What is Creative Non-Fiction?
What I learned about this genre, and my own writing style.
WRITING
Daniel Dore
10/12/20262 min read
CREATIVE NON-FICTION
I remember the first time I heard the phrase “Creative Non-Fiction” (CNF)—I thought it was a misprint. At first glance it seemed oxymoronic! I received an email that contained a call-out for a literary journal, and one of the categories was Creative Non-Fiction. I had to do some research to see what CNF meant. There was also a link in the call for submissions to several good pieces that illustrated this genre called CNF. I found out they were basically true stories that are retold in the form of a good fiction piece, complete with setting the stage, dialogues, scenes and a memorable ending.
As I look back at some pieces I have had accepted for publication in the last twelve months I realize that I often write in this genre without even knowing it was CNF!
For example:
--In the Fall 2025 issue of Pure in Heart Literary Journal my piece titled Of Snakes and Flip-Flops appeared. It is a true story that happened in Africa, but I changed the character’s name to protect the guilty boy! The dialogue between the boy and his mother was creatively imagined, since I only heard about their conversations after the fact.
--This Fall my piece titled A Twenty-Five Year Circle of Faith will appear in His Wind at My Back (the tenth book in the series: Too Amazing for Coincidence by Guideposts Publishers.) In it I tell the story of when our daughter was struggling financially at Bible School while we were 3900 miles away in West Africa. We did not know what she was going through but the Lord did, and He used an event from our lives, 25 years earlier, to encourage her in her walk of faith. The dialogue between my wife and me was re-created, because I honestly don’t know the exact words we said to each other at the time. And the words spoken between our daughter and her teacher were crafted based on her testimony to us, and his version of the story, related to us much later.
--And this coming December (the 18th of December to be exact) my piece The Mysterious Christmas Wreath will appear in the teen devotional “Unlocked.” In this piece I write about my time at Bible School when I was working several nights a week as a night guard at a local factory. It is a story that really happened to me, but told in a way that brings out the lesson God taught me through the events of that one night during the Christmas season.
I guess I like writing in this genre called Creative Non-Fiction. I love true stories that touch our hearts and show how the Lord interacts with us in our day-to-day lives. I am wondering if some of Jesus’ parables would also be considered Creative Non-Fiction—what do you think?
