Creative Nonfiction

There are many ways to define Creative Nonfiction. So what is Creative Nonfiction? It is a genre that is thought of as another way of writing fiction, because of the way writing about a subject inevitably changes the way we know a subject. Creative nonfiction writing can embody both personal and public history. It is a form that utilizes memory, experience, observation, opinion, and all kinds of research. It is defined as “literary journalism” or the “literature of fact,” creative nonfiction is that branch of writing which employs literary techniques and artistic vision usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on actual persons and events.
According to Melissa Hart, the genre of creative nonfiction is “not just memoir; nor is it simply a research-driven article. Rather, it's an exciting hybrid that allows writers to explore their lives and the lives of others through investigation and revelation.” Lee Gutkind, a creative nonfiction author and the founder/editor of the journal Creative Nonfiction says that, “the most important quality that a creative nonfiction writer can have is passion: “A passion for the written word; a passion for the search and discovery of knowledge; and a passion for ... understanding intimately how things in this world work.” “There is a line between fiction and non-fiction. We all have our different ideas about where that line will be,” says Lee Gutkind.
In Herbert Asbury’s All Around the Town he demonstrates the style of creative nonfiction. In “The Sawing off of Manhattan Island”, Lozier and Mayor Allen had reached a conclusion that Manhattan Island was too heavy on the Battery end because of the buildings. They worried that it might become too heavy, break off, and sink into the sea. They decided that the island must be sawed off at Kingsbridge, at the northern end, and turned around, so that the Kingsbridge end would be where the Battery end had been. The weaker end of the island would be anchored to the mainland so that it won’t fall in. The information is given in a vivid and dramatic way keeping the readers interested but at the same time telling an important “hoax” of the time. Also, in John McPhee’s The Curve of Binding Energy, we can see that it is a perfect example of creative nonfiction. He writes with fictional techniques but provides non fictional information. McPhee writes about dangers of the availability of raw nuclear material but, he does not simply state the facts. He puts his own style of writing in it to make it more appealing to the reader.
In the future I want to be a teacher and in order to get kids to read, teachers need to grab their interest right away and keep them turning pages. Susan Taylor Brown says that “If you want to teach young readers about the Irish potato famine, the rain forest, or even math, tell them a story. Tell an interesting tale about interesting people doing interesting things and readers come back for more, sometimes not even realizing they are reading about something that really happened. This is creative nonfiction.” I knew that creative nonfiction was available to the adult market but I never realized how much of an impact it could have on children. “Good creative nonfiction helps kids learn to think by engaging their curiosity,” says Shannon Barefield, Senior Editor at Lerner Publishing Group. "It makes readers ask, ‘Then what happened? Why?’ and so on. An engaged reader retains information and often goes on to seek more. Creative nonfiction is of great use with reluctant and challenged readers, making the work of reading more rewarding than usual. Finally, storytelling techniques can bring to life a subject’s significance in a way that just-the-facts writing can't always do. It’s crucial for kids to learn the nuts-and-bolts facts of the Holocaust, for example, but to learn the human side of those events is critically important as well. Creative nonfiction evokes the humanity within our history.”
Carolyn Yoder explains that “The difference between straight nonfiction and creative nonfiction has to do with structure. Straight nonfiction relies solely on the parts, the facts for the most part, and not on the whole. Creative nonfiction is all about the whole and how the parts make it up. Creative non-fiction, like fiction, is all about story or theme. Creative nonfiction tends to have strong characters, strong sense of place, rich details, obvious themes, conflicts, arcs-everything.”
In my personal opinion Creative nonfiction is a great tool to incorporate in writing and in the classroom. It is a creative blend of nonfiction and the author’s own personal style. It is definitely a useful method that I will be looking to incorporate it in some of my writing, reading, and my future lessons. Creative Nonfiction brings nonfiction literature to life instead of just presenting factual information.

Sulcata Tortise

The Sulcata tortoise is the largest continental land tortoise with recorded lengths of over 2.5 feet and a maximum recorded weight of about 340 lbs. It is the 3rd largest tortoise in the world. Of course I had no idea my tortoises were going to grow that big when I bought it from the weird guy at the flea market. After I found out they were going to grow that big I had to ask myself questions like what do they eat? What would they need for housing? How much are they like the other reptiles I had living in my house at the time? They outgrew every tank we ever got for them so my dad had to build a giant wooden box for them to live in. When I got them five years ago they were just hatched. Currently Shelly (female) weighs twenty-seven pounds and Myrtle (male) weighs over thirty-five pounds. When I first got them they were very shy. However, I learned that they will do anything for a piece of there favorite food, romaine lettuce, so that was how we got to know each other.=)

Worst Album Cover

According to recent celebrity news, Geffen Records has released the official cover art for Ashlee Simpson’s new album, Bittersweet World, which will be released on April 22nd. This is by far the worst album cover I have ever seen in my life! I am a very big fan of Ashlee Simpson but come on now what is she thinking? She looks so grundgy looking and the colors and artwork on the new cover are gross. If I was ever to buy this CD I would be embarrassed. I probably won’t buy it just because it looks like that. I have heard and seen the music video for one of her new songs in the CD called “out of my head”, and it wasn’t anything special at all. I guess I was just a big fan of her first CD, now her music is just whatever. Hopefully there is at least one good song. On February 26, Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz celebrated at the Bittersweet World album release party at NYC’s Marquee on Tuesday night.

Subliminal Messages

In my psychology class last year we talked a lot about subliminal messages in Disney movies. Why? I don’t really know, but what is a subliminal message? It’s something in a movie that you don’t really notice unless it is pointed out. These messages are indiscernible by the conscious mind, but can affect the subconscious or deeper mind and later actions or attitudes. For over 10 years people have argued that there are hidden sexual subliminal messages in Disney movies. I watched the movies myself to see what the deal was and there was hidden sexual things that I wouldn’t have noticed if nobody told me about it. In Aladdin he allegedly says "Good teenagers take off your clothes!!" at the part where he goes up to her balcony and the tiger is growling at him. Also in the lion king where Simba lies down in this little pile of dust and the dust blows up and spells out "sex". Disney claims that it says “SFX” which supposedly means special effects, but you can clearly see the word “sex”. There is a lot of other ones too in different Disney movies. I think it’s kind of creepy.

I can’t wait until next weekend! I’m going on vacation. Finally!! A vacation. I don’t know why we couldn’t have gone during spring break but whatever. I am very excited. I am going Friday, Saturday, and coming home Sunday afternoon, to a resort called Woodloch Pines, with my cousins. It is supposed to be voted one of Americas best resorts but I will be the judge of that. Im looking forward to the skiing, which is “the finest in the area”, horseback riding, paint balling, and of course, the pool, and spa. It may not be one of the most exciting or “coolest” vacations but I’m just happy to be getting away from work, school and most of all, this island.

Step Up 2 the Streets.

Yesterday I saw the movie Step Up 2 the Streets. I never saw the first movie but I went anyway. Everyone said that it was going to be really bad but I thought it was alright. I only thought it was cool when they were dancing, but when they weren’t it was pretty boring. Most of the time, I was waiting for the climax of the movie, when the two dance crews battle it out. They shouldn’t have spent so much time on the characters back stories. I didn’t really care that Andie was in danger of being shipped off to Texas or that Chase is living in his brother's shadow. These things were kind of irrelevant to the movie. I wish I could have fast forwarded the boring parts and got right to the action.