Creating nonfiction

Having recently sold my book, FLY WITH THE MOURNING DOVE, which is a work of creative nonfiction, I’ve had several questions about the genre. Then last week I was asked to write an article for Storyteller Magazine on Writing Creative Nonfiction. The term would at first appear to be a misnomer or oxymoron, and most especially upsets purists of nonfiction. As nonfiction means true how can we be creative with the truth? It is there, pure and simple.
About ten years ago, this genre known as creative nonfiction came into being with journalists who began to immerse themselves into their feature (not news) articles. Known as immersion journalism, it caught on quickly with readers who felt they were being taken along with the writer into the story. They felt involved in this show don’t tell style of nonfiction or journalism. It soon earned the tag of immersion journalism. It wasn’t long before authors of nonfiction books took up the genre.
My first nonfiction book, WANDERING IN THE SHADOWS OF TIME, published in 1994 and still available on Amazon, is such a book, though I wasn’t aware of it at the time. I must have been poised on the cusp.People still tell me it is the best book I’ve ever written. In a way that’s bothersome because it would be nice to improve as I go along. However, I feel like the fiction I’ve written is not under consideration by those readers. At least, I certainly hope that’s the case.
Google Lee Gutkind for information on this subject. He’s known as the godfather of creative non fiction.