Jane Genova interviews none other than the godfather of Creative Nonfiction, Lee Gutkind, about creative nonfiction and his journal, which is titled (guess what), Creative Nonfiction (which would be a great publishing outlet for many of you, no?)

Jane Genova:

For months after I had seen you on C-Span discussing this entity called "Creative Nonfiction," I've been trying to shoehorn myself into your schedule for an exclusive interview. Well, I finally have your undivided attention. So, let's begin.

What is Creative Nonfiction, Professor Gutkind?

Lee Gutkind:

I assume readers want the short version. Creative Nonfiction is a drilling down to the essence of storytelling. Storytelling, a primitive art, is as old as the beginning of mankind. People want to receive what's out there in the form of stories, not just facts, opinion, analysis. You might think of Creative Nonfiction as a blending of narrative and information.

Basically, Creative Nonfiction is the art of bringing to prose all the properties of storytelling: Drama, dialog, characterization, detailed descriptions, point of view, speculation about what's going on in the minds of the characters or "inner monologues." All this has long been part of poetry and fiction. Now it's part of nonfiction.

The art of Creative Nonfiction, as we see in the works of Joan Didion, Gay Talese and all those writers for VANITY FAIR, NEW YORKERS and ESQUIRE, injects the story into the information. That makes the whole package more compelling and, yes, emotionally and intellectually satisfying.

And there are two types of stories. One type is one's own story. The other type is telling the stories of others.

Thanks to this genre, writers of nonfiction can now use the tools of the reporter, the points of view and ear for dialog of a novelist, and the passion and wordplay of the poet.