative nonfiction you need to write a successful work in this genre. Whether you choose to write a riveting travel book, a tear-jerking memoir, or a biography that makes readers laugh out loud, creative nonfiction will give you the power to convey true events like never before.  

Who knows? Maybe your book will be on the next list of top creative nonfiction examples!

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Ideas for Writing Creative Nonfiction

by Melissa Donovan | Apr 6, 2023 | Creative Writing | 16 comments

Looking for creative nonfiction ideas?

In fiction writing, we’re often inspired by what-if questions: What if an innocent person is convicted of murder? What if humanity finds itself facing total extinction? What if that rabbit hole leads to a fantastical wonderland?

Fiction is driven by imagination.

Ideas for writing creative nonfiction often arise from experience and interest rather than imagination. Instead of asking what-if questions, creative nonfiction writers set out to share their experiences, knowledge, ideas, opinions, passions, and curiosities.

Creative nonfiction is a vast field of writing that can be quite lucrative. Readers are always looking for advice and information. People love reading real-life accounts by writers with firsthand experiences. Whether you write a memoir about a personal experience you’ve had or launch a blog related to your field of expertise, creative nonfiction offers a world of possibilities, and there’s no shortage of creative nonfiction ideas for you to explore in your writing.

Creative Nonfiction Ideas

Writers who are on a quest for inspiration can find a wealth of creative nonfiction writing ideas. Here are some to get you started:

1. An autobiography is your life story. You get to share your experiences, successes, and failures. The trouble with autobiographies is that readers are rarely interested in reading biographical information about total strangers. Unless you’re a public figure, there will be little interest in your project. However, you can always do some research and investigative reporting and write a biography about someone else, or you can narrow your focus and write a memoir.

2. What is a memoir? A memoir is not a life story; it’s a personal account of a particular experience. For example, if you’ve survived an illness, disaster, or trauma, that experience might provide the foundation for a memoir. Writing of this nature is appealing to readers because it speaks to a specific audience. Young parents whose children are struggling with autism, for example, will be highly interested in reading a memoir by a parent who has raised a child with autism. What makes memoirs so popular is the promise that through personal experience, the writer has obtained expertise and is now sharing it with the world.

A memoir doesn’t have to be about your past experiences. You can set yourself up for writing a memoir. Elizabeth Gilbert set out on a year of adventure and then wrote about it and became a best-selling author. A.J. Jacobs has built a life and a career around experimental adventures. He read all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica and then wrote about it. He spent a year living biblically and then wrote about it. He also experimented with outsourcing his entire life, and then wrote about it. If you’ve ever wanted to embark on a grand adventure or found yourself concocting experimental lifestyles, you may find that they fuel some interesting creative nonfiction ideas.

3. If a memoir is too daunting, try a personal essay instead. Personal essays can be short-form memoirs, in which you share a specific personal experience, but instead of writing an entire book, you can write a handful of pages. You can also use personal essays to express your ideas or opinions on any subject imaginable.

4. Are you an expert? If you’re an expert on any subject, you can share your expertise by writing creative nonfiction in the form of articles and topical essays. Write about the subject you studied in school, the work you’ve done throughout your career, or a hobby that you’ve enjoyed and mastered. Many writers avoid this type of writing, assuming that there is already enough information out there. But new works are being published every day on a wide range of topics. What makes them successful is not necessarily the information that is imparted, but the manner in which it is presented. A unique voice, a new take on the subject, and a fresh way to organize the information are all viable strategies for success in these types of creative nonfiction writing.

5. What’s your passion? You can take your personal experience and acquired expertise on anything in the world and turn it into a writing project. These days, writers share their thoughts and insights on everything from their favorite TV shows and video games to the meals they eat and the books they read. You can write about the philosophy of Star Trek . You could share tips and strategies for playing (and winning) popular video games. If you love coffee and have a penchant for taking pictures, set out to make a coffee table book about coffee. If you spend your mornings gardening and your evenings creating delicious home-cooked meals, you can launch a blog packed with tips and ideas for gardening, cooking, or healthy eating. You don’t have to be an expert or a professional to talk about your passion.

Check out “ A Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction ” for an in-depth look at writing creative nonfiction

Where do you get creative nonfiction ideas.

Ideas for writing creative nonfiction books, blogs, essays, and articles are all around you. Your questions, passions, experiences, and ideas all have the potential to launch your next creative nonfiction writing project.

16 Comments

My writing ideas most often come from my dreams or from real life experiences. On occasion another article, nice photography, art or music will inspire an idea for me, but most often they come from my life.

I love to hear from writers about where they get inspiration. In fact, when I listen to interviews with authors, my favorite portion is always when they talk about how they came up with an idea. It’s so interesting! Thanks for sharing your sources of inspiration, Nicole.

Writing ideas are somewhat like the proverbial moths swarming to the light source. There are so many that simple gads of them get away. Yet, I’ve discovered that keeping pen and paper near me as often as possible helps me to capture words or sentences which later make it into the creative nonfiction I love writing.

Even though I write nonfiction I adore fiction. Often fictional characters utter something which speaks to my heart. When that happens I frequently find ways to add the ideas or information to my own writing. Gosh, do you think I need to credit the creators of those fictional beings? 🙂

Yvonne, I believe all fiction writers are inspired by the authors who came before them. If we credited all of them, the acknowledgements pages in our books would be books themselves!

Melissa thanks. You say it all and true that everything is right there in the creative juice of the writer. I happen to pursue on this passion and look after writing relevant articles in my MIndaview Column and complied these as social commentary I’m now graduating as nonfiction writer. I have now a contract from Mr. Tom Wallace of Publisher on Demand Global after evaluating my work “The Needle” (actually a metaphor of 14 years of Martial in the Phil.) and pronounced his verdict: I could be their next best selling author! Hmm what a compliment and a breakthrough.

That’s wonderful, Ricardo! Good luck with your book!

I agree with Yvonne about keeping pen and paper handy. The only thing is, I have sentences, phrases and words on papers all over my world. I guess that is better than no ideas! I always thought I would start publishing with fiction and as it turns out, I am enjoying writing self-help–all from my own experiences. Maybe the “made-up” stories will come later… Diana Fletcher, Author of Happy on Purpose Daily Messages of Empowerment and Joy for Women

Hi Diana. It sounds like you and I have had similar experiences. I always keep pen and paper handy, but the clutter that my ideas and notes generate can be a burden. I also thought I’d start publishing with fiction, but it looks like I’m going to publish a book on writing before I get around to publishing a novel. I have mixed feelings about that!

Great minds think alike, I just wrote a post on getting ideas. I talked about the importance of observing. Sometimes the process of getting an idea can begin with just writing down something you saw in the course of your day. Once you get in the habit of observing, start speculating, using the 5 Ws. This post has some great suggestions in it!

Thanks, Charlotte! Yes, observation skills are critical for writers. If we miss something, our readers will catch it. Sometimes that’s not a big deal. But if it’s a big plot hole, a character behaving out of character, or a gap in our research, failure to observe can be pretty detrimental.

Be mindful. Pay attention. Ray Carver suggested that even an ordinary, mudane event in your life, like brushing your teeth, can be endowed with power.

