Creative Nonfiction

Have you seen Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo's Creative Nonfiction: A Manual for Filipino Writers?

You can get a P250.00 copy at Powerbooks (Megamall).

The backcover asks whether creative nonfiction is a new genre or if it even exists in the Philippines. If "creative nonfiction is nonfiction prose which utilizes the techniques and strategies of fiction," I wonder why Jing Hidalgo didn't mention blogs. Then again, the book is copyright 2003.

Check out this list of Strategies of Creative Nonfiction:

Approach and Point-of-View
Tone and Voice
Structure
Strong, Dramatic Beginning
Rhetorical Techniques
Character
Concrete and Evocative Details
Scene
A Convincing Ending

You'll probably be able to find some blogs that display such writing strategies. Pam Pastor's Nocturnal Angel comes to mind.

Afterall, some blog entries can come across as essays, magazine feature articles, or even autobiographical / biographical narratives.

Anyway, if you wish to spice up your blogs and dish out posts that can be considered creative nonfiction, check out Hidalgo's book today.

[ First posted on 07/15/2006 by Manuel Viloria ]