Reading Nonfiction Like a Writer
Nonfiction writers don’t change or erase facts or truths, but they can use literary devices to present stories in a way that is more approachable and compelling for their readers.
Creative nonfiction should be both interesting and enlightening. Readers should finish an essay feeling like they have a better understanding of an important topic, an event, or themselves. Essays should entertain readers, and should help readers reflect on their own experiences and beliefs.
Leading the essay
Readers are either interested by the first few paragraphs or they aren’t. It’s unlikely that you’ll change your mind after that, though of course that can happen. When you read, take note of what an author is doing to capture your attention, help you get into the essay, and ensure that readers both understand what’s happening but also want to know more.
It can be hard to give enough details and context to make a reader feel oriented, but not give away too much at the start. If an essay accomplishes this, take note of the author has done it.
Some writers advise that openings should be as interesting as the first scene in a movie — sometimes those scenes give background and sometimes they drop us into action.
Scenes
CNF essays often include scenes — description and dialogue that puts the reader into a specific moment in the story. Essays by David Sedaris and others frequently make use of scenes, the same way that authors of fiction create scenes for readers to visualize mentally as they read.
Scenes move a story forward, and keep readers intrigued. Moreover, scenes help readers feel like they are in the narrative. There must be concrete detail in order for scenes to work.
Because you have the benefit of writing about an experience you remember, consider all five senses as being important to the creation of a scene. If there are sounds or smells, what are they?
Not “it was loud,” but “the blurred voices from all directions reminded me of crowded and suffocating high school hallways.”
Likewise, writers don’t want to tell readers they’re “scared.” If it’s an important scene, it would be more vivid for the writer to say “I felt the sudden urge to leave — to get out of there immediately. I wasn’t sure what would happen next, but I knew I wanted out.” Thoughts should be explicit in places where you want readers to know what you’re thinking.
Dialogue
Writers of CNF provide dialogue to both present an interesting scene, and to help readers understand what certain characters in an essay are like. The way in which we speak, choose words, and talk to each other is a hallmark of our personality, and writers of CNF want to show their audience those personalities. Dialogue cannot be manufactured, but it can be recreated — exact words don’t matter as much as genuine reflections of people’s meaning, intention, and mood. What you read is accurate, and what you write must also be accurate.
Leaving Things Out
Writers don’t give you scenes for everything — waking up and brushing their teeth, the drive to school, the search for a parking spot… Readers don’t need this, and often would skip it anyway. As you read, closely examine what the author is vividly depicting and also what they’re leaving out. The middle ground is summary, a statement like “I rushed to get ready and headed to school,” which gives us context but doesn’t waste time on details we don’t need.
Find examples in the essays you read of
- Scenes — events given cinematic treatment
- Moments left out / skipped over
- Events or actions that are summarized
Essays Mean Something
This story has to be important to the writer in order for the reader to care. What lasting impact has this event or series of events had for the writer? What has changed and how? What idea or message are they trying to share with others? How are all of the events related and why do they matter?
The author usually won’t tell you the meaning of their own essay. Such “thesis statements” are more common in topical examinations, but are rare in personal narratives.
Authors should, though, make it clear to readers what the significance of the essay is — why these things are worth writing and reading about.
Things to Think About As You Read
- What kind of essay is this? What are my expectations based on the information I have from its source, title, and author’s name?
- Where and when is this essay taking place? What kinds of context details are given?
- What is the narrator’s persona? Is the narrator funny but kind? Sarcastic and kind of bitter? Are they reflective and thoughtful? Are they too sweet and sentimental? You’re getting to know them!
- What kind of language is used and why? Is the author using profanity to make a point? Is this written in formal language? Why? How does the writer use language to help me understand what they’re like? What reason might they have for using strong language?
- What are the concrete details? What is the writer emphasizing? Where are the scenes? What’s important about them? What techniques make me feel interested?
- What’s left out? What’s summarized? Why?
- What literary techniques are being employed in this essay? Dialogue? Imagery? Symbolism? Figurative language?
- What’s the point of the essay? What is its meaning, theme, or purpose? If it had a thesis statement, what would it be?