Great tips, Chaz!

Melissa I have a real story I want to tell in the creative nonfiction genre. It inspired me out of the blue. I.ve never before wanted to write. But then that’s how i got my ladybug tattoo, inspiration from an a-ha moment. So when the notebooks went on sale at the beginning of the school year for 15 cents apiece I stocked up. I write and research every day now. My story may or may not ever be published, but I am having a blast getting it out there!

That’s great, Jo! It sounds like an experience from your life inspired you to become a writer, which is awesome. I wish you the best of luck in all that you write.

I actually wrote a nonfiction novel few weeks ago and thanks to you my writing are so much better just because of these few simple ideas. Thank you Melissa 🙂

You just made my day, Anna. Thanks so much for letting me know that you found these ideas inspiring and helpful. I wish you the best in your writing adventures!

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The 5 Rs of Creative Nonfiction

What's the Story #06

“The Essayist at Work” is our first special issue. The cover is different, and although it is our habit to center each issue around a general theme, the essays and profiles in “The Essayist at Work” are narrower in scope. In the future, we intend to publish special issues on a variety of topics, but this one is especially important, not only because it is our first, but also because it helps to launch the first Mid-Atlantic Creative Nonfiction Summer Writers’ Conference with the Goucher College Center for Graduate and Continuing Studies in Baltimore, Md., a supportive and enthusiastic summer partner. Many writers featured in “The Essayist at Work” will also be participating at the conference – an event we hope to continue to co-sponsor with Goucher for years to come.

The writers in this issue represent the incredible range of the newly emerging genre of creative nonfiction, from the struggle and success stories of Darcy Frey (“The Last Shot”) and William Least Heat-Moon (“Blue Highways”) to the master of the profession, John McPhee. From the roots of traditional journalism to poetry and fiction, Pulitzer Prize-winner Alice Steinbach, poet Diane Ackerman and novelists Phillip Lopate and Paul West, have helped expand the boundaries of form and tradition. Jane Bernstein, Steven Harvey, Mary Paumier Jones, Wendy Lesser and Natalia Rachel Singer ponder the spirit of the essay (and e-mail!), while I continue to reflect on and define the creative nonfiction form.

From the beginning, it has been our mission to probe the depths and intricacies of nonfiction by publishing the best prose by new and established writers. Creative Nonfiction provides a forum for writers, editors and readers interested in pushing the envelope of creativity and discussing and defining the parameters of accuracy, validity and truth. My essay below, “The 5 Rs of Creative Nonfiction,” is dedicated to that mission. It will appear in “More than the Truth: Teaching Nonfiction Writing Through Journalism,” which will be published in the fall of 1996 by Heineman.

It is 3 a.m., and I am standing on a stool in the operating room at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, in scrubs, mask, cap and paper booties, peering over the hunched shoulders of four surgeons and a scrub nurse as a dying woman’s heart and lungs are being removed from her chest. This is a scene I have observed frequently since starting my work on a book about the world of organ transplantation, but it never fails to amaze and startle me: to look down into a gaping hole in a human being’s chest, which has been cracked open and emptied of all of its contents, watching the monitor and listening to the rhythmic sighing sounds of the ventilator, knowing that this woman is on the fragile cusp of life and death and that I am observing what might well be the final moments of her life.

Now the telephone rings; a nurse answers, listens for a moment and then hangs up. “On the roof,” she announces, meaning that the helicopter has set down on the hospital helipad and that a healthy set of organs, a heart and two lungs, en bloc, will soon be available to implant into this woman, whose immediate fate will be decided within the next few hours.

With a brisk nod, the lead surgeon, Bartley Griffith, a young man who pioneered heart-lung transplantation and who at this point has lost more patients with the procedure than he had saved, looks up, glances around and finally rests his eyes on me: “Lee,” he says, “would you do me a great favor?”

I was surprised. Over the past three years I had observed Bart Griffith in the operating room a number of times, and although a great deal of conversation takes place between doctors and nurses during the long and intense surgical ordeal, he had only infrequently addressed me in such a direct and spontaneous manner.

Our personal distance is a by-product of my own technique as an immersion journalist – my “fly-on-the wall” or “living room sofa” concept of “immersion”: Writers should be regular and silent observers, so much so that they are virtually unnoticed. Like walking through your living room dozens of times, but only paying attention to the sofa when suddenly you realize that it is missing. Researching a book about transplantation, “Many Sleepless Nights” (W.W. Norton), I had been accorded great access to the O.R., the transplant wards, ethics debates and the most intimate conversations between patients, family members and medical staff. I had jetted through the night on organ donor runs. I had witnessed great drama – at a personal distance.

But on that important early morning, Bartley Griffith took note of my presence and requested that I perform a service for him. He explained that this was going to be a crucial time in the heart-lung procedure, which had been going on for about five hours, but that he felt obligated to make contact with this woman’s husband who had traveled here from Kansas City, Mo. “I can’t take the time to talk to the man myself, but I am wondering if you would brief him as to what has happened so far. Tell him that the organs have arrived, but that even if all goes well, the procedure will take at least another five hours and maybe longer.” Griffith didn’t need to mention that the most challenging aspect of the surgery – the implantation – was upcoming; the danger to the woman was at a heightened state.

A few minutes later, on my way to the ICU waiting area where I would find Dave Fulk, the woman’s husband, I stopped in the surgeon’s lounge for a quick cup of coffee and a moment to think about how I might approach this man, undoubtedly nervous – perhaps even hysterical – waiting for news of his wife. I also felt kind of relieved, truthfully, to be out of the O.R,, where the atmosphere is so intense.

Although I had been totally caught-up in the drama of organ transplantation during my research, I had recently been losing my passion and curiosity; I was slipping into a life and death overload in which all of the sad stories from people all across the world seemed to be congealing into the same muddled dream. From experience, I recognized this feeling – a clear signal that it was time to abandon the research phase of this book and sit down and start to write. Yet, as a writer, I was confronting a serious and frightening problem: Overwhelmed with facts and statistics, tragic and triumphant stories, I felt confused. I knew, basically, what I wanted to say about what I learned, but I didn’t know how to structure my message or where to begin.

And so, instead of walking away from this research experience and sitting down and starting to write my book, I continued to return to the scene of my transplant adventures waiting for lightning to strike . . . inspiration for when the very special way to start my book would make itself known. In retrospect, I believe that Bart Griffith’s rare request triggered that magic moment of clarity I had long been awaiting.

Defining the Discussion

Before I tell you what happened, however, let me explain what kind of work I do as an immersion journalist/creative nonfiction writer, and explain what I am doing, from a writer’s point-of-view, in this essay.

But first some definitions: “Immersion journalists” immerse or involve themselves in the lives of the people about whom they are writing in ways that will provide readers with a rare and special intimacy.

