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English
Quarter 3 – Module 1:
Introduction To Creative
Nonfiction
Creative Nonfiction – Grade 12
Quarter 3 – Module 1: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
First Edition, 2020

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English
Quarter 3 – Module 1:
Introduction to Creative
Nonfiction
Introductory Message
This Self-Learning Module (SLM) is prepared so that you, our dear learners, can
continue your studies and learn while at home. Activities, questions, directions,
exercises, and discussions are carefully stated for you to understand each lesson.

Each SLM is composed of different parts. Each part shall guide you step-by-step
as you discover and understand the lesson prepared for you.

Pre-tests are provided to measure your prior knowledge on lessons in each SLM.
This will tell you if you need to proceed on completing this module or if you need to
ask your facilitator or your teacher’s assistance for better understanding of the
lesson. At the end of each module, you need to answer the post-test to self-check
your learning. Answer keys are provided for each activity and test. We trust that
you will be honest in using these.

In addition to the material in the main text, Notes to the Teacher are also provided
to our facilitators and parents for strategies and reminders on how they can best
help you on your home-based learning.

Please use this module with care. Do not put unnecessary marks on any part of
this SLM. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises and tests. And
read the instructions carefully before performing each task.

If you have any questions in using this SLM or any difficulty in answering the tasks
in this module, do not hesitate to consult your teacher or facilitator.

Thank you.

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 Let Us Learn!

How are you learners? I bet you are doing great as I am. I would
like to introduce to you the nuggets of learning you will earn for this
journey.

At the end of this module, you will learn about the nitty-gritty of
creative nonfiction. Specifically, you will:

a. analyze the theme and techniques used in a particular text; and,

b. create samples of literary elements based on one’s experience
(HUMSS_CNF11/12-Ib-d-4).

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 Let Us Try!

1. Once a cat was in a hurry. She ran across the street without looking. She
narrowly escaped being hit by a car. What is the theme?

a. Don’t steal
b. Look both ways before crossing the street
c. Necessity is the mother of invention
d. One good turn deserves another.

2. Read: My breath escaped in ragged bursts, my quadriceps burning as I

crested the summit. The lake stretched before me, aquamarine, glistening in
the hot August afternoon sun. This is an example of:

a. Plot c. Setting
b. Character d. Dialogue

3. And, in fact, she could not bear the earth in her mouth. But she persevered,
overcome by the growing anxiety, and little by little she was getting back her
ancestral appetite, the taste of primary minerals, the unbridled satisfaction of
what was the original food. This is an example of:
a. characterization c. setting
b. descriptive imagery d. exposition

4. Memoir, personal essays, feature-length articles in magazines, and

narratives in literary journals can be categorized under

a. Fiction c. Nature Writing

b. Genre Writing d. Creative Nonfiction

5. She gently knelt down and stretched out her hand to help her friend return
to her feet after she fell on the field. This describes a kind girl. The italicized
statement is a/an:
a. characterization c. setting
b. descriptive imagery d. exposition

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II- Crossword Puzzle
Directions: Guess the words across and down through the hints.

Lesson
Introduction to Creative
1 Nonfiction

Let Us Study

What is a story? Why do we write stories? These are questions

that we commonly ask ourselves, isn’t it? A story is a narration of how
something happened. It tells us who, what, when, where and how a
particular event took place. A story could be real or imaginary. What makes
a good story? What are the elements of different Genres? These are the
things that we will discuss in this lesson.

A Literary Genre is a writing style in making or writing a piece. The

genre is a category used to classify the work of an author. A Literary Genre
can either be Fiction or Nonfiction. When we say Fiction, these are
writings or stories created from the mind or imagination of the author while,
Nonfiction are writings that are factual, realistic and existing. They are not
imaginary.

Creative nonfiction is a narrative or account of lived experiences of

real individuals. It focuses on the story and understandably manifests basic
elements of fiction. The only distinguishing factor is that it works only if the
accounts are true and not made.

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 Today, personal essays, travel writing, meditation on ideas, nature
writing, autobiography, biography, literary journalism, cultural commentary,
letters and journals, memoirs, and other hybridized prose forms are often
grouped under this umbrella term, creative nonfiction.

