Creative Nonfiction: A Guide to Form, Content, and Style, with Readings

by Eileen Pollack

CREATIVE NONFICTION thoroughly explains the processes that creative writers of nonfiction use in approaching their topics so students can use the techniques in many different writing situations--from first-year composition or service-learning courses to creative writing workshops, feature writing, and memoir writing. Part I covers the essentials of style, content, and form. In Part II, each chapter introduces a new form of creative nonfiction and offers samples drawn from a diverse array of essays. Exercises and prompts help students use this form in their own writing. Part II guides students in revising their drafts, both individually and collaboratively. Throughout the text, the author speaks to the reader as a fellow practitioner and coach, offering insight into what it is like to write professionally in a variety of situations.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2008

About the author

Eileen Pollack grew up in Liberty, New York. She has received fellowships from the Michener Foundation and the MacDowell Colony, and her stories have appeared in Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, the Literary Review, the AGNI Review, Playgirl, and the New Generation. She lives in Belmont, Massachusetts, and teaches at Tufts University. She won the Pushcart Prize for her story “Past, Future, Elsewhere.”

Reviews

[Frank Dobner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read segments of this book as a textbook in a creative nonfiction class. I enjoyed the author's care for varying types of forms of nonfiction and I also recommend some of the featured author's nonfiction pieces contained in each chapter.

[Dave Hood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing introduction to the various forms of creative nonfiction. The selection of short essays throughout the book were thoughtfully curated.