I’ve gone from knowing nothing about the genre of creative nonfiction to at least having some idea of what it truly is. I feel it’s hard to nail down a definition to something that is so liquid in its nature and constantly changing. Nonfiction, like fiction, is a classic genre and essential part to English that has been around for centuries; yet the idea of combining the two genres, the creative aspect of fiction with the honest and true telling form of nonfiction, is a far newer idea to the world. It’s because of these reasons I feel that people tend to have their own ideas of what counts as creative nonfiction.

I remember reading "The Fourth State of Matter" by Jo Ann Beard; it was my first true experience with this genre. It’s about the University of Iowa shooting. In the piece, Beard goes inside the head of antagonist Gang Lu, describing his thoughts and emotion. This is where the creative aspect of the creative nonfiction genre comes into play.

While what she wrote about him is more than likely close to the truth, she didn’t just sit down and type what first came to her mind. This type of thing requires in-depth knowledge about the subject. Studying an examination of evidence that’s present, you need to have a firm grasp on what subject you’re talking about.

I could easily go and write a creative nonfiction piece on camping or swimming, but if I had to write one about a forest fire, it would require a lot of work as my experience with that subject is low.

There are some boundaries that I believe are needed to contain this genre and keep it true to itself. One would be keeping the reader in the world that we know. If we start reading a piece that says it takes place on Mars or in an alternate dimension, we lose the sense of reality and henceforth break that nonfiction wall.

Another would be having the author only write based on experiences they’ve had. This would include having the piece remain in the same point-of-view that it’s told in. All these ideas can be followed while still embellishing, manipulating, or stretching truths that the author knows in order to gain excitement and enthusiasm within the reader.

When I started to read this genre, even though I had doubts, it really opened up my mind to new possibilities. I never thought about writing anything near related to nonfiction, but now it's one of my go-to subjects for both reading and writing. I believe that everyone who hasn't discovered this should give it a try. I would recommend "Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction." The book consists of short stories so they're both easy and fast to read, while also being some of the best reviewed stories in the genre.

I hope you will not only try reading some works, but also exploring in writing some of your own!