The basic elements in creative nonfiction are setting, descriptive

imagery, figurative language, plot and characterization.

1. Setting. It is the time and place where the narrator’s story takes
place. For the setting to be effective, it has to be established early
on in the story for better visualization of audience.

ex: My breath escaped in ragged bursts, my quadriceps burning as

I crested the summit. The lake stretched before me, aquamarine,
glistening in the hot August afternoon sun. Ponderosa pines lined
its shores, dropping their spicy-scented needles into the clear
water. Despite the heat, the Montana mountain air tasted crisp.

2. Descriptive imagery. It appeals to the five senses: seeing, hearing,

listening, touching and tasting in creative nonfiction through
words. It is the manner by which the writer-storyteller pictures out
the scenes in the audience’s mind.

ex: The lemon is yellow, sour-smelling and tasting, and with a

smooth, bumpy skin. They might describe the sound of the lemon
as a thump on the table if it is dropped, or squelching if it is
squished underfoot. By painting a picture in the reader's mind, it
immerses them in the story so that they feel they are actually
there.

3. Figurative language. It is when you use a word or phrase that

does not have its normal every day, literal meaning. It is using
words in ways that describe a literary moment. There are five basic
figurative languages, namely: simile, metaphor, personification,
hyperbole and symbolism.

ex: She is as happy as a clam. (simile)

My father will kill me when he comes home! (hyperbole)

4. Plot. It is what happens in the story basically addressing the

sequence, scope and pacing of the narrative.

Freytag's Pyramid: Chronological

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 A. Exposition: Here, you’re setting the scene, introducing
characters, and preparing the reader for the journey.

B. Rising action: In this part, things start to happen. You (or

your characters) encounter conflict, set out on a journey, meet
people, etc.

C. Climax: This is the peak of the action, the main

showdown, the central event toward which your story has
been building.

D. Falling action: Now things start to wind down. You (or

your characters) come away from the climactic experience
changed—at the very least, you are wiser for having had that
experience.

E. Resolution: Also known as dénouement, this is where all

the loose ends get tied up. The central conflict has been
resolved, and everything is back to normal, but perhaps a bit
different.

5. Characterization. Characterization means creating a hologram of a

person in your reader’s mind. In nonfiction, your ‘characters’ are real
people. It helps the reader experience and respond to each and every person
you meet. This helps bring the reader into the story, because they
experience their own response to the character/individual.

ex: Characterizing a rich man: He chortled heartily before deeply

puffing on his Cuban cigar, briefly glancing at his Rolex. He
announced his driver would arrive any moment, then tossed back the
rest of his whiskey.

Exploring conventional themes in creative nonfiction

One of the first questions to ask upon hearing someone has written
a story is, “What’s it about?” or “What’s the point?” Short answers may
range from love to betrayal or from the coming of age to the haziness of memory.
The central idea, topic, or point of a story, essay, or narrative is its theme.

The most common literary themes are: judgment, survival, peace and war, love,
heroism, good and evil, circle of life, suffering, deception and coming of age.

a. Judgment. In this theme, a character is judged for being different or

doing wrong, whether the infraction is real or just perceived as
wrongdoing by others.

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 b. Survival. There is something captivating about a good survival story, one
in which the main characters must overcome countless odds just to live
another day.

c. Peace and war. Quite often, the characters are gripped in the turmoil of
conflict while hoping for days of peace to come or reminiscing about the
good life before the war.

d. Love. One of the most popular topics covered not only in books, but in
movies and music as well, love is a universal, multi-faceted theme that’s
been explored in a number of ways throughout the history of literature.

e. Heroism. Whether it is false heroism or true heroic acts, you will often
find conflicting values in literature with this theme.

f. Good and evil. The coexistence of good and evil is another popular theme.
It is often found alongside many of these other themes such as war,
judgment, and even love. Books such as the "Harry Potter" and "Lord of
the Rings" series use this as the central theme.

g. Circle of life. The notion that life begins with birth and ends with death is
nothing new to writers. Many incorporate this into the themes of their
writings.

h. Suffering. There is physical suffering and internal suffering, and both are
popular themes, often intertwined with others. This theme puts into
question the ethical possibilities of events both in action and thought.

i. Deception. Deception can be physical or social and it's all about

keeping secrets from others. For instance, we see many lies in "The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," and many of William
Shakespeare's plays are centered on deception at some level.

j. Coming of age. Growing up is not easy, which is why so many

books rely on a "coming of age" theme. This is one in which
children or young adults mature through various events and learn
valuable life lessons in the process.

