creative nonfiction

English

Noun

creative nonfiction (uncountable)

1. A genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives.

   Synonyms: literary nonfiction, narrative nonfiction

   Coordinate term: autofiction

   • 2011, Jack Hart, Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 224:

     The idea of “emotional truth” often pops up during discussions of accuracy in the context of creative nonfiction. Maybe you can't get every detail right, goes the argument, but you can capture a larger meaning that's essentially truthful.

   • 2015 December 6, Geoff Dyer, “‘Based on a true story’: the fine line between fact and fiction”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The danger, as genre-defying or creative nonfiction becomes a genre in its own right—with mix-and-match poised to become a matter of rote—is that no man’s land could become predictably congested.

   • 2018 December 4, Sian Cain, “There’s more to this bad fiction than bad sex – between the lines is privilege”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     He’d arrived at the perfect time: when authenticity was more about the truth behind feelings rather than facts, when the now-accepted genres “auto-fiction” and “creative nonfiction” were blooming, and when our ideas of subjectivity were being shaken by an explosion of “reality” television.

See also

• faction

Further reading

• creative nonfiction on Wikipedia.Wikipedia