The other phrase to define, a much broader term, creative nonfiction, is a concept that offers great flexibility and freedom, while adhering to the basic tenets of nonfiction writing and/or reporting. In creative nonfiction, writers can be poetic and journalistic simultaneously. Creative nonfiction writers are encouraged to utilize fictional (literary) techniques in their prose – from scene to dialogue to description to point-of-view – and be cinematic at the same time. Creative nonfiction writers write about themselves and/or capture real people and real life in ways that can and have changed the world. What is most important and enjoyable about creative nonfiction is that it not only allows, but encourages the writer to become a part of the story or essay being written. The personal involvement creates a special magic that alleviates the suffering and anxiety of the writing experience; it provides many outlets for satisfaction and self-discovery, flexibility and freedom.

When I refer to creative nonfiction, I include memoir (autobiography), and documentary drama, a term more often used in relation to film, as in “Hoop Dreams,” which captures the lives of two inner-city high school basketball players over a six-year period. Much of what is generically referred to as “literary journalism” or in the past, “new journalism,” can be classified as creative nonfiction. Although it is the current vogue in the world of writing today, the combination of creative nonfiction as a form of writing and immersion as a method of research has a long history. George Orwell’s famous essay, “Shooting an Elephant” combines personal experience and high quality literary writing techniques. The Daniel DeFoe classic, “Robinson Crusoe,” is based upon a true story of a physician who was marooned on a desert island. Ernest Hemingway’s paean to bullfighting, “Death in the Afternoon,” comes under the creative nonfiction umbrella, as does Tom Wolfe’s, “The Right Stuff,” which was made into an award-winning film. Other well-known creative nonfiction writers, who may utilize immersion techniques include John McPhee (“Coming Into the Country”), Tracy Kidder (“House”), Diane Ackerman (“A Natural History of the Senses”) and Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard (“Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”), to name only a few of the many authors who have contributed to this burgeoning genre.

Currently, many of our best magazines – The New Yorker, Harper’s, Vanity Fair, Esquire – publish more creative nonfiction than fiction and poetry combined. Universities offer Master of Fine Arts degrees in creative nonfiction. Newspapers are publishing an increasing amount of creative nonfiction, not only as features, but in the news and op-ed pages, as well.

Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmitic – the 3Rs – was the way in which basic public school education was once described. The “5 Rs” is an easy way to remember the basic tenets of creative nonfiction/immersion journalism.

The first “R” has already been explained and discussed: the “immersion” or “real life” aspect of the writing experience. As a writing teacher, I design assignments that have a real-life aspect: I force my students out into their communities for an hour, a day, or even a week so that they see and understand that the foundation of good writing emerges from personal experience. Some writers (and students) may utilize their own personal experience rather than immersing themselves in the experiences of others. In a recent introductory class I taught, one young man working his way through school as a sales person wrote about selling shoes, while another student, who served as a volunteer in a hospice, captured a dramatic moment of death, grief and family relief. I’ve sent my students to police stations, bagel shops, golf courses; together, my classes have gone on excursions and participated in public service projects – all in an attempt to experience or re-create from personal experience real life.

In contrast to the term “reportage,” the word “essay” usually connotes a more personal message from writer to reader. “An essay is when I write what I think about something,” students will often say to me. Which is true, to a certain extent – and also the source of the meaning of the second “R” for “reflection.” A writer’s feelings and responses about a subject are permitted and encouraged, as long as what they think is written to embrace the reader in a variety of ways. As editor of Creative Nonfiction, I receive approximately 150 unsolicited essays, book excerpts and profiles a month for possible publication. Of the many reasons the vast majority of these submissions are rejected, two are most prevalent, the first being an overwhelming egocentrism; in other words, writers write too much about themselves without seeking a universal focus or umbrella so that readers are properly and firmly engaged. Essays that are so personal that they omit the reader are essays that will never see the light of print. The overall objective of the personal essayist is to make the reader tune in – not out.

The second reason Creative Nonfiction and most other journals and magazines reject essays is a lack of attention to the mission of the genre, which is to gather and present information, to teach readers about a person, place, idea or situation combining the creativity of the artistic experience with the essential third “R” in the formula: “Research.”

Even the most personal essay is usually full of substantive detail about a subject that affects or concerns a writer and the people about whom he or she is writing. Read the books and essays of the most renowned nonfiction writers in this century and you will read about a writer engaged in a quest for information and discovery. From George Orwell to Ernest Hemingway to John McPhee, books and essays written by these writers are invariably about a subject other than themselves, although the narrator will be intimately included in the story. Personal experience and spontaneous intellectual discourse – an airing and exploration of ideas – are equally vital. In her first book, “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” which won the Pulitzer Prize, and in her other books and essays, Annie Dillard repeatedly overwhelms her readers with factual information, minutely detailed descriptions of insects, botany and biology, history, anthropology, blended with her own feelings about life.

One of my favorite Dillard essays, “Schedules,” focuses upon the importance of writers working on a regular schedule rather than writing only intermittently. In “Schedules,” she discusses, among many other subjects, Hasidism, chess, baseball, warblers, pine trees, june bugs, writers’ studios and potted plants – not to mention her own schedule and writing habits and that of Wallace Stevens and Jack London.

What I am saying is that the genre of creative nonfiction, although anchored in factual information, is open to anyone with a curious mind and a sense of self. The research phase actually launches and anchors the creative effort. Whether it is a book or essay I am planning, I always begin my quest in the library – for three reasons. First, I need to familiarize myself with the subject. If it is something about which I do not know, I want to make myself knowledgeable enough to ask intelligent questions. If I can’t display at least a minimal understanding of the subject about which I am writing, I will lose the confidence and the support of the people who must provide access to the experience.

Secondly, I will want to assess my competition. What other essays, books and articles have been written about this subject? Who are the experts, the pioneers, the most controversial figures? I want to find a new angle – not write a story similar to one that has already been written. And finally, how can I reflect and evaluate a person, subject or place unless I know all of the contrasting points-of-view? Reflection may permit a certain amount of speculation, but only when based upon a solid foundation of knowledge.

So far in this essay I have named a number of well-respected creative nonfiction writers and discussed their work, which means I have satisfied the fourth “R” in our “5R” formula: “Reading.” Not only must writers read the research material unearthed in the library, but they also must read the work of the masters of their profession. I have heard some very fine writers claim that they don’t read too much anymore – or that they don’t read for long periods, especially during the time they are laboring on a lengthy writing project. But almost all writers have read the best writers in their field and are able to converse in great detail about the stylistic approach and intellectual content. An artist who has never studied Picasso, Van Gogh, Michelangelo, even Warhol, is an artist who will quite possibly never succeed.

So far we have mostly discussed the nonfiction or journalistic aspects of the immersion journalism/creative nonfiction genre. The 5th “R” the “riting” part is the most artistic and romantic aspect of the total experience. After all of the preparatory (nonfiction) work is complete, writers will often “create” in two phases. Usually, there is an inspirational explosion, a time when writers allow instinct and feeling to guide their fingers as they create paragraphs, pages, and even entire chapters of books or complete essays. This is what art of any form is all about – the passion of the moment and the magic of the muse. I am not saying that this always happens; it doesn’t. Writing is a difficult labor, in which a regular schedule, a daily grind of struggle, is inevitable. But this first part of the experience for most writers is rather loose and spontaneous and therefore more “creative” and fun. The second part of the writing experience – the “craft” part, which comes into play after your basic essay is written – is equally important – and a hundred times more difficult.

