CNF Module 5 Students

NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY
Integrated Basic Education Department

Senior High School
Lagao, General Santos City
Creative Nonfiction: Literary Essay
Quarter: Midterm Date: 2021.02.08 – 2021.02.13

Week No.: 5 21st Century Skills:
Damean’s Beat: Love of Work  Critical Thinking
NDDU’s 4Cs: ☐ Christian Leaders ☐ Computing/ICT Literacy
 Competent Professionals  Communication
☐ Community-Oriented Citizens  Creativity
 Culture-Sensitive Individuals ☐ Collaboration
Teacher/s: Adonis Z. Hornoz, MA  Cross Cultural Understanding
☐ Career and Learning Self Reliance
Online Lesson:
Topic: Structures of CNF 2
Learning Targets:
At the end of the lesson, I can:
1. show understanding on the structures of CNF by giving personal insights
2. relate the structures of CNF to prior writing experience.
References/Materials:
Powerpoint Presentation, Laptop
Bascom, T. (2013). Picturing the Personal Essay. Creative Nonfiction, (49), 6-12.
Solmerano, E. et al. (2017). Creative Writing. Manila, Philippines.
Annotation:
Module No.: 5
I. Topic: Structures of CNF 2
II. Learning Targets:
At the end of the lesson, I can:

1. discuss independently the structures of CNF according to Tim Bascom with at least 80%
accuracy
2. apply understanding of the concepts in the exercise.
2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081

III. Introduction/Review/Content:
We are done with the traditional structure of CNF. In this module, we will focus on the structures
of CNF according to Tim Bascom in his article titled Picturing the Personal Essay: A Visual Guide.
Though it is stated that the structures are writing techniques for Personal Essay, these may also be
applied in writing other types of CNF. Let us begin by reviewing the importance of structure in crafting
a CNF.
Organization of ideas is part of the writer’s creative process. This is manifested with
the writer’s technique of presenting information, ideas, and narratives in a way that best
appeals to the readers. Structure is also important since it helps readers comprehend
the text easily. Without a proper structure, the organization of ideas may be cluttered
and seem to have no direction.
Bascom is an author of autobiographical stories and memoirs. He spent

half his childhood in Kansas and the other half in East Africa. He also spent
six months in the Philippines on a college internship, later traveling to over 25
countries while working for a non-profit that provided training for writers and
editors in developing nations. He is the author of an additional collection of
essays (The Comfort Trap) and a novel (Squatters’ Rites), and his writing has
won editor’s prizes at The Missouri Review and Florida Review, being selected
for Best American Travel Writing and Best Creative Nonfiction as well as the
anthologies Law and Disorder and Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie.
Structure of CNF ( Tim Bascom )
1. Narrative with a lift
Narrative is always the common structure for CNF. We

instinctively turn to chronology as a way to recreate the past, putting
our lives into a neat moment-by-moment order. Beware, though. The
march of time can be methodical—first this, then this, then this. If
unrelieved, it becomes the ticking clock in the jail or, worse, the flat
line of death. Savvy essayists, as a result, twist their chronology,
beginning at the end or breaking to a moment in the past, even
weaving together several timelines. More crucial, though, is their use
of tension, which changes the flat line of chronology into a rising
line—a plot. Such tension forces the reader into a climb, muscles contracting. It raises
anticipation. Will we reach the top? And what will we see from there?
Narrative essays keep us engaged because we want answers to such questions. The tension
begs for resolution. We keep on reading unless the writer stops stair-stepping upward toward
the critical moment when change becomes necessary. If she flatlines on an emotional plateau,
not raising the tension, then we are likely to lose interest and walk away.
2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081

2. The whorl of reflection
Phillip Lopate describes how reflective essayists tend to circle a

subject, “wheeling and diving like a hawk.” Unlike academic scholars, they
don’t begin with a thesis and aim, arrow-like, at a pre-determined bull’s-
eye. Instead, they meander around their subject until arriving, often to the
side of what was expected.
One of the benefits of such a circling approach is that it seems more
organic, just like the mind’s creative process. It also allows for a wider
variety of perspectives—illuminating the subject from multiple angles.
3. The formal limits of focus
CNF deletes unnecessary information and details which may no

