Narrative arc roughly describes the way stories in English-language cultures flow: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, resolution. (Different cultures tell stories in different ways and with different goals. Narrative arc does not apply to storytelling across all cultures.) Creative nonfiction uses the same structure as fiction, but whereas fiction authors create a compelling arc for their stories, CNF authors must find the arc in their stories.
The problem is that life rarely happens along a neatly defined arc. What if the inciting incident is the most exciting part of the story? Where’s the rising action in a self-help book? How do we find the climax in recounting a scientific discovery that unfolded at a snail’s pace over decades? And why does it matter? Why not just tell every story in chronological order?
In this session, we’ll look at why narrative arc is as important in nonfiction as fiction, and explore creative ways to overcome the challenges inherent in finding the arc in any story. When participants sign up, they’ll be asked to review outlines provided by several of the presenter’s coaching clients and consider how they might have found the arc in each of them, keeping in mind that there are no right answers. (That’s why it’s called “creative” nonfiction.)
Lynne Melcombe has been writing and editing for over 30 years. She does substantive, stylistic, and copy editing, proofreading, manuscript evaluation and coaching. She works primarily on nonfiction, and copy edits and proofreads fiction. Recent clients include Harbour Publishing, Douglas & McIntyre, Greystone, Royal BC Museum, and the governments of BC, Alberta, and Canada. Lynne has a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction writing, a BA in anthropology and English, and certificates in editing, publishing, and writing. She lives in Port Coquitlam, BC, with her little dog, Tessa.