Writing in Scenes

Vignettes, episodes, slices of reality are the building blocks of creative nonfiction – the primary distinguishing factor between traditional reportage/journalism and “literary” and/or creative nonfiction and between good, evocative writing and ordinary prose. The uninspired writer will tell the reader about a subject, place or personality, but the creative nonfiction writer will show that subject, place or personality in action. Before we discuss the actual content or construction of a scene, let me suggest that you perform what I like to call the “yellow test.”

Take a yellow “Hi-Liter” or Magic Marker and leaf through your favorite magazines – Vanity Fair, Esquire, The New Yorker or Creative Nonfiction. Or return to favorite chapters in previously mentioned books by Dillard, Ackerman, etc. Yellow-in the scenes, just the scenes, large and small. Then return to the beginning and review your handiwork. Chances are, anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of each essay, short story, novel selected will be yellow. Plays are obviously constructed with scenes, as are films. Most poems are very scenic.

Jeanne Marie Laskas, the talented columnist for the Washington Post Magazine, once told me: “I only have one rule from start to finish. I write in scenes. It doesn’t matter to me in which order the scenes are written; I write whichever scene inspires me at any given time, and I worry about the plot or frame or narrative later. The scene – a scene – any scene – is always first.”

The Elements of a Scene

First and foremost, a scene contains action. Something happens. I jump on my motorcycle and go helter-skelter around the country; suddenly, in the middle of July in Yellowstone National Park I am confronted with 20 inches of snow. Action needn’t be wild, sexy and death-defying, however. There’s also action in the classroom. A student asks a question, which requires an answer, which necessitates a dialogue, which is a marvelously effective tool to trigger or record action. Dialogue represents people saying things to one another, expressing themselves. It is a valuable scenic building block. Discovering dialogue is one of the reasons to immerse ourselves at a police station, bagel shop or at a zoo. To discover what people have to say spontaneously – and not in response to a reporter’s prepared questions.

Another vehicle or technique of the creative nonfiction experience may be described as “intimate and specific detail.” Through use of intimate detail, we can hear and see how the people about whom we are writing say what is on their minds; we may note the inflections in their voices, their elaborate hand movements and any other eccentricities. “Intimate” is a key distinction in the use of detail when crafting good scenes. Intimate means recording and noting detail that the reader might not know or even imagine without your particular inside insight. Sometimes intimate detail can be so specific and special that it becomes unforgettable in the reader’s mind. A very famous “intimate” detail appears in a classic creative nonfiction profile, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” written by Gay Talese in 1962 and published in Esquire Magazine.

In this profile, Talese leads readers on a whirlwind cross country tour, revealing Sinatra and his entourage interacting with one another and with the rest of the world and demonstrating how the Sinatra world and the world inhabited by everyone else will often collide. These scenes are action-oriented; they contain dialogue and evocative description with great specificity and intimacy such as the gray-haired lady spotted in the shadows of the Sinatra entourage – the guardian of Sinatra’s collection of toupees. This tiny detail – Sinatra’s wig lady – loomed so large in my mind when I first read the essay that even now, 35 years later, anytime I see Sinatra on TV or spot his photo in a magazine, I find myself unconsciously searching the background for the gray-haired lady with the hatbox.

The Narrative – or Frame

The frame represents a way of ordering or controlling a writer’s narrative so that the elements of his book, article or essay are presented in an interesting and orderly fashion with an interlaced integrity from beginning to end.

Some frames are very complicated, as in the movie, “Pulp Fiction”; Quentin Tarantino skillfully tangles and manipulates time. But the most basic frame is a simple beginning-to-end chronology. “Hoop Dreams,” for example, the dramatic documentary (which is also classic creative nonfiction) begins with two African-American teen-age basketball stars living in a ghetto and sharing a dream of stardom in the NBA and dramatically tracks both of their careers over the next six years.

As demonstrated in “Pulp Fiction,” writers don’t always frame in a strictly chronological sequence. My book, “One Children’s Place,” begins in the operating room at a children’s hospital. It introduces a surgeon, whose name is Marc Rowe, his severely handicapped patient, Danielle, and her mother, Debbie, who has dedicated her every waking moment to Danielle. Two years of her life have been spent inside the walls of this building with parents and children from all across the world whose lives are too endangered to leave the confines of the hospital. As Danielle’s surgery goes forward, the reader tours the hospital in a very intimate way, observing in the emergency room, participating in helicopter rescue missions as part of the emergency trauma team, attending ethics meetings, well-baby clinics, child abuse examinations – every conceivable activity at a typical high-acuity children’s hospital so that readers will learn from the inside out how such an institution and the people it services and supports function on an hour-by-hour basis. We even learn about Marc Rowe’s guilty conscience about how he has slighted his own wife and children over the years so that he can care for other families.

The book ends when Danielle is released from the hospital. It took two years to research and write this book, returning day and night to the hospital in order to understand the hospital and the people who made it special, but the story in which it is framed begins and ends in a few months.

Back to the Beginning – That Rare and Wonderful Moment of Clarity

Now let’s think about this essay as a piece of creative nonfiction writing, especially in relation to the concept of framing. It begins with a scene. We are in an operating room at the University of Pittsburgh, the world’s largest organ transplant center, in the middle of a rare and delicate surgery that will decide a dying woman’s fate. Her heart and both lungs have been emptied out of her chest and she is maintained on a heart-bypass system. The telephone alerts the surgical team that a fresh and potentially lifesaving set of organs has arrived at the hospital via helicopter. Suddenly the lead surgeon looks up and asks an observer (me) to make contact with the woman’s husband. I agree, leave the operating room and then stop for a coffee in the surgeon’s lounge.

Then, instead of moving the story forward, fulfilling my promise to Dr. Griffith and resolving my own writing dilemma, I change directions, move backwards (flashback) in time and sequence and begin to discuss this genre – immersion journalism/creative nonfiction. I provide a mountain of information – definitions, descriptions, examples, explanations. Basically, I am attempting to satisfy the nonfiction part of my responsibility to my readers and my editors while hoping that the suspense created in the first few pages will provide an added inducement for readers to remain focused and interested in this Introduction from the beginning to the end where, (the reader assumes) the two stories introduced in the first few pages will be completed.

In fact, my meeting with Dave Fulk in the ICU waiting room that dark morning was exactly the experience I had been waiting for, leading to that precious and magic moment of clarity for which I was searching and hoping. When I arrived, Mr. Fulk was talking with an elderly man and woman from Sacramento, Calif., who happened to be the parents of a 21-year-old U.S. Army private named Rebecca Treat who, I soon discovered, was the recipient of the liver from the same donor who gave Dave’s wife (Winkle Fulk) a heart and lungs. Rebecca Treat, “life-flighted” to Pittsburgh from California, had been in a coma for 10 days by the time she arrived in Pittsburgh; the transplanted liver was her only hope of ever emerging from that coma and seeing the light of day.