Employing basic techniques in writing creative nonfiction

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 Literary techniques are specific, deliberate constructions of language
which an author uses to convey meaning. An author’s use of a literary
technique usually occurs with a single word or phrase, or a particular group
of words or phrases, at one single point in a text. Unlike literary elements,
literary techniques are not necessarily present in every text.

These are some of the literary techniques which we can use in writing
creative nonfiction:

Dialogue. Where characters speak to one another; may often be used

to substitute for exposition. Since there is so little stage direction in
Shakespeare, many of the characters’ thoughts and actions are
revealed through dialogue.

Symbolism. The use of specific objects or images to represent

abstract ideas. This term is commonly misused, describing any and
all representational relationships, which in fact are more often
metaphorical than symbolic. A symbol must be something tangible or
visible, while the idea it symbolizes must be something abstract or
universal.

Juxtaposition. Places two or more dissimilar characters, themes,

concepts, etc. side by side, and the profound contrast highlights their
differences. Why is juxtaposition such an effective literary device?
Well, because sometimes the best way for us to understand
something is by understanding what it’s not.

Tragic hero/tragic figure. A protagonist who comes to a bad end as

a result of his own behavior, usually caused by a specific personality
disorder or character flaw.

Flashbacks. To previous events split up present-day scenes in a

story, usually to build suspense toward a big reveal. Flashbacks are
also an interesting way to present exposition for your story, gradually
revealing to the reader what happened in the past. An example of
this is, every other chapter in the first part of Gone Girl is a
flashback, with Amy’s old diary entries describing her relationship
with her husband before she disappeared.

Moreover, in writing creative nonfiction the following are suggested:

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 Narrative Arc. Is term that describes a story's full progression. It
visually evokes the idea that every story has a relatively calm
beginning, a middle where tension, character conflict, and narrative
momentum builds to a peak, and an end where the conflict is
resolved.

ex: boy meets girl, boy fails girl, boy gets girl again

 Character development- Developing character through action,

dialogue, description

Ex: Taken from Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy is described as not
being characteristic of a potential husband. The dialogue grounds how
we look at Mr. Darcy as can be read below:

‘…he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening,
till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity;
for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above
being pleased…’

 Vivid Description-descriptions that are concrete and specific

ex: She took a breath and the freezing air went into her lungs and she
felt them going into spasm. She gasped and more cold air went into her
lungs and it was as if she were drowning.

 Effective use of imagery-literal imagery through description; figurative

imagery with simile or metaphor

ex:
Taste: The familiar tang of his grandmother’s cranberry sauce
reminded him of his youth.
Sound: The concert was so loud that her ears rang for days afterward.
Sight: The sunset was the most gorgeous they’d ever seen; the clouds
were edged with pink and gold.
Smell: After eating the curry, his breath reeked of garlic.
Touch: The tree bark was rough against her skin.

Let Us Practice

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 Directions: Read the excerpts of creative non-fiction. Based on
the discussion above, identify the themes and techniques
utilized by the author.

1. July 9th 1942 and July 15th, 1944

“Here’s a description of the building… A wooden staircase leads

from the downstairs hallway to the third floor. At the top of the
stairs is a landing, with doors on either side. The door on the left
takes you up to the spice storage area, attic and loft in the front
part of the house...It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a
foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being
slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching
thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of
millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that
everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too will end,
that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I
must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I’ll be
able to realize them.”