longer be needed. One helpful way to understand this principle of
deletion is to think of the essayist looking through a viewfinder to limit
the reader’s focus. The act of framing a selected portion of raw
experience from the chronological mess we call “life” fundamentally
limits the reader’s attention to a manageable time and place, excluding
all events that are not integrally related. What appears in the written
“picture,” like any good painting, has wholeness because the essayist
was disciplined enough to remove everything else.
4. Dipping into the well
Our attention to thematic unity brings up one more important

dynamic in most personal essays. Not only do we have a horizontal
movement through time, but there is also a vertical descent into
meaning. As a result, essayists will often pause the forward motion to
dip into a thematic well.
5. Braided and layered structures
Many essays, for instance, are braided, weaving together two or

more strands of story line in an interactive fashion. Judith Ortiz
Cofer, in her personal meditation “Silent Dancing,” creates a
particularly revelatory braid from two strands: a home movie
juxtaposed against her own memories of childhood as a Puerto
Rican in New Jersey. To help the reader with transitions, she
brackets the home movie with white space, putting the text into italics. We look at the italicized
home movie for a while, then her memories, then the movie, and so on, letting one strand surface
while the other is momentarily submerged.
2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081

6. Coming Full Circle
Regardless of form, all essays must end, which raises a final worthwhile
question: how to bring closure? First, endings are related to beginnings.
That is why many essays seem to circle back to where they began. It is the
writer’s strategy to open the essay with a scene and ends by returning into
the scene.
However, some other writers consider mimicking

life which is never completely complete. In real life,
there is always an “and then,” even if it comes after death. So, the best
conclusions open a bit at the end, suggesting the presence of the future.
Now that we are done with the structures of CNF, we can start with planning for our CNF
Manuscript!
IV. Check your Understanding:

Instruction: Choose the letter of the correct answer.
1. Diana is writing a personal essay about her experience during the first day of school. What
structure is appropriate if her intention is to end the story by going back to how it is started?
A. Braided and Layered structures
B. Coming full circle
C. Dipping into the well
D. Formal limits of focus
2. What structure suggests that CNF must avoid flatlines to retain readers interest?
A. Braided and layered structures
C. Narrative with a lift
D. Whorl of reflection
3. Which among the following must be used if the writer intends to put depth in certain areas of
the narrative?
B. Dipping into the well
C. Narrative with a lift
D. Whorl of reflection
4. What structure is used when it is observed that the essay utilizes two stories, one from the
past and the other from the present which are intervening but form unity in theme?
C. Formal limits of focus
D. Narrative with a lift
5. Noel realized that the ideas in his essay seem cluttered. He plans to shorten his essay by
removing some details and unimportant events. What structure best reflects the scenario?
2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081
A. Coming full circle
B. Dipping into the well
C. Formal limits of focus
D. Narrative with a lift
Answer Key:
1. B
2. C
3. B
4. A
5. C
V. Enrichment:
Instruction: Look for a subject to write about related to your travel experience. You may write about
the people you encounter, your experience with the place, traveling moment, culture,
and anything related to your travel experience. Make an outline and state the desired
structure.
Criteria: Presentation of ideas 30

Writing Mechanics 20
VI. References/Materials:
Powerpoint Presentation, Laptop
Bascom, T. (2013). Picturing the Personal Essay. Creative Nonfiction, (49), 6-12.
Solmerano, E. et al. (2017). Creative Writing. Manila, Philippines.
2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081

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NOTRE DAME OF DADIANGAS UNIVERSITY

Integrated Basic Education Department

Creative Nonfiction: Literary Essay

Quarter: Midterm Date: 2021.02.08 – 2021.02.13

Powerpoint Presentation, Laptop

Solmerano, E. et al. (2017). Creative Writing. Manila, Philippines.

At the end of the lesson, I can:

2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081

Bascom is an author of autobiographical stories and memoirs. He spent

Structure of CNF ( Tim Bascom )

1. Narrative with a lift

Narrative is always the common structure for CNF. We

2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081

Phillip Lopate describes how reflective essayists tend to circle a

3. The formal limits of focus

CNF deletes unnecessary information and details which may no

4. Dipping into the well

Our attention to thematic unity brings up one more important

5. Braided and layered structures

Many essays, for instance, are braided, weaving together two or

2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081

However, some other writers consider mimicking

IV. Check your Understanding:

Criteria: Presentation of ideas 30

Powerpoint Presentation, Laptop

Solmerano, E. et al. (2017). Creative Writing. Manila, Philippines.

2021.02.07 1:09:34 PM NDDU-IBED-F-081

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