Over the next half-hour of conversation, I learned that Winkle Fulk had been slowly dying for four years, had been bedbound for three of those years, as Dave and their children watched her life dwindle away, as fluid filled her lungs and began to destroy her heart. Rebecca’s fate had been much more sudden; having contracted hepatitis in the army, she crashed almost immediately. To make matters worse, Rebecca and her new husband had separated. As I sat in the darkened waiting area with Dave Fulk and Rebecca’s parents, I suddenly realized what it was I was looking for, what my frame or narrative element could be. I wanted to tell about the organ transplant experience – and what organ transplantation can mean from a universal perspective – medically, scientifically, personally for patients, families and surgeons. Rebecca’s parents and the Fulk family, once strangers, would now be permanently and intimately connected by still another stranger – the donor – the person whose tragic death provided hope and perhaps salvation to two dying people. In fact, my last quest in the research phase of the transplant book experience was to discover the identity of this mysterious donor and literally connect the principal characters. In so doing, the frame or narrative drive of the story emerged.

“Many Sleepless Nights” begins when 15-year-old Richie Becker, a healthy and handsome teen-ager from Charlotte, N.C., discovers that his father is going to sell the sports car that he had hoped would one day be his. In a spontaneous and thoughtless gesture of defiance, Richie, who had never been behind the wheel, secretly takes his father’s sports car on a joy ride. Three blocks from his home, he wraps the car around a tree and is subsequently declared brain dead at the local hospital. Devastated by the experience, but hoping for some positive outcome to such a senseless tragedy, Richie’s father, Dick, donates his son’s organs for transplantation.

Then the story flashes back a half century, detailing surgeons’ first attempts at transplantation and all of the experimentation and controversy leading up to the development and acceptance of transplant techniques. I introduce Winkle Fulk and Pvt. Rebecca Treat. Richie Becker’s liver is transplanted into Rebecca, while his heart and lungs are sewn into Mrs. Fulk by Dr. Bartley Griffith. The last scene of the book 370 pages later is dramatic and telling and finishes the frame three years later when Winkle Fulk travels to Charlotte, N.C., a reunion I arranged to allow the folks to personally thank Richie’s father for his son’s gift of life.

At the end of the evening, just as we were about to say goodbye and return to the motel, Dick Becker stood up in the center of the living room of his house, paused, and then walked slowly and hesitantly over toward Winkle Fulk, who had once stood alone at the precipice of death. He eased himself down on his knees, took Winkle Fulk by the shoulder and simultaneously drew her closer, as he leaned forward and placed his ear gently but firmly between her breasts and then at her back.

Everyone in that room was suddenly and silently breathless, watching as Dick Becker listened for the last time to the absolutely astounding miracle of organ transplantation: the heart and the lungs of his dead son Richie, beating faithfully and unceasingly inside this stranger’s warm and loving chest.

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Memorable Nonfiction Writing Activities for Secondary ELA

Nothing says nonfiction writing has to be boring , and yet, that’s what many middle school and high school students think. If you’re looking for nonfiction writing activities to engage this crowd, here are some great ideas.

Nonfiction Writing Examples

Nonfiction writing examples are EVERYWHERE and part of showing students that this isn’t an umbrella term for “boring writing” is showing them engaging examples. 

In addition to AMAZING nonfiction texts like Radium Girls by Kate Moore and Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (both available as young reader editions), you can show students exemplar blog posts, self help articles, and tourism brochures. The sky is truly the limit.

I’ve blogged before about my favorite nonfiction books for the ELA classroom. Here are 8 Nonfiction Excerpts Worth Teaching from a post over at the Secondary English Coffee Shop. You may also like this list of 21 Nonfiction Books for Secondary ELA .

Nonfiction Writing Lesson Plans

When you’re creating your nonfiction writing activities, it’s important to help students feel as creative and flexible as possible. Here are some tips for teaching nonfiction writing:

• Consider ways to build classroom community using nonfiction writing. Here’s one idea for using procedural texts.
• Include student choice: different formats, different lengths, different topics
• Use peer review BEFORE the writing is “finished.” Here’s a blog post about effective peer feedback .

Nonfiction Writing Prompts for Middle and High School

• Choose a talent or skill of yours and create a step-by-step for how to do it. If you love basketball, for example, you could share how to do one drill or play one speciality basketball game. Want this activity ready-made? Here it is!
• Choose one trend and write a short explanation of how it started. Who originated the trend? What are some reasons it caught on? What do you think will happen to this trend in the future?
• Do you have a strong conviction or opinion? Write a short essay in favor of the opposing viewpoint. Argue against yourself, basically.
• List five places you want to visit and write a short blurb about each one. 
• Share a scene from your life, but write it from another person’s perspective. What may they have felt that was different from your feelings? What may they have noticed that you didn’t? 

If you LOVE nonfiction, check out my best-selling resource, Abandoned Places . You can even download a free version of my Abandoned Places activity by signing up for my email list!

Final Thoughts

We can weave nonfiction writing activities throughout our year and help students find creativity and self-expression in this mode.

What are some of your strategies for teaching nonfiction writing? Comment below or reach out on IG @nouvelle_ELA .

Happy teaching!

Further Reading...

3 Spectacular Short Films to Analyze Symbolism

New Ideas for Teaching Short Stories

Asian American YA Authors and Protags

Ela texts & resources for honoring native american heritage month, 3 free ela worksheets for middle and high school.

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9 Cool Ways to Make Nonfiction Engaging and Interactive

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-First, the student answers a task card correctly.

-Next, they take their turn in the board game. If they answer incorrectly, they lose a turn and play goes to the next student.

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Board Games to use with Digital Task Cards

9.  Go on a Comprehension Challenge

What is a comprehension challenge .

Students read and examine comprehension passages multiple times in order to complete six tasks and “race” to the finish! A little bit of competition helps your students learn and grow as readers and historians! Each quest includes the following:

• Fill in the Blank Reading Passage
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• Summary and Supporting Details Graphic Organizer

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Folklife and Creative Writing: Resources in the American Folklife Center

Introduction.

• Cowboy poetry
• Veterans poetry
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• Plays and Novels
• Non-Fiction
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• Maggie Jones,  Folklife Intern, American Folklife Center
• Melanie Kimball,  Folklife Intern, American Folklife Center
• Meg Nicholas, Folklife Specialist, American Folklife Center

Created:  June 13, 2024

Last Updated:  August 6, 2024

Ask a Librarian: American Folklife Center

American folklife center : ask a librarian.

Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.

This guide provides an introduction to doing research on the topic of creative writing using American Folklife Center collections, and serves as a companion piece to an existing guide on Narrative and Verbal Arts in AFC collections. While the American Folklife Center archive contains primarily unpublished materials, in some cases a collection may include a manuscript or drafts of poems, essays or memoirs that were later published.

The Center's Collection Policy Statement lists nine areas of distinction for its collections, including "Narrative and Verbal Arts." The policy statement has this to say about this area of distinction:

Narrative and Verbal Arts encompass a wide range of genres including stories, myths, legends, jokes, fan literature, memes, proverbs, folk poetry, and cowboy poetry, as well as premier collections of American English regional dialects, plus collections of Gullah (Sea Islands Creole), Caribbean, and French-based Creole dialects.

