Welcome to the World of Expository prose Writing

Here, The Muse Of Language Arts addresses aspects of how to write clearer, better prose, including techniques and methods to become a better writer or author.

what is expository prose writing?

The word expository is derived from a Latin word meaning to set forth, to expose, to explain. What is expository writing? What is expository prose writing?

Expository writing

Expository writing is an act of writing and a style or way of writing whose primary purpose is to expound, set fort, or explain. Also, the term refers to the materials that are produced and recorded by this writing style, such as words on paper, documents, electronic displays, or other media.

Expository prose writing; expository prose

Prose is the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.

Expository prose writing is an act of writing that serves to expound, set forth, or explain that is expressed in the manner in which prose is expressed.

The act of writing expository prose results in a kind of writing called expository prose writing. The media on which expository prose writing is recorded—paper, documents, electronic displays, etc.—are referred to as expository prose writing.

The term expository prose is a shorthand way to express the term expository prose writing. That is, expository prose writing and expository prose are interchangeable terms that mean the same thing.

NOTE:

Expository poetry or poetic writing is poetry whose primary purpose is to inform. Expository poetic writing is to be distinguished from expository prose writing mainly by virtue of the difference between poetry and prose. The primary or essential purpose of both expository prose and expository poetry is to inform, but expository poetry is written in metrical or verse form, not prose.

Because their purpose is to inform, both expository prose works and poetry works are nonfictional. This is the case even if their prose or poetry contains personal, emotional, or other subjective elements, or if it contains beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.

—tip— terminology The Muse suggests that you review the meanings of the terms you will find on this page: click here.

Kinds of expository prose works

see wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expository_writing

All are Basically there are these kinds of expository prose writing:

• Subjective vs. objective.
• Fictional vs. non-fictional.
• Creative vs. non-creative.

prose vs. poetry

 

essay is a form of what's called persuasive writing, which is a well-formed argument to convince a reader of an argument. An essay is a form of persuasive writing. (or expository writing?

 

Expository writing is very different from either fictional stories, emphasizing the use of imagination and creative powers, or persuasive writing, which depends upon a well-formed argument to convince a reader of an argument

 

Kinds of expository prose works

see wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expository_writing

Too many different kinds

By way of example, here is a list of a few of the many different kinds of expository prose works in widespread use today:

It is not our objective here to define each type of work in precise detail. In general terms, these different kinds of expository prose works can be defined and differentiated from each other by such elements as their purpose, subject area, targeted audience, useful life, prose writing style, visual format and layout, acceptable graphic and calligraphy styles, characteristic length, and other factors.

Whereas fiction consists of made-up or concocted works, nonfiction deals with or offers information, data, opinions or conjectures on facts and reality. So far, this distinction seems clear. However, the lines between these various forms of writing can sometimes blur. For example:

Manga is an art form that is the Japanese equivalent of a comic book or cartoon; it tells a story in both prose and pictures, not just in prose. A graphic novel also is graphically similar to a comic book but it tells a kind of story that is analogous to that told by a novel, although one that's not as long or complex and that lacks much character development if it has any at all. In short, a graphic novel is not literary.

If the story in a work of manga or a graphic novel is the product of the author's imagination, it's fictional; if the story is true, it is nonfictional. With works as simple as these, the question of fiction vs. non-fiction probably seems uncomplicated.

But next, consider a biography that tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Clearly, such a biography would be a work of nonfiction, if ever it existed.

But now consider a biography which omits portions of the subject's life, adds alleged facts that are false, is replete with errors, relates events that never happened, falsifies the story of events that did happen, exaggerates or lies to flatter or deprecate the biographer, or otherwise stretches and distorts the truth. At what point does such a biography become a work of nonfiction? Would such a work be better classified as a fictional biographical sketch?...a biographical novel?...a legend?

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examples of Non-Fictional (objective) expository prose works

Nonfiction writing, or nonfiction, is the branch of literature that comprises non-fictive works of writing. It includes types narrative prose works such as biographies, histories, essays, treatises, high school or college compositions, speeches, and reference works.

Nonfiction writing, or nonfiction, stands in sharp contrast to fiction. Fiction includes all kinds of writing that is fictive in character, especially fictional works in prose form but not limited to prose. Examples of prose fiction writing are novels, fairy tales, short stories, detective fiction, and various kinds of works of imaginative narration. Examples of non-prose fiction writing are poetry and drama.

Most fictional works are fundamentally the products of the creative imagination of their author, and nothing else; but it is possible for authors of fiction to base their fiction on reality. The biographical novel, which is based on real personalities or events, is an arch example of this kind of writing. Typically, the author of a biographical novel founds his work on a true story and person, whose life and times become the scaffolding or broad outline of the novel, but the author calls on his fertile imagination to fill in the details that describe the events, characters, and other aspects of the biography.

Although fictional works such as biographical novels can be based on fact, all works of fiction are imagined or created by their authors. Irving Stone's commercially successful biographical novel, The Agony and the Ecstasy, which purports to describe the life and work of the great Renaissance sculptor-painter, Michelangelo Buonarroti, is a prime illustration of how far it is possible for a biographical novel to digress from truth and still make a stunning impact on its readership. No one knows how many of the reading public formed serious misconceptions and distortions of the artist's life and work because they read this novel.

Can Non-Fiction Writing Be Creative?

—the nexus of exposition, nonfiction, exposition, prose, and creative writing

How are expository and creative writing related? Can expository writing be fictional? Can non-fiction writing be creative? Can fictional writing be expository?

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Send the Muse Of Language Arts your original Prose Non-Fiction work

Have you written an original prose, non-fiction piece that The Muse Of Language Arts can publish? Want to write a new prose, non-fiction work on a topic of your own choosing?

Everyone is invited to publish an original expository prose creation at the feature called Publish Your Essay. You don't have to be a professional writer or adult; your work doesn't have to be a masterpiece. You don't have to meet any qualifications except that you are a visitor to Electricka's web site who likes to write non-fiction prose. You may even submit someone else's original work with their permission provided you have both collaborated in writing it.

• Find out how at the page called Publish Your Essay: click here.

send the muse of language arts your original essay on the subject Why Write?

People have been writing and reading since Mesopotamia. Why?

To help uncover why people write, The Muse Of Language Arts has extended a permanent invitation to visitors to Electricka's web site to send original essays addressing this topic. The Muse has declared Why Write? a ByLine feature.

The essays titled Why Write? you see in the Essays list, above, have been written by visitors in response to this invitation. Your essay could be added to this list.

Learn more about The Muse's invitation by visiting the feature called Why Write?

• Visit The Muse Of Language Arts' essay called Why Write?—Essays by Visitors: click here.

resources for writers and authors

The Muse Of Language Arts is pleased to offer visitors a collection of resources for authors and writers who seek to develop their writing skills.

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professional writing and documentation services

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Technical Aspects Of Literature

The technical aspects of any written work are its properties and techniques as seen from a literary and language perspective.

All writing incorporates and is made up of technical elements like meter, form, sound (rhyme), and figures of speech. Techniques and language elements like these are common to all fields of writing; all writers use them, deliberately or subconsciously. Any particular work can by analyzed, understood, described, and classified by the combination of the writing elements it incorporates.

In this feature, The Muse Of Literature explores writing and writings from a technical and design point of view—structure, organization, tone, style, language constructions, and all the other technical aspects that make for coherent, expressive, and effective writing, or its opposite.

• Explore The Muse Of Literature's feature called Technical Aspects of Literature: click here.

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