Non-fiction short stories use fictional techniques to tell true stories. Confessions are true accounts of moral dilemmas, personal essays relate personal experiences, and anecdotes are short, often humorous, stories with a moral.
Non-fiction short stories are true stories that are firmly based in fact but use the same styles and techniques used in fictional short stories. Also called narrative nonfiction short stories or literary nonfiction short stories, nonfiction short stories attempt to be humorous while also describing events as they actually happened. The different types of nonfiction short stories include confessions, personal essays, and anecdotes. Confessions are true accounts of a moral problem or dilemma faced by the writer. In personal essays, the writer relates some personal experience or recollection to the reader, and anecdotes are very short and succinct non-fiction stories that can have humorous, heartwarming, or uplifting endings.
Confessions are non-fiction short stories in which a character faces some moral problem, conflict, or dilemma. The idea of a confession is that it is a true account of a real situation or event experienced by the writer. A confession often involves a character having to make an uncomfortable decision, such as deciding whether to cheat on a spouse, leave an abusive relationship, or rob an employer due to a desperate financial situation. This type of non-fiction tale can also be about a character making a questionable choice and, as a result, having to deal with the consequences, even if the only consequence is their own guilt. Since the early 20th century, there have been several popular magazines that have published exclusively confessional stories.
Personal essays, also sometimes called personal narratives, are non-fiction short stories in which the writer relates some personal experience or recollection to the reader. Many essays aim to prove a point, make a persuasive argument, or state the reasons behind an opinion, but the purpose of a personal essay is simply to bring personal events back to the reader as they really happened. The writer of a personal essay tries to convey to the reader the thoughts, emotions and sensations that he experienced at that moment. A personal essay might also end with the writer explaining the lesson he has learned or the realization he has come to as a result of that experience. Personal essays have a lot in common with diary or journal entries in which a writer might describe things they experienced on a day-to-day basis, but personal essays tend to be more structured and, like fictional stories, often have a clear beginning, middle and end.
While anecdotes, like personal essays, relate some personal experience or recollection with the reader, they tend to be much shorter. Many anecdotes are only a paragraph or two long and can be funny, sad, or uplifting. Anecdotes can end with a moral, a life lesson or, in the case of humorous anecdotes, a punchline.
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