In-class draft of Creative Nonfiction essay

Prompt

Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to share a pivotal episode in your life with your audience. It may be an experience that helped you make a decision or changed your view in some way.

Process: You will start with prewriting the information for the paper. Remember that prewriting involves both gathering the information you want to use (clustering, brainstorming, etc.) and organizing (using at least a scratch outline or bulleted plan).

You should write a discovery draft to put your ideas together. Your first draft may be acceptable for the editable draft, but often it is not, especially with a complicated essay.

YOU WILL WRITE AN “EDITABLE” DRAFT, a complete draft with an interesting intro, clear thesis, detailed support, and effective conclusion. This should be the best draft you can come up with at that point in the process. If you have to write more than one draft to get there, do so.

Prewriting: As we discussed, the essay is much like a fictional story, except that it is true. Before beginning to write, take notes about the key elements of a story:

Plot: What happens? How do you present a beginning, middle and end?

Characters: Who are the people involved in your story? What are they like?

Setting: Where and when does the episode take place? What’s significant about the setting?

Theme: What is the point of your story?

Also consider how dialogue can benefit the story.

Parameters: The finished essay (final draft) will be at least 4 double-spaced pages long; it will be presented in the MLA format (reminders of that format will follow). It will have a title, preferably not “Creative Nonfiction Essay.”

Notes: In a personal essay, it is hard to avoid ego-centered writing, which sounds as if you are reminding us of details rather than telling/showing for the first time. For example, if I write that “my aunt Bethene was her usual self,” that does not create a picture in the reader’s mind because my readers do not know her. The expression “always been there for me” means different things to different readers. The solution: include details to support every statement, so that the reader understands clearly.