Definition – Examples – How to Write
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Hello Lovelies, and welcome back to the blog. Today we’re talking about the fourth Pillar of Genre. We’re talking today about the Nonfiction genre, and specifically, about the Expository Nonfiction genre.
Expository Nonfiction Definition
Expository Nonfiction are books that attempt to explain or inform the reader about a certain topic, including what something is, who someone is, what something means, how something works, and why something is important.
Examples
- Examples of Expository Nonfiction include:
- Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons by Sarah Levine
- The Guinness Book of World Records by Guinness World Records
- Tiny Creatures: The Invisible World of Microbes by Nicola Davies
- How to Stay Alive in the Woods: A Complete Guide to Food, Shelter and Self-Preservation Anywhere by Bradford Angier
How to Write in the Expository Nonfiction Genre
So how do we approach writing Expository Nonfiction as a literary genre?
- Organize your thoughts before writing. Your typical bullet point outline is one of the best tools for nesting concepts before you start writing, and seeing where you have lots of information being conveyed, or not enough.
- Use clear and concise wording. There is no room for banter. The expository nonfiction reader is there for the information you are providing them, so get to the point.
- State the position in direct terms. Make each point absolutely clear in what you mean so that there is no room for misinterpretation.
- Open each chapter or section with a topic sentence that lets the reader know what the next few pages are going to be about.
- Support the topic sentence with further explanation and evidence. The more concrete the proof, the better the argument will be. Allow your reader to draw their own conclusion based on the evidence you’ve provided.
- End each section or chapter by linking to the next.
Next Week
Next week, we are going to continue our journey into nonfiction by taking a closer look into Descriptive Nonfiction, revisiting its definition, looking further into examples, and talking about how you might write your own Descriptive Nonfictions. The weeks following, we’ll also dive into the other Nonfiction subgenres, so you can look forward to those very soon!
Discussion Questions
- What is your favorite nonfiction book?
- Do you have a favorite type of nonfiction subgenre?
- What genre is your favorite to read in, and do you write in the same genre or a different one?
- What is the most important reason writers should be aware of genre and its conventions?
- What questions would you like to see me answer in a blog post or podcast episode?
Leave your answers in the comments section for this post!
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