” (Excerpt from The Diary of Anne Frank)

Theme/s: _________________________________
Technique/s: _____________________________

2. With bright blue eyes (a gift from her mother), ivory skin, and a
dimpled chin, Skylar was an honors student at University High
School heading into her junior year, excelling in two subjects she
couldn't stand: math and science. By July she'd already gotten a
jump on the required summer reading: Susan
Sontag's Regarding the Pain of Others and Saul Bellow's 1959
surrealist novel Henderson the Rain King, in which the
protagonist speaks in pitch-perfect Twitter verse: "If I don't get
carried away I never accomplish anything…Alone I can be pretty
good, but let me go among people and there's the devil to pay."
And every teenager's cri de coeur: "I want, I want, I want, I want,
I want!" Skylar wanted to be out with her best friends. Before
going to sleep that night she tweeted: stress will be the death of
me. (excerpt from a literary journalism Trial by Twitter by Holly
Millea)

Theme/s: _________________________________

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 Technique/s: _____________________________

3. And we are wild animals too, of course. We forget that. We're just
mammals with attitude. In a lot of ways our skills pale before
their skills, and in a lot of ways we are terrible at fitting into our
environmental niche. Why we achieved this dominance is
sometimes a mystery to me, and a dangerous dominance it is
too. The whole point of our evolution, it seems to me, is for us to
find a way to fit back into the world as it is, rather than try to
remake the world to fit us, but not everybody thinks like me.
(excerpt from Brian Doyle by Martin Marten)

Theme/s: _________________________________
Technique/s: _____________________________

4. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

Dr P. was a musician of distinction, well-known for many years

as a singer, and then, at the local School of Music, as a teacher. It was
here, in relation to his students, that certain strange problems were
first observed. Sometimes a student would present himself, and Dr P.
would not recognise him; or, specifically, would not recognize his face.
The moment the student spoke, he would be recognized by his voice.
Such incidents multiplied, causing embarrassment, perplexity, fear—
and, sometimes, comedy. For not only did Dr P. increasingly fail to see
faces, but he saw faces when there were no faces to see: genially,
Magoo-like, when in the street he might pat the heads of water
hydrants and parking meters, taking these to be the heads of
children; he would amiably address carved knobs on the furniture and
be astounded when they did not reply. At first these odd mistakes
were laughed off as jokes, not least by Dr P. himself. Had he not
always had a quirky sense of humour and been given to Zen-like
paradoxes and jests? His musical powers were as dazzling as ever; he
did not feel ill—he had never felt better; and the mistakes were so
ludicrous—and so ingenious—that they could hardly be serious or
betoken anything serious. The notion of there being ‘something the
matter’ did not emerge until some three years later, when diabetes
developed. Well aware that diabetes could affect his eyes, Dr P.
consulted an ophthalmologist, who took a careful history and
examined his eyes closely. ‘There’s nothing the matter with your eyes,’
the doctor concluded. ‘But there is trouble with the visual parts of
your brain. You don’t need my help, you must see a neurologist.’ And
so, as a result of this referral, Dr P. came to me.

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 It was obvious within a few seconds of meeting him that there
was no trace of dementia in the ordinary sense. He was a man of great
cultivation and charm who talked well and fluently, with imagination
and humour. I couldn’t think why he had been referred to our clinic.

And yet there was something a bit odd. He faced me as he

spoke, was oriented towards me, and yet there was something the
matter—it was difficult to formulate. He faced me with his ears, I
came to think, but not with his eyes. These, instead of looking, gazing,
at me, ‘taking me in’, in the normal way, made sudden strange
fixations—on my nose, on my right ear, down to my chin, up to my
right eye—as if noting (even studying) these individual features, but
not seeing my whole face, its changing expressions, ‘me’, as a whole. I
am not sure that I fully realised this at the time—there was just a
teasing strangeness, some failure in the normal interplay of gaze and
expression. He saw me, he scanned me, and yet . . .

‘What seems to be the matter?’ I asked him at length.

‘Nothing that I know of,’ he replied with a smile, ‘but people

seem to think there’s something wrong with my eyes.’

‘But you don’t recognise any visual problems?’