For the purposes of this guide, "creative writing" encompasses examples of the written word found in AFC archival collections. This may refer to collections of materials written about AFC archival collections, or it may refer to a manuscript item that forms part of a donated collection. The items featured here often cross genres, including poetry, memoirs, and manuscripts for novels, essays and other non-fiction writing. To aid in navigation, collections have been grouped according to the following genres:

• Autobiography and Memoir
• Non-Fiction and Essays

Some collections may feature one creative writing style, while still others contain examples of multiple genres. In the latter case, the collection has been grouped according to the genre which best describes its contents.

In addition to these genre collections, the AFC archive also has items which pertain to the act of writing itself. These include interviews with notable authors which include descriptions of their writing process, as well as an exploration of writing for archival cataloguing.

Some of the collections and resources featured in this guide are available online. Others, including many non-digitized collections of note, require a visit to the American Folklife Center reading room. This guide is not intended to serve as a comprehensive record of all AFC archival collections relevant to this subject.

Writers Found in AFC Collections

• Maya Angelou
• Allen Ginsberg
• Stetson Kennedy
• Arthur Miller
• Toni Morrison
• Zora Neale Hurston

There is a digital presentation of this collection.

Creative Writing in the American Folklife Center

Richard Joseph Heh, author. "My Last Mission" poem written by Richard Joseph Heh. Richard Joseph Heh Collection (AFC 2001/001/87986), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Lyntha Scott Eiler, photographer. John Russell, of Montcoal, reading a poem entitled "Keeper of the Forest" at the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia. March 15, 1996. Coal River Folklife Collection (AFC 1999/008), American Folk

Alan Lomax, writer. Draft of unpublished scene from a play about the embodied characters Mind and Matter. Alan Lomax Collection (AFC 2004/004), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Unrealeased outtake footage of an interview with poet Allen Ginsberg . Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian Collection (AFC 2011/009), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Bess Lomax Hawes, writer. Bess's early writing, from 1930. Bess Lomax Hawes Collection (AFC 2014/008), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

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• Last Updated: Aug 23, 2024 3:22 PM
• URL: https://guides.loc.gov/folklife-creative-writing

Teaching Nonfiction Writing

September 9, 2024

Discover effective strategies to develop non-fiction writing skills in the classroom, empowering students to become confident and independent writers.

Nonfiction writing is a vital tool for helping students express their ideas and understanding in a world that often emphasizes creative storytelling. In today’s educational landscape, where critical thinking  and information literacy are more important than ever, mastering nonfiction writing is essential for students to communicate effectively and navigate the complexities of the world around them.

To write well in nonfiction, students need to learn various techniques and strategies that not only improve their writing but also build their confidence. By using text features , choosing engaging topics , and incorporating visual aids , educators can help students organize their thoughts and create strong, convincing arguments. Confidence grows when students have the right tools and guidance at every step of their learning journey.

This article will explore essential strategies for teaching nonfiction writing, focusing on approaches for both younger and older students, and creative methods that blend traditional writing with digital tools. These insights aim to help teachers develop confident nonfiction writers who are ready to share their ideas and perspectives with the world.

The Importance of Nonfiction Writing at School

Nonfiction writing plays a key role in education. One of the most effective ways to teach it is through interactive read-alouds, where teachers can show students the structure and style of nonfiction writing. These read-alouds spark meaningful discussions , helping students understand how nonfiction texts are built.

The variety of nonfiction children's literature available today is rich and diverse. A classroom library filled with nonfiction trade books gives students a chance to explore different formats and styles. These texts not only support independent reading but also help students become familiar with the features and structure of nonfiction writing. As students engage with a range of nonfiction works, they develop the skills needed to navigate and understand these texts with confidence.

Choosing nonfiction books that match students' interests can increase engagement, making reading more relevant and enjoyable. Award-winning nonfiction literature isn't just about recognition—it plays a vital role in creating a language-rich environment that fosters curiosity and learning.

In co-taught classrooms , nonfiction texts help expand students' vocabulary and deepen their understanding of content. Reading nonfiction gives students access to factual information, building a strong foundation for future learning. Research shows that students who are exposed to a broad range of nonfiction texts are better equipped with knowledge and vocabulary , setting them up for greater success in their reading and academic development.

Key Strategies for Teaching Nonfiction Writing

As we dissect the essential strategies for teaching nonfiction writing, it is paramount to acknowledge that this craft is a combination of various skills—planning, composing, revising, editing, and publishing. Each step articulates a thread in the fabric of the writing process, culminating in a rich tapestry of language and fact-based content. Nonfiction writing instruction, therefore, should not just focus on a single aspect but embrace the whole cycle to support the comprehensive development of a nonfiction writer.

Teachers, as facilitators, can significantly enhance the nonfiction writing experience by providing collaborative opportunities for students to explore an array of real-world texts. This method fosters a dual proficiency—in research and writing skills. Structurally, when nonfiction writing lessons are organized around five cardinal purposes—informing, instructing, narrating, persuading, and responding—a scaffolding is created that effectively structures a nonfiction writing curriculum.

Engagement is the currency of education, and hence finding high-interest topics and texts is crucial to nurturing motivation for nonfiction writing assignments. This captivation with the subject matter steers students towards success. Furthermore, teaching them the art of summary—which demands conciseness and focus—provides clarity on the expectations for summarizing nonfiction texts.

Incorporating Text Features

Text features play a pivotal role in nonfiction, serving three vital functions: navigating readers to pertinent information, enriching their comprehension of the given content, and expanding their knowledge orbit about the main topic. When these text features are visual—such as photography, illustrations, graphics, and iconography—they have the power to stir up prior knowledge and kindle inquiry from multiple perspectives.

Employing graphic organizers tailored to diverse nonfiction text structures aids students in identifying and applying suitable reading strategies . It's akin to providing a map in which students can chart their course through complex information. Moreover, engaging students with games and interactive activities dedicated to learning text features embeds these skills in a manner that is entertaining and memorable. Encouraging self-correction when utilizing these organizers empowers students to exhibit their understanding and mastery over the assorted text structures embedded in nonfiction.

Engaging Topics to Enhance Understanding

Presenting students with high-interest nonfiction texts and topics that resonate with their curiosity and daily life sharply escalates motivation, encouraging them to delve deeper and explore content more fervently. Such regular exposure perfects their ability to anticipate and adeptly navigate the myriad subgenres, formats, structures, and text features. This interaction should not be episodic but integrated into daily routines to spur students' understanding of the content while simultaneously enhancing their writing prowess.

Opportunities for collaborative work with nonfiction texts are foundational for students to hone their voice while polishing clarity, authority, and organization in their writing. This social interplay with engaging nonfiction materials also provides fertile ground for building vocabulary and content knowledge through rich discussions and interactions, setting a robust foundation for proficient reading comprehension . It is in these discourse-rich environments that students become skilled not only in understanding nonfiction but in molding their insights into writing that informs and illuminates.

Using Structural Learning to Improve Non-Fiction Writing

Teachers can use the Structural Learning Toolkit to help elementary students become confident nonfiction writers. The toolkit provides practical strategies that support the development of essential writing skills and help students work with informational texts . Below are key concepts from the toolkit, each with practical classroom applications to enhance writing skills.

