Literary Devices in Creative Nonfiction
Creative nonfiction essays use literary devices to make essays compelling, to present and document events, and to help readers determine an essay’s significance.
Setting
Setting details, listed below, are presented and described when important. In “Blood and Water,” the setting details of Flint, Michigan during its water crisis are especially important. In other essays, like “Goodbye to All That,” a writer considers the culture and climate of entire cities. In essays that take place in a single room, like “The Moment,” most setting details aren’t especially important.
Where — Geography and physical place
When — Time of day, time of year, time in history
Weather and Climate
Social climate (historical context)
Conflict / Problem
Readers aren’t particularly interested in lists of events. First this happened, then this happened, and then I went to the bank.
Stories and essays are crafted around conflict. Is there a personal conflict between two people? A decisions to be made? A personal issue, like being broke or feeling isolated? A social problem? A problematic cultural trend, like racism? An institutional problem, like healthcare or college tuition? A health or mental health concern?
All essays, whether they are narrative or topical, personal or reported, are about a conflict or problem. Sometimes it’s reflected on, sometimes it’s exposed, and sometimes it’s resolved.
Dialogue
As discussed in the previous lesson, dialogue helps readers understand and picture a scene. It also helps readers get to know the characters, stay interested, and get invested. Scenes usually include dialogue.
A good rule to remember for dialogue is that it can be recreated if not remembered word-for-word, but it cannot be created — which means we can’t make it up, change its meaning or intention, or take it out of context.
Description / Imagery / Scenes
Concrete details ground readers and help them visualize scenes, relate to situations, understand stories, and care about what’s going on.
Lists and summaries don’t get readers to invest in stories. Details, scenes and thoughts do. Specificity is essential to successful writing.
Characterization
Authors use description, memories, subjective opinions, dialogue and other details to help readers get to know a character. Sometimes, their clothes are important, other times an author will give you a glimpse of how they treat others.
Remember that in personal narratives, writers are presenting stories from their own skewed and biased points of view. We’re all skewed and biased, especially when it comes to our depictions and understanding of other people.
Narrator’s persona
The author and narrator are yes, the same person. That said, it’s important to remember that writers develop personas — a public personality — to tell the story. Think of stand-up comedians: they act a particular way on stage, and while they are being themselves, that may be an exaggerated version of their true personality, or it may be just one small part of who they are.
Carefully notice details about the author’s persona — acerbic, witty, reflective — that may be revealing or important.