‘No, not directly, but I occasionally make mistakes.’
I left the room briefly to talk to his wife. When I came back, Dr
P. was sitting placidly by the window, attentive, listening rather than
looking out. ‘Traffic,’ he said, ‘street sounds, distant trains—they
make a sort of symphony, do they not? You know Honegger’s Pacific
234?’
What a lovely man, I thought to myself. How can there be
anything seriously the matter? Would he permit me to examine him?
‘Yes, of course, Dr Sacks.’
I stilled my disquiet, his perhaps, too, in the soothing routine of
a neurological exam—muscle strength, coordination, reflexes,
tone. . . . It was while examining his reflexes—a trifle abnormal on the
left side—that the first bizarre experience occurred. I had taken off his
left shoe and scratched the sole of his foot with a key—a frivolous-
seeming but essential test of a reflex—and then, excusing myself to
screw my ophthalmoscope together, left him to put on the shoe
himself. To my surprise, a minute later, he had not done this.
‘Can I help?’ I asked.
‘Help what? Help whom?’
‘Help you put on your shoe.’
‘Ach,’ he said, ‘I had forgotten the shoe,’ adding, sotto voce, ‘The
shoe? The shoe?’ He seemed baffled.

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 ‘Your shoe,’ I repeated. ‘Perhaps you’d put it on.’
He continued to look downwards, though not at the shoe, with an
intense but misplaced concentration. Finally his gaze settled on his
foot: ‘That is my shoe, yes?’
Did I mis-hear? Did he mis-see?
‘My eyes,’ he explained, and put a hand to his foot. ‘This is my
shoe, no?’
‘No, it is not. That is your foot. There is your shoe.’
‘Ah! I thought that was my foot.’
Was he joking? Was he mad? Was he blind? If this was one of his
‘strange mistakes’, it was the strangest mistake I had ever come
across.
I helped him on with his shoe (his foot), to avoid further
complication. Dr P. himself seemed untroubled, indifferent, maybe
amused. I resumed my examination. His visual acuity was good: he
had no difficulty seeing a pin on the floor, though sometimes he
missed it if it was placed to his left.
He saw all right, but what did he see? I opened out a copy of
the National Geographic Magazine and asked him to describe some
pictures in it.
His responses here were very curious. His eyes would dart from
one thing to another, picking up tiny features, individual features, as
they had done with my face. A striking brightness, a colour, a shape
would arrest his attention and elicit comment—but in no case did he
get the scene-as-a-whole. He failed to see the whole, seeing only
details, which he spotted like blips on a radar screen. He never
entered into relation with the picture as a whole—never faced, so to
speak, its physiognomy. He had no sense whatever of a landscape or
scene.
I showed him the cover, an unbroken expanse of Sahara dunes.
‘What do you see here?’ I asked.
‘I see a river,’ he said. ‘And a little guest-house with its terrace on
the water. People are dining out on the terrace. I see coloured parasols
here and there.’ He was looking, if it was ‘looking’, right off the cover
into mid-air and confabulating nonexistent features, as if the absence
of features in the actual picture had driven him to imagine the river
and the terrace and the coloured parasols.

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 I must have looked aghast, but he seemed to think he had done
rather well. There was a hint of a smile on his face. He also appeared
to have decided that the examination was over and started to look
around for his hat. He reached out his hand and took hold of his
wife’s head, tried to lift it off, to put it on. He had apparently mistaken
his wife for a hat! His wife looked as if she was used to such things.
I could make no sense of what had occurred in terms of
conventional neurology (or neuropsychology). In some ways he seemed
perfectly preserved, and in others absolutely, incomprehensibly
devastated. How could he, on the one hand, mistake his wife for a hat
and, on the other, function, as apparently he still did, as a teacher at
the Music School?
I had to think, to see him again—and to see him in his own
familiar habitat, at home.
A few days later I called on Dr P. and his wife at home, with the
score of the Dichterliebe in my briefcase (I knew he liked Schumann),
and a variety of odd objects for the testing of perception. Mrs P.
showed me into a lofty apartment, which recalled fin-de-siècle Berlin.
A magnificent old Bösendorfer stood in state in the centre of the room,
and all around it were music stands, instruments, scores. . . . There
were books, there were paintings, but the music was central. Dr P.
came in, a little bowed, and, distracted, advanced with outstretched
hand to the grandfather clock, but, hearing my voice, corrected
himself, and shook hands with me. We exchanged greetings and
chatted a little of current concerts and performances. Diffidently, I
asked him if he would sing.
‘The Dichterliebe!’ he exclaimed. ‘But I can no longer read music.
You will play them, yes?’
I said I would try. On that wonderful old piano even my playing
sounded right, and Dr P. was an aged but infinitely mellow Fischer-
Dieskau, combining a perfect ear and voice with the most incisive
musical intelligence. It was clear that the Music School was not
keeping him on out of charity.
Dr P.’s temporal lobes were obviously intact: he had a wonderful
musical cortex. What, I wondered, was going on in his parietal and
occipital lobes, especially in those areas where visual processing
occurred? I carry the Platonic solids in my neurological kit and
decided to start with these.