Exploratory Talk

Engaging students in exploratory talk  helps them express and develop their ideas before writing. By using Talk Tools , teachers can encourage students to discuss their thoughts about kinds of nonfiction or specific topics. These discussions deepen students’ understanding and prepare them to write more effectively by refining their ideas and arguments.

Visual Planning

Visual planning is an excellent way to help students structure their writing. By guiding students to use graphic organisers , teachers can assist them in mapping out their ideas, ensuring that the information flows logically. This approach is particularly useful for nonfiction writers who are working with informational texts and need to organise complex content clearly.

Block Building Kits

Block Building Kits are hands-on tools that allow students to physically arrange their ideas before writing. This visual and tactile strategy helps students, especially elementary students , see the connections between their thoughts and how to build their nonfiction writing. It’s an effective way to reinforce classroom reading practices and ensure that students can visualise the structure of their work.

Deep Understanding

Developing a deep understanding of content is essential for clear nonfiction writing. The toolkit’s thinking framework helps students build strong background knowledge on a topic. Teachers with knowledge of the role of content understanding can guide students to connect new information to what they already know, ensuring their nonfiction writing is well-informed and structured.

Learning Actions for Writing

Identifying specific learning actions , such as summarising or hypothesising, enables students to extend their ideas in writing. Teachers can integrate these actions into language arts lessons , helping students apply critical thinking to their writing. This approach builds content knowledge and improves their ability to express complex ideas in nonfiction texts.

By incorporating these strategies into classroom practices, teachers can better equip students to handle the demands of nonfiction writing and enhance their overall literacy skills.

Techniques for Younger Students

Younger students might be best supported by an educational scaffolding that propels them into more advanced stages of literacy. This scaffolding can take various forms, such as collaborative research and writing activities, which not only acquaint them with the pragmatic applications of writing but also ignite their excitement about the subjects they explore. Indeed, by incorporating a selection of real-world nonfiction texts, educators can tap into the intrinsic curiosities of their students, fostering a genuine interest in the topics discussed.

To achieve inclusivity within nonfiction writing instruction, lessons devised for years 4–8 can be adeptly modified to cater to the developmental stages of younger learners. This adjustment ensures that all students, regardless of their literacy level, are given equitable opportunities to grow under the instruction of nonfiction literacies.

Extended writing units, focused on specific nonfiction text types, offer a chance for students to immerse themselves deeply within a subject, thereby elevating their understanding and refining their skills progressively. Such comprehensive units enable young learners to engage with nuanced aspects of informative writing, developing expertise and confidence over time.

Furthermore, encouraging a strong student voice in nonfiction compositions is vital. It helps clarify their viewpoints, establishes a sense of authority, and enhances organizational skills. When students comprehend the importance of conveying their perspectives with clarity and organization, their nonfiction writing does not merely inform but also engages and persuades.

Illustration and Labeling

When students use illustrations to support their writing, such as drawing an animal in its habitat or a busy city scene, they add depth to their storytelling. These visuals help the reader better understand the text by making it clearer and more relatable.

Labels and captions play an important role too, acting as guides for readers. By encouraging students to label their drawings or add captions to images, we are helping them develop skills to explain and annotate their ideas, which strengthens their learning and understanding.

Combining text with images does more than just mix two types of media—it boosts visual literacy. This skill is important for interpreting the complex messages we encounter every day. When students look at visuals alongside text, they tap into what they already know, helping them approach new information with a deeper understanding.

In the classroom, analyzing visual elements , especially in nonfiction picturebooks, encourages students to think critically about diversity and representation. Through these discussions, students start to notice which stories are being told and which are left out, promoting a more inclusive way of thinking about nonfiction writing.

Encouraging Creativity Through Visual Aids

In nonfiction writing, visuals like photos, illustrations, and graphics aren’t just extras—they play a key role in expanding students' understanding and encouraging them to appreciate different perspectives. These visual features help connect new information with what students already know, making learning more engaging.

When teachers encourage students to have thoughtful discussions about visual elements, it opens the door to deeper inquiry, reflection, and emotional connection with the content. These conversations help students process information in a way that is supportive and inclusive, fostering understanding and avoiding negative experiences.

In today's world, where we are constantly surrounded by images, teaching students to critically evaluate visual elements is essential. It helps them understand how images shape the way information is presented and influence their perceptions. This skill is important for creating thoughtful, informed individuals who can actively engage in society.

Additionally, using visual text features strategically can improve both navigation and understanding. These features break down information into manageable pieces and help readers get a better grasp of the main topic. By combining text and visuals effectively, students can enhance both their reading and writing skills, making nonfiction writing a richer and more meaningful experience.

Techniques for Older Students

For older students, nonfiction texts are a powerful tool for improving language skills . The technical vocabulary within these texts offers an opportunity to enhance their understanding of words through decoding and word exercises. This process not only expands their vocabulary but also strengthens their overall reading abilities.

But nonfiction isn't just about reading. Writing with confidence and clarity is equally important. By engaging in exercises that focus on critical thinking and rhetorical skills, students can learn to craft nonfiction pieces that are coherent and persuasive. Extended units of study that explore various nonfiction genres help students refine their writing style and strengthen their command over the material.

To support this growth, instructional materials turn theory into practical skills, reinforcing language abilities that are crucial for real-world success. Through structured nonfiction writing exercises, students develop key competencies that benefit them across academic subjects.

Revision is also key for older students. Tailored strategies help pinpoint areas where clarity needs improvement or arguments need strengthening. These focused interventions teach students how to dissect, understand, and rebuild nonfiction texts, providing essential lessons for their language development journey.

Sentence Writing Routines

In English instruction, routines are essential because consistency builds confidence. Daily sentence writing exercises give students regular practice with crafting sentences, helping them improve their writing skills one sentence at a time. These short, focused tasks encourage creativity while providing a structured environment to support those who struggle with sentence construction.

By making these routines a daily part of the classroom, teachers ensure that students are continuously refining their writing skills. The impact goes beyond sentence fluency—these exercises help students learn how to build cohesive narratives, especially in nonfiction writing, where clear and concise sentences are key.

Teachers can strengthen their literacy programs by incorporating daily writing exercises. The regular act of writing allows students to develop their abilities gradually, turning writing challenges into valuable opportunities for growth.

The 5W and H Questioning Technique

The 5W and H questioning technique is a powerful tool that helps students dig deeper into nonfiction material. This method asks students to explore the basics of any topic by addressing six key questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how . These questions guide students toward a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

This technique aligns naturally with students' curiosity, allowing them to engage with the world around them. It’s flexible enough to support younger students who are just starting to explore nonfiction, while also challenging older students to develop more advanced analytical skills. By asking these structured questions, students can create detailed summaries, making sense of complex information and staying engaged with the content.

The 5W and H technique builds both confidence and competence . It transforms vague concepts into clear, tangible ideas, helping students better understand and express intricate nonfiction topics. Simple yet effective, this strategy empowers educators to encourage deeper thinking and improve students' nonfiction writing abilities.

