There’s historical fiction, biography, autobiography, memoirs – so, where does creative nonfiction fit into all of this? And, what is creative nonfiction?

Well, simply put, it is a story about a person, a place or an historical event. Factually accurate narratives are used to bring the person’s story (or the historical event) alive in an almost fiction-like narrative. Like historical fiction, but not historical fiction. It differs from historical fiction in that the entertainment factor is downplayed by the importance of historical accuracy to the person and/or events.

Neither is it nonfiction because it’s written in a fictional, literary style, using historically relevant dialogue to carry along the story. It also has a plot, of sorts, one that focuses on a person’s life achievements or an historic event. But it’s not biography or autobiography or memoir either, because, quite simply, it’s telling a story based on an historic fact or an historic person.

Creative nonfiction takes the ‘real’ and makes it come alive with descriptive passages setting the stage and active dialogue that sets the tone and the character. In short, creative nonfiction is very much like fiction, only it’s reality, real life, past and present.

By using descriptive passages, action scenes, dialogue, and even a plot, creative nonfiction takes the compilation of dates, events, and people found in a memoir and makes it into a story, one that invites the reader to share in a person’s life or an historic event.

Stories in any format are important resources for both entertainment and knowledge. Creative nonfiction (as does memoir and historical fiction) opens an avenue to teach the next generation, to share little bits of history. Many creative nonfiction stories are family stories. These stories are just as important, if not more so, as stories of the rich and famous, of the political leaders and scientific groundbreakers. Why? Because, no matter how mundane one perceives a life to be, each life is a vital part of all histories or all lives. Each life has a story. And we can learn from each of these stories.

I remember one of the rejection letters I received when sending out the manuscript for the creative nonfiction story I was writing about my grandmother. This big-name publishing house wrote back, with a pompous attitude: “We only publish stories about famous people.” To me, that’s narrow-minded at best. When you think of it, how many books does one need to read about one famous person? As I said, we are all a vital part, even if only a small part, of the whole, big picture of life.

Writing a memoir/family story in the genre of creative nonfiction is one way to bring a loved one back to life. My first creative nonfiction story was my grandmother’s. I started writing Gran’s story shortly after she passed away. Many tears and rewrites later, I felt like I had visited with Gran many more times and that I knew her, through the stories she shared and the journals she wrote, in a much more personal way.

Gran was quite the storyteller, an art she passed on to all of us. She brought even the simplest daily event to life. Strangely, in her later years, she frequently claimed that we would all forget her as soon as she was gone. That was over twenty-five years ago and I’m still inserting ‘Gran’ and ‘Granny’ in my stories, both fiction and creative nonfiction.

When I started writing Gran’s stories, recapturing the ones she shared, and others Mom passed along, I decided to write in the first-person narrative. I wanted to give the impression that she was sitting in her rocking chair sharing her stories. I think I succeeded. The publisher who did accept the manuscript for publication (sadly, now out of print) reinforced my intent. I began in the present, with Gran thinking back to her past:

My granddaughter, Emily, tells me that I should write down all of my stories. I have lived for over ninety years. I know that I have a lot of stories: too many stories, perhaps! It would probably take me another ninety years to write them all down in longhand. When thinking about my stories, I wonder who would want to read them. After all, I am not famous. I have not accomplished anything important. All I did was live, take care of my family, and help others. It has been a full life; a life lived mostly on my own, through many ups and downs. I cannot complain. The good Lord has seen fit to let me live beyond my ninetieth birthday. Both of my parents and my grandparents died in their fifties. Yes, I have had a good, full life.  – Emily-Jane Hills Orford, Personal Notes (Moosehide Books: 2008)

I wanted to preserve Gran’s stories for future generations. After all, when you think about it, the scary thing is that if these stories aren’t recorded in some manner, they’ll be lost forever. Remember, everyone’s story is important.