13
 ‘What is this?’ I asked, drawing out the first one.
‘A cube, of course.’
‘Now this?’ I asked, brandishing another.
He asked if he might examine it, which he did swiftly and
systematically: ‘A dodecahedron, of course. And don’t bother with the
others—I’ll get the icosahedron, too.’
Abstract shapes clearly presented no problems. What about faces?
I took out a pack of cards. All of these he identified instantly,
including the jacks, queens, kings, and the joker. But these, after all,
are stylised designs, and it was impossible to tell whether he saw
faces or merely patterns. I decided I would show him a volume of
cartoons which I had in my briefcase. Here, again, for the most part,
he did well. Churchill’s cigar, Schnozzle’s nose: as soon as he had
picked out a key feature he could identify the face. But cartoons,
again, are formal and schematic. It remained to be seen how he would
do with real faces, realistically represented.
I turned on the television, keeping the sound off, and found an
early Bette Davis film. A love scene was in progress. Dr P. failed to
identify the actress—but this could have been because she had never
entered his world. What was more striking was that he failed to
identify the expressions on her face or her partner’s, though in the
course of a single torrid scene these passed from sultry yearning
through passion, surprise, disgust, and fury to a melting
reconciliation. Dr P. could make nothing of any of this. He was very
unclear as to what was going on, or who was who or even what sex
they were. His comments on the scene were positively Martian.
It was just possible that some of his difficulties were associated
with the unreality of a celluloid, Hollywood world; and it occurred to
me that he might be more successful in identifying faces from his own
life. On the walls of the apartment there were photographs of his
family, his colleagues, his pupils, himself. I gathered a pile of these
together and, with some misgivings, presented them to him. What had
been funny, or farcical, in relation to the movie, was tragic in relation
to real life. By and large, he recognised nobody: neither his family, nor
his colleagues, nor his pupils, nor himself. He recognised a portrait of
Einstein because he picked up the characteristic hair and moustache;
and the same thing happened with one or two other people. ‘Ach,
Paul!’ he said, when shown a portrait of his brother. ‘That square jaw,

14
those big teeth—I would know Paul anywhere!’ But was it Paul he
recognised, or one or two of his features, on the basis of which he
could make a reasonable guess as to the subject’s identity? In the
absence of obvious ‘markers’, he was utterly lost. But it was not
merely the cognition, the gnosis, at fault; there was something
radically wrong with the whole way he proceeded. For he approached
these faces—even of those near and dear—as if they were abstract
puzzles or tests. He did not relate to them, he did not behold. No face
was familiar to him, seen as a ‘thou’, being just identified as a set of
features, an ‘it’. Thus, there was formal, but no trace of personal,
gnosis. And with this went his indifference, or blindness, to
expression. A face, to us, is a person looking out—we see, as it were,
the person through his persona, his face. But for Dr P. there was
no persona in this sense—no outward persona, and no person within.
I had stopped at a florist on my way to his apartment and bought
myself an extravagant red rose for my buttonhole. Now I removed this
and handed it to him. He took it like a botanist or morphologist given
a specimen, not like a person given a flower.
‘About six inches in length,’ he commented. ‘A convoluted red
form with a linear green attachment.’
‘Yes,’ I said encouragingly, ‘and what do you think it is, Dr P.?’
‘Not easy to say.’ He seemed perplexed. ‘It lacks the simple
symmetry of the Platonic solids, although it may have a higher
symmetry of its own. . . . I think this could be an inflorescence or
flower.’
‘Could be?’ I queried.
‘Could be,’ he confirmed.
‘Smell it,’ I suggested, and he again looked somewhat puzzled, as
if I had asked him to smell a higher symmetry. But he complied
courteously, and took it to his nose. Now, suddenly, he came to life.
‘Beautiful!’ he exclaimed. ‘An early rose. What a heavenly smell!’
He started to hum ‘Die Rose, die Lillie . . .’ Reality, it seemed, might be
conveyed by smell, not by sight.
Source: https://www.odysseyeditions.com/EBooks/Oliver-Sacks/The-Man-Who-Mistook-His-
Wife-for-a-Hat/Excerpt

