As a writer, you can tell your reader that the janitor was a careful and methodical person or you can show him wearing paint-stained coveralls, wielding the floor sander and wiping his brow with a blue bandanna. You can tell your reader that your new office looked cold and sterile, or you can show the bare white walls and the un-curtained windows that looked out over an empty, snow-covered parking lot.
When you show the people, places and events in your story, you allow them to feel, see, hear, taste and smell the reality. You can do this by choosing a single detail to show your subject in a convincing, memorable way. Once I wrote about the prickly state police officer who headed a driver-testing site, and I mentioned the 40 cactus plants lining the windowsill of his cinder-block agency.
Creative non-fiction combines the skill of telling stories telling with the research of reporting. Creative non-fiction writing delivers facts in ways that enhance understanding.
Amass as much detail as possible – about clothing, behavior, the clock on the wall. Then, when you write, be specific:
- Don’t write flowers. Write white roses.
- Don’t say Many people attended. Write To see beyond the crowd, a young man perched on a mailbox.
- Don’t write about a dog. Mention a poodle in a rhinestone-studded cape or a German shepherd with feet bigger than hoagie rolls.
- Don’t say she looks nervous. Write that She’s fidgeting in her seat, playing with her hair, looking around the room.
- Don’t says She’s thin or She wears size 6. Write She buys blouses in the children’s department.
How do you find detail? Try looking around the room you’re in. Write 10 things you see. Write 2 things you hear. Write things you smell or taste. Write what you feel – a breeze on your arm, warmth from the sun, cool from the open door.
Now try to insert telling details into your copy.
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