Part 1: In our chapter on non-fiction I find the checklists
and the 5 R’s to be the most important and educational. I had never heard of
creative nonfiction before so I wasn’t really sure how to write an essay like
that. I started to write my essay by including the 5 R’s, which are, “Real
life, reflection, research, reading, and riting.” It helped me structure my
essay and know what to include. I found the checklist beneficial because after
I’m done writing my essay I like to read it over and ask myself the questions.
For example, “Does your creative nonfiction tell the truth?” I find this
extremely helpful when looking over my essay.
Part 2: I really liked the story I read that was called “two
on two” by Brian Doyle. This story is about a man who played and loved the sport
basketball. He ended up getting so hurt that he had to quit. He then told about
how he ended up getting married and had a daughter and two twins and how he
played and taught basketball with them. That’s when he said he was the happiest
he has ever been. Something that really caught my eye in this essay was all the
similes and metaphors. I really liked the beginning of this story where it
said, “once upon a time, a long time ago, I rambled through thickets of brawny
power forwards and quicksilver cocksure guards and rooted ancient centers, trying
to slide smoothly to the hoop, trying to find space in the crowd to get off my
shot, trying to maneuver at high speed with the ball around corners and hips
and sudden angry elbows.” I liked it because I had no idea that he was talking
about basketball and I thought it was very unique the way he described it.
http://www.creativenonfiction.org/online-reading/essays
I had never really heard of creative nonfiction before either so I'm in the same boat! It took me awhile to figure out how I was going to write my story when I was so new to the genre.
ReplyDeletePart one: I agree, the checklists are very helpful when you've never written a creative nonfiction piece before. I always have my textbook open with the checklists handing to make sure I'm following the genre the correct way. Sometimes, I feel like they put me in a box though and I'm trying to be in line with the textbook too much.
ReplyDeletePart two: I feel like this story would be really relate able. When you are serious about a sport and you have to choose whether to move on to higher levels or say goodbye to it and move on it can be really hard. That was one of the hardest choices of my life. I still think about swimming everyday!