Nonfiction Ink

Unlike prescriptive / practical nonfiction, which is written from the perspective of the author and addresses readers directly (using “you” and “we”), narrative nonfiction writing requires authors to select a viewpoint that most effectively conveys the story.

Narrative nonfiction employs three main viewpoint (or point of view) perspectives:

1. First-Person Narrative
The first-person perspective injects the author into the story. The writer becomes a character in the story with feelings, thoughts, opinions and biases related to the subject or topic. First-person perspective is used best in memoir and autobiography. Inserting “I” in the narrative of other types of stories can be challenging for the writer and distracting for the reader – critics of John Kraukuer’s books (Into Thin Air, Into The Wild) cite his constant interjection of himself into the stories as annoying and unnecessary. While the use of the first-person narrative in The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson, works because the author presents himself in the story as the “everyman” and becomes that character for readers. “As told to the author” books also employ the first-person narrative.

2. Third-Person Objective Narrative
The third-person objective narrative presents a more journalistic, unbiased approach to the material. The story is conveyed through a neutral narrator (using “he”, “she”, “they”), devoid of the characters’ feelings, thoughts, or opinions. Truman Capote uses this technique for In Cold Blood:

“The black Chervrolet was again parked, this time in front of a Catholic hospital on the outskirts of Emporia. While Perry waited in the car, Dick had gone into the hospital to try and buy a pair of black stockings from a nun. This rather unorthodox method of obtaining them had been Perry’s inspiration; nuns, he had argued, were certain to have a supply.”

3. Third-Person Subjective Narrative
The third-person subjective narrative tells the story from the perspective of a narrator (using “he”, “she”, “they”) and presents the feelings, thoughts, opinions, biases and knowledge (time, people, places, and events related to the story) of one (limited perspective) or all characters (omniscient perspective.) Author Anthony Flacco uses this method in The Road Out Of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders:

“Thirteen-year-old Sanford Clark felt his stomach lurch when he realized that his mother was really going to send him away. He stared down at the floor and fought to control his breathing while his brain reeled from the news. Everything about it felt wrong. The atmosphere in the room took on a poisonous feel, as if a thin mist of acid had just rolled in through the window. He knew that his mother and uncle were telling him a pack of lies. It was so off-kilter and strange that the moment belonged in a bad dream.”

YOUR TURN: What viewpoint are you employing in your narrative nonfiction book and why?

Framing your story refers to the way you order the narrative so that the elements of your book are presented in the most interesting way.  As a nonfiction writer your job is to construct your frame to steer the story in a specific direction while engaging the reader and creating a degree of suspense.

Your frame must work in harmony with the content of your story.  Your content is the inciting incident, what it is your subject wants, what’s at stake, the conflict he must face and overcome to achieve his goal, how he is transformed by the process, and the ultimate cost for him to succeed.

The frame (or how the content is presented) considers ways the drama of the story is conveyed through scenes, sequences, action, dialogue, tone, pace, style and conflict.

In Part One of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote weaves the timeline of the victims and the killers together, heightening the suspense leading to the tragic murders. Timothy Egan presents the story of The Worst Hard Time in chronological order while inter-cutting modern day reminiscences from survivors – drawing the reader into the devastating emotional consequences.  Mark Bowden recreates the battle of Mogadishu in Black Hawk Down using a narrative that splices together the stories of various individuals in different locations during the combat – keeping the tension high and taking the reader on an action-packed ride.

Robert Evans opens his memoir, The Kid Stays In The Picture, with a compelling scene depicting the premiere of the film “The Godfather” and the end of his marriage to Ali McGraw (the reader is hooked, “Why did his famous wife leave him?  How did he convince Kissinger to attend the premiere the night before a secret mission to Moscow?”), then jumps back in time taking the reader on a journey through his childhood days in New York to his adventurous ups and downs in Hollywood.

How do you determine the best frame for your narrative nonfiction?

1. Read creative nonfiction.  Study how other nonfiction authors arrange their narrative and analyze why it works.
2. Know the story you want to tell.  Set up the elements to serve the narrative.
3. Eliminate unnecessary information (just because you spent months collecting all that research doesn’t mean every little detail should be presented in the book.)
4. Determine your beginning and ending.  What is the most interesting incident you can use to open the story that will keep the reader engaged?  This will most likely revolve around a major action, conflict or resolution.
5. Determine the timeframe of the story you will tell – one week, two days, twenty years.  Will your biography of Lincoln examine the Civil War years, his early years leading to his presidency, or the two weeks prior to his assassination?  Focus on a period of time that allows you to explore your subject and theme in depth.