In nonfiction writing, establishing sentence writing routines is essential for building both confidence and creativity . These routines consist of short, focused writing tasks that help students improve their ability to construct clear and effective sentences.

Incorporating these quick exercises into the daily classroom schedule gives students regular practice with sentence construction, a key element of language development . For students who may struggle with writing, these routines provide a supportive structure where they can gradually develop their skills.

By making sentence writing a regular part of the curriculum, teachers can support a comprehensive writing program that strengthens overall literacy. This routine benefits all students, whether in primary classrooms or co-taught environments, by embedding nonfiction writing as a natural and consistent part of language arts education. Structured, consistent practice helps students become more confident writers, laying a strong foundation for success in nonfiction writing:

A selection of nonfiction trade books, ranging from award-winning nonfiction children's literature to nonfiction picturebooks, can be a rich resource pool for these activities. Ultimately, such routines can magnify the repertoire of choices in nonfiction compositions and enrich the review of classroom practices in language arts instruction.

Mixing Media to Enhance Learning

In teaching nonfiction writing, blending text with images is more than just a creative choice—it's a strategy that connects with diverse learners. By incorporating multimedia into nonfiction lessons, teachers encourage students to not only absorb information but also analyze how knowledge is constructed.

Using mixed media in language arts nurtures critical literacies . Engaging students with images alongside text allows them to express their emotions and examine the deeper meanings conveyed by visual elements. For example, using nonfiction picture books or photographic essays in the classroom can broaden students' perspectives, giving voice to stories that might otherwise be overlooked in traditional text.

A picture can indeed tell a thousand words. As students reflect on the images embedded in nonfiction, they sharpen their ability to evaluate how visuals shape the narrative and influence perceptions. Visual literacy becomes an essential companion to traditional literacy, helping students appreciate the complex layers within nonfiction writing.

Nonfiction literature also enriches the curriculum by offering diverse viewpoints and enabling students to explore real-world issues. This genre serves as a gateway to global perspectives, helping students become aware of biases and cultural influences . As they engage with nonfiction, students build the skills necessary for civic participation , a key part of a democratic society.

Using Digital Resources

The digital world offers a range of resources for teachers looking to strengthen nonfiction writing instruction. Platforms provide interactive tools, such as charts and checklists, as well as texts like "5 Kinds of Nonfiction," which help break down different nonfiction styles and encourage the use of mentor texts.

Educators can also benefit from Melissa Stewart’s website, a valuable resource for teaching nonfiction. Stewart’s materials help teachers breathe life into lessons on nonfiction reading and writing. Additionally, the "Explorations in Nonfiction Writing" series provides age-specific materials, making it easier to tailor lessons to the needs of the classroom.

Digital libraries offer classrooms access to a wide range of nonfiction books, including award-winning titles. These resources not only support traditional teaching methods but also provide opportunities for students to engage with a diverse range of experiences and narratives .

Incorporating Multimedia Projects

Visual literacy plays a crucial role in nonfiction writing, especially in a world dominated by multimodal communication. Visual literacy involves cognitive, emotional, cultural, and political aspects, making it an essential part of how students interpret and engage with texts.

Teachers can enhance nonfiction lessons by incorporating graphic and visual elements . Visual stimuli spark prior knowledge, deepen understanding, and offer multiple perspectives on societal issues presented in nonfiction texts.

Classrooms can become spaces where students create multimedia projects that go beyond traditional writing. By drawing from nonfiction sources, students can build arguments, analyze viewpoints, and engage with social issues such as racism or gender inequality, all through their multimedia creations.

Nonfiction, therefore, becomes a platform for creative and critical expression , encouraging diverse interpretations and fostering discussions on complex human experiences.

Building Confidence in Student Writing

Building confidence in nonfiction writing starts by connecting lessons to students' real-world experiences . By introducing award-winning nonfiction literature, teachers expose students to a variety of writing styles and formats that can serve as inspiration for their own writing.

Writing a strong nonfiction summary requires a solid understanding of the key elements that make nonfiction distinct. When teachers set clear expectations, students can gain confidence in summarizing nonfiction texts effectively and clearly.

Table: Scaffolds for Nonfiction Writing Instruction

Relevant topics play a crucial role in sparking student engagement . When students see themselves and their experiences reflected in the material, their motivation to write and their confidence in expressing ideas increase significantly.

To foster both competence and confidence in nonfiction writing, classrooms should integrate tools like prompt pages and write-about-reading templates . These scaffolds guide students through the writing process, helping them structure their thoughts and build stronger nonfiction writing skills. This approach allows students to navigate the world of nonfiction with authority, developing a sense of self-assuredness in their writing.

Further Reading on Developing Non-fiction Writers

These studies highlight evidence-based strategies for improving nonfiction writing skills in elementary students, focusing on classroom practices, informational texts, and the development of confident, independent writers.

1. Astutik, W. B., Yuwana, S., & Hendratno, H. (2021). Development of Non-Fiction Text Digital Learning Media in Narrative Writing Skills for Fourth Grade Elementary School Students.

Summary : This research focused on developing digital learning media for non-fiction writing in fourth-grade classrooms. Results showed significant improvement in students' narrative writing skills, enhancing their ability to work with informational texts. The study emphasizes the importance of integrating technology to challenge children and build content knowledge in the classroom.

2. Paz, S. D. L., & Graham, S. (2002). Explicitly Teaching Strategies, Skills, and Knowledge: Writing Instruction in Middle School Classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 687-698.

Summary : This study demonstrated how explicitly teaching writing strategies and content knowledge improved the nonfiction writing skills of elementary students. The use of instructional design focused on informational texts helped students become more confident writers, with increased mastery of nonfiction literacies.

3. Riley, J., & Reedy, D. (2000). Developing Writing for Different Purposes: Teaching about Genre in the Early Years.

Summary : This research explored how teaching nonfiction genres in primary classrooms supports young writers in understanding key features of informational texts. By focusing on classroom reading practices and providing structured writing activities, students became independent writers capable of producing coherent nonfiction compositions.

4. López Niño, F., & Varón Páez, M. E. (2018). Building Writing Skills in English in Fifth Graders: Analysis of Strategies Based on Literature and Creativity. English Language Teaching, 11, 102-110.

Summary : This study highlights creative writing strategies, such as acrostics and comic strips, used to build nonfiction writing skills in fifth graders. The integration of real texts and informational content allowed students to engage more effectively in nonfiction writing while developing as nonfiction writers with improved writing choices.

5. Hoad, E. (2002). Developing and Encouraging Writing Skills.

Summary : The author provides concrete ideas for encouraging non-fiction writing in elementary students with special educational needs. The study emphasizes using real texts and classroom reading practices to enhance accessibility for children, ultimately promoting confidence in nonfiction writing and supporting learning in co-taught classrooms.

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Halloween Writing Activities

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

9 September 2024

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10 x Short Writing Activities to encourage creative horror writing. Activities involve writing blurbs, using figurative language, creating characters and experimenting with tense for a spooky effect. This could be used as a standalone literacy lesson for Halloween, as a homework booklet, for Greater Depth extension work or used individually as lesson starters. Also suitable for tutoring and home learning.

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