Writers Tricks of the Trade January-February 2015 | Page 36

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WHAT IN THE WORLD IS “CREATIVE NON-FICTION?” (CONT’D)

Most people have stories about what happened at the office, how we met our
spouse, a hilarious misunderstanding and on and on ad infinitum. When telling
these stories, we often embellish the facts for the shock or humor value by adding
details that didn’t actually happen and exaggerating or eliminating some that did.
What does a story like that become? Creative non-fiction. Facts mixed with
fictional details.
MANIPULATING THE STORY WHILE BEING "SORT OF" TRUE TO FACTS
Think about it. Often the tendency is to leave out details that might make us
look bad, stupid or gullible. When we are talking about someone we don’t like,
they might be depicted as a real ogre when in fact they are only someone with
bad habits. But it is more entertaining to give them extras that make them
loathsome. Let’s not call these lies. They are they dance around a clear and
truthful account of a situation. Adding controversy or being deliberately
ambiguous or misleading, doesn’t qualify as a bald-faced out-and-out lie. At least
that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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WHAT MAKES THE STORY CHANGE?
Depending upon the point-of-view we choose, the story changes. Are we
telling only what we can see (first person)? What someone else has seen and is
now telling the reader (third person)? Perhaps a God-like knows all/sees all
point-of-view that includes knowing thoughts of various people (omniscent). Or,
a combination of any of the above. We determine who is important to the story,
who will be most likeable, what events will trigger the reader’s emotion, etc. This
might not be the way it really happened, but it makes for a better read. We are
being creative with factual information plus some manipulation and
prevarication thrown in for good measure.
In the end, however, if you want it to stay creative non-fiction, you are stuck
with what really happened. Otherwise it becomes a creation of your imagination
or pure fiction. Ripoff, written with co-author Caroline Rowe, is a government
embezzlement story that happens in the Federal prison system, a division of the
Department of Justice. The story is fiction but the inspiration was from first-hand
knowledge of furniture manufacturing in the Federal prison system. In other
words, the scam didn’t actually happen, but from our experience we knew it
would be possible. As for the humor, well, that’s a bonus.
Whichever path you choose, it’s yo