Theme/s: _____________________________________________________
Technique/s: __________________________________________________
Setting: _______________________________________________________

15
 Descriptive Imagery Used: ______________________________________
Figurative language/s: _________________________________________
Vivid description/s: ___________________________________________

Let Us Practice More

Think Like a Writer!

Source: https://rb.gy/zgk91i

Directions: Everybody is grappling with the effects of COVID-19 as you can

see above. I believe you, me and the community we are in are adversely
affected. Right now, I want you to narrate your unique coping experiences of
this pandemic. Just choose a very memorable and extremely emotional
experience. You can choose from one of the aftereffects of this New Normal
below.

1. Panic and stockpiling

2. Swift changes of daily routine
3. Shifting family and friendship dynamics
4. Survival versus infection dilemma
5. Challenging modular instruction

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

16
___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Let Us Remember

Directions: Now that you are done writing your emotional

account of COVID-19 experience, let us try to identify the
technique and theme you employed.

Based on the narrative you wrote, what is/are your:

a. Theme/s: ___________________________________________

Explanation of your answer:

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

b. Technique/s: ________________________________

Explanation of your answer:

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

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 ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Let Us Assess

Directions: Read the questions/statements below. Encircle the letter

of your choice.

1. Personal essays, travel writing, meditation on ideas, nature writing,

autobiography, biography, literary journalism, cultural commentary
are creative nonfiction of varying writing styles. They can also be
called _______________________.
a. Literary genres c. Literary techniques
b. Literary devices d. Writing conventions

2. This is generally a narrative form, in any medium, consisting of

people, events, or places that are imaginary not based strictly on
history or fact as opposed to creative nonfiction which is based on
facts.
a. Writing convention c. Fiction
b. Creative nonfiction d. Genres

3. What literary element is this: My breath escaped in ragged bursts, my

quadriceps burning as I crested the summit. The lake stretched before
me, aquamarine, glistening in the hot August afternoon sun?
a. Characterization c. Plot
b. Setting d. Descriptive imagery

4. The starry night sky looked so beautiful that it begged him to linger,
but he reluctantly left for home. This statement is an example of:
a. characterization c. plot
b. setting d. descriptive imagery

5. This is an example of characterization: He pulled the arrow back on

the bow until it would go no further. When it left his hand, the arrow
glided gracefully through the air and into the center of the target. This
characterizes:
a. a skillful archer c. an inexperienced archer
b. an inconsiderate archer d. a boastful archer

18
6. When used in reference to literature, it refers to how the author has
structured the plot of the story to unfold quickly or slowly. In Pride
and Prejudice Austen includes Mrs. Bennett's lamentations about her
daughters and their suitors, as well as her descriptions of the
handsomeness of suitors to slow specific scenes. This pertains to the
plot’s:
a. sequence c. pacing
b. scope d. speed

7. A literary piece has this theme when the character of the story is
trying to overcome every circumstance just to live.
a. heroism c. suffering
b. circle of life d. survival

8. A creative nonfiction as a literature can be very interesting and it has

the reason to be. One characteristic it has to qualify as a truly
interesting piece when it can provide concrete and specific details.
This pertains to:
a. narrative arc c. vivid description
b. character development d. use of imagery

9. In the Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini, Eragon has to meet up

with the Varden, a group fighting against the “mad king,” to fight
against Galbatorix’s armies. The very fate of Alagaesia hangs in the
battle during this war. Clearly, the theme of this series is:
a. Deception c. good and evil
b. Peace and war d. heroism

10.The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of
moldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and
mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy
sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots.
This is an imagery of:
a. tasting c. touching
b. smelling d. hearing

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 Let Us Enhance

Directions: The next activity requires you to think. Read the story below
and fill out the blanks of the story.

