Creative nonfiction is a form of creative analytic
practice in qualitative research (i.e., an overarching
term representing different kinds of writing) (Smith,
McGannon, & Williams, 2016). Creative nonfiction has
origins in creative analytical practices (CAP) within the
social sciences, which is an overarching term used to
represent different forms of ‘writing up’ qualitative
research to highlight the complexity of lived experience
in engaging and evocative ways (see Richardson,
2000). Creative nonfiction is also a reflexive writing
practice (i.e., awareness of one’s own identities during
the write-up process) whereby techniques such as emotional
tone, character development, and plot (e.g., tension
is built through flashbacks) are used with data
(e.g., interviews, focus groups, field notes) to construct
a fictionalized story.
Creative nonfiction contrasts with ‘realist tales,’
which leave researchers outside the text, rely on extensive
excerpts of edited data (e.g., interview quotes), and
a tight theoretical account of the data is given. Aligning
with a social constructionist conception of identity/
experience, creative nonfiction allows for the presentation
of complex themes grounded in research data and
real life socio-cultural contexts in an engaging story format that evokes emotion and empathy from readers.
Creative nonfiction is thus a useful device to raise
awareness of social justice issues within sport psychology,
which can be linked cultural praxis in sport psychology.
The goal of cultural praxis is to blend theory,
lived culture, and social action to understand cultural
identities as fluid and socially constructed within social interaction and discourse (Ryba & Wright, 2005).
