Resources on Creative Non-Fiction and Memoir on Purdue OWL

This introduction to the genre on Purdue OWL, Creative Non-Fiction (CNF) on Overview, discusses two key elements of powerfully written creative non-fiction. Creative non-fiction is a big label that includes memoir writing.

• The first element of Creative Non-Fiction is that the writer should take responsibility to convey an event or events that in some way happened. The reader expects the CNF writer to be conveying the truth as well as that writer can convey it.
• The second element of Creative Non-Fiction is the idea of reflection. A strong piece of non-fiction does not simply give information about about something that “happened.” The writing offers reflection and introspection about the course of events and sequencing, (which you will read about in another part of today’s posts: Memoir Writing as Self-Help)

In this portion of our class, we’ll be specifically discussing Memoir. Memoir focuses primarily on one specific event or events. For example, a memoir might describe how someone lived through a traumatic episode in childhood, someone’s war experience, or someone’s recovery from addiction or illness. A memoir tells a story or a specific episode of a person’s life; an autobiography covers a person’s own life chronologically, start to present time of writing.

Here is the PurdueOWL’s description of memoir:

• Memoir

Excerpt from the resource above:

“Memoir is perhaps the “flagship” of creative nonfiction, the sub-genre most familiar to those outside of literary and academic circles. Most human beings lead interesting lives filled with struggle, conflict, drama, decisions, turning points, etc.; but not all of these stories translate into successful memoir. The success of the memoir depends on the writer’s ability to sequence events, to tell a story, and to describe characters in believable ways, among other things. Writer Carol Spindel reminds us that in the mid-2000s a scandal surrounding writer James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces erupted after he was forced to admit that large sections of his “memoir” were “fictionalized:” he’d embellished, made things up. A memoir that strays from the truth is not far removed from lying, because regardless of the writer’s intention, the story deceives the reader. Spindel writes that, unlike in novels, “The knowledge expressed in the memoir has the legitimacy acquired through first-hand experience.” Good memoir also provides reflection on the events that have happened to the writer, so it “can give readers insights into society, and even into the larger meaning of life itself” (Spindel).”

The same site has a longer exploration of the personal memoir form here and suggests that the form asks the following questions:

• Why was this event of particular significance?
• What did it mean?
• Why is it important?

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/teacher_and_tutor_resources/writing_instructors/creative_nonfiction_in_writing_courses/the_personal_memoir.html