MY FILL-IN-THE-BLANK STORY

A gentleman was __________________________________, and he spotted that

the________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________.

All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________.

As the man gazed upon the_______________________________________, he was

_________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________. They
could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try to at all.

Curious and wanting to know the answer, he _________________________.

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

The trainer replied:

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________.

20
Let Us Reflect

Directions: After we finally end this part of creative

nonfiction lesson, let us try to wrap your understanding up.
Can you answer the questions below as honest as you can be? I
bet you could. Let’s start!

1. Think about the memorable characters you have

encountered in your reading life. Why does your favorite
character stay in your mind so vividly? Ponder and write
your idea.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

2. What are your goals as a writer? What projects are you

interested in exploring?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

3. What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses as a

writer?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

21
 Answer key to Activities

Lesson 1: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction

Let Us Try! Let Us Practice!

A. Multiple Choice 1. Theme: Coming of age
1. B Technique/s: Vivid
2. C description
3. B 2. Theme: Rebellion
4. D Technique/s: Repetition,
5. A Vivid description
B. Crossword Puzzle 3. Theme: Reflection
1. Vivid Technique/s: Comparison
2. Theme 4. Theme: Neurology
3. Resolution Technique/s: Allusion,
4. Nonfiction Flashback
5. Genre Descriptive Imagery:
6. Story “These instead of looking,
7. Climax gazing at me, in a normal
8. characterization way, made sudden strange
fixations on my nose, on
my right ear, down to my
right chin, up to my right
eye.” [Answers may vary]
Figurative Language:
[Answers may vary.]

Let Us Practice More! Let Us Remember!

(Answers may vary.) (Answers may vary.)

Let Us Assess! Let Us Enhance!

1. a (Answers may vary.)

2. c
3. b
4. d
5. a
6. c
7. d Let Us Reflect
8. c (Answers may vary)
9. c
10. b

22
 References

Alpha History. “Extracts from the Diary of Anne Frank”. Accessed January
21, 2021. https://alphahistory.com/holocaust/anne-frank-diary-1942-44/
COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines. “Media Gallery”. Google photos.
Accessed January 21, 2021. https://rb.gy/zgk91i

Fleming, Grace. “10 Common Themes in Literature’. ThoughtCo. Accessed

January 21, 2021. https://www.thoughtco.com/common-book-themes-
1857647

Mazzeo, Tilar. “Writing Creative Nonfiction”. The Great Courses. Accessed

January 21, 2021. https://cutt.ly/sjD8vR5

Millea, Holly. “Trial by Twitter”. Hearst Magazine Media. Accessed January

21, 2021. https://www.elle.com/culture/tech/a22/skylar-neese-
disappearance-twitter/

Ringo, Heather & Kashyap, Athena. “Elements of Creative Nonfiction”.

Human.libretexts.org. Accessed January 21, 2021. https://rb.gy/6shekv

Wester, Dan. “The 10 Most Inspirational Short Stories I’ve Heard”. Wealthy
Gorilla. Accessed January 21, 2021. https://wealthygorilla.com/10-most-
inspirational-short-stories/

Wilson, Kate. “Examples of Characterization”. Your Dictionary. Accessed

January 21, 2021. https://www.triquarterly.org/craft-essays/character-
nonfiction

23
For inquiries or feedback, please write or call:

Department of Education – Division of Tagum City

Office Address: Energy Park, Apokon, Tagum City, 8100

Telefax: (084) 216-3504

E-mail Address: tagum.city@deped.gov.ph