Portal features four different literary genres—Fiction, Script, Poetry, and Creative Non-fiction. While I imagine just about everyone is familiar with the first three, creative non-fiction is a bit of an enigma. I know I hadn’t heard of it until I entered university. I’ve even met published authors who weren’t quite sure if their work was fiction or creative non-fiction, so what’s a student to do?
Of course there are always authors and stories that bend and blend genres, but generally we define creative non-fiction as non-fiction that uses devices from fiction writing—scenes, description, dialogue, and point-of-view. It is not a mostly true story with an entirely made up character or event thrown in; although authors might have to be a bit creative when writing dialogue that happened in their childhoods. True stories fascinate us with their relatability and resonance, and everyone loves a well-told tale, so the genre combines the best of both worlds.
We are natural storytellers and creative non-fiction reflects this. We look for meaning in the events of our lives, tying them together into narratives that explain where we came from, where we’re going, and who we are. Facts can be useful and interesting, but they often have trouble conveying the emotive truths that we live with every day, and which stories make “truer.”
This year Portal has a fantastic selection of creative non-fiction. Whether it’s the history of a city landmark, a visit to a place marked by incalculable tragedy, a childhood summer charmingly remembered, the tale of a growing obsession with wool, or the recollection of a single stunning moment in time, these stories have humour, sorrow, and surprises. They use the best techniques of writing to bring to life real times, real places, and real people—and that’s creative non-fiction.
Lua Boschman, Non-fiction Editor
Quota Reached
When I first enrolled into the Publishing Workshop, I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be another one of those Creative Writing workshopping classes, and the final ‘published project’ was a graded project and nothing more. Now I have to admit that, the first time I ever saw an issue of Portal magazine was the very first day of class when the 2012 issue was passed around. I knew that it was now up to my 19 or so classmates to create a magazine more amazing than the last one. We succeeded. This year’s issue of Portal is outstanding, and I’m so proud to have been apart of the publishing team behind it.
I took on the role of the Advertising Manager. My responsibility was to make sure ads were sold, invoices were collected, and payment was received, as well as making sure all the ads were the correct size within the magazine and all ads were accounted for. Now, some would say ads in a literary magazine would taint its pages. Most literary magazines don’t have advertisements, but unfortunately our budget didn’t afford us that luxury. Along with Brendan, our Business Manager, and with the help of several other members of the Portal 2013 team, we collected enough advertisements to meet our quota. Although there were less ads collected for this years issue—some would say that is a positive, as less pages contain advertisements—it was an extremely rewarding experience. I am so proud to be part of the Portal 2013 team and I’m looking forward to seeing the final product we all worked so hard to complete. Thanks to everyone who was involved. It was a huge success.
Javan Johnson, Advertising Manager