Should i write fiction or nonfiction

One does not have to be the aforementioned Dickens to know that in fiction writing, that failure to write distinctive characters with distinctive voices simply does not fly. I have studied and worked with people for decades, coaching them to change their minds and their behaviors, and I know that I have a great understanding of what makes a variety of people tick.

But all of that knowledge and all of that understanding and compassion apparently only go so far. I can create a backstory and develop a universe in which a character could realistically exist. I know drama and timing and pacing and all the things that work in great books. What I cannot seem to do is write dialogue and action that makes one character stand out from another: I cannot translate my knowledge of human behavior and psyche into distinguishable humans on the page.

At first I felt depressed. I knew I had a choice to make: I could dedicate myself to honing my craft, learning how to get voices other than my own to appear on the page.

I could take classes and read tutorials and join a novel-writing feedback group and get all manner of help and direction. I could work really, really, really hard and hope that it fixed these problems. I still believe in Anni and the entire arc and content of her story. It's in these genres that my voice is allowed to come through.

Sara Hauber has spent more than forty years resisting labels. Since , Sara has blogged at Sara Hauber. While Sara's post highlights an interesting situation that I'd never thought about before - I apparently have no trouble getting into the heads of made up people!

It's also, of course, perfectly fine to want to write both like I do! For some people it will never cross their mind to write about anything other than themselves or a real life event or person, while others will only ever want to get lost in a fictional world. Both are equally wonderful and brilliant creative outlets and there is no shame in figuring out over many years like Sara if one form is more well suited to you, or perhaps more likely, that one form is really not your cup of tea.

Of course, it is also completely fine - incredibly fortunate, in fact - if you want and do write both, but if you often feel a bit confused or conflicted about which one could be your strongest mode of writing, or perhaps which one you would enjoy more, read on for tips so you can give this some thought.

It should go without saying that what you enjoy reading doesn't necessarily dictate what you write, but there is some logic to this being true for some or on occasion for all. My preferred reading choices are often closely aligned to the stories I like to write.

It goes without saying that I aspire to write more like many writers I admire of fiction and non-fiction , and needless to say when you enjoy reading one way or another, it will very likely follow that you will enjoy writing that way too.

There is no shame in writing what you LOVE to write, rather than what you think may sell, or what may be easier to write. How easy things are or how hard is relative only to you as the writer, and let me tell you that in almost all cases, if you enjoy what you are writing it will be an easier, more productive and personally profitable experience and possibly financially too. If you write to escape or to feel, think or experience something different, then it's possible but not definitively a conclusion that you will enjoy writing fiction.

If you write to document, to process, or to share a real experience, feeling or event then it's possible that you will prefer writing non-fiction. Again, this is not black and white. I have always kept a diary in one form or another notebook after notebook of my most personal secrets as a teenager, later a blog and Instagram, and now a five year diary in which I am helpfully limited to just a few lines per day , but I've never taken this to journalling or scrap-booking levels of commitment.

By the same token I've always enjoyed making up stories and people. In fact, I find making up people and writing in different voices the easiest of all, unlike Sara above. When I write fiction I am often led by a strong sense of a person or people I want to write about just as much as I am intrigued by an idea or a topic that I build a story around.

On the other hand, I am very jealous of those who have a strong sense of who they are as a writer, and will always write in a style that is so definitively them. Even my non-fiction has different styles, tones and voices, I find; another sign that I am an author of fiction, perhaps!? Next time you write something - fiction or non-fiction - take a moment during or after to ask yourself what did I enjoy most writing that? At what point did I get lost or experience flow for me it's often when writing conversations between characters?

Just as important is asking what you didn't enjoy, as this could be just as telling, if not more so! I went through the first, confusing years as a teenager all but alone. But the question is: should I write the stories from this period of my life as non-fiction or channel them into my fiction?

Some of the best writers either got their start writing journalism and memoir. More people read short, non-fiction stories than short, fiction stories, and newspapers, magazines, and public radio all purchase stories like these regularly. Not only are there very few publications that pay for short-fiction most pay with copies of the magazine , the ones who do often pay less for short-fiction. At the same time, rather than writing directly about their personal experiences, many of the best fiction authors channel those experiences into their novels.

The novel was so true to life that members of his family who felt betrayed would picket book signings. While non-fiction might pay better initially, fiction writers are the ones who go down in history. We remember him for his novels and Animal Farm. You need to write the book of your heart.

You have to. Why would you do this otherwise? Writing is not a get rich quick scheme. You write because you can't not write. You love it. You love reading. You love words. You just want to do this, and even if it never makes any money, you're going to do it anyway. That's where I think we all start, where I certainly started.

I wrote the book of my heart, which became Career Change , a non-fiction book about finding work that you love which really reflected my journey at the time. So that was the book of my heart. My first novel, Pentecost , that became Stone of Fire , was a book of my heart and I never really expected much to happen.

I certainly never expected to be making considerable income from fiction years later. But this is the point — it's years later. What do you love reading? Is it acceptable to rewrite dialogue from memory, without transcripts or recordings?

Memory is, by nature, not reliable. And we know this. So are we willing to accept someone recounting their memories as fact? Often, recounting memories is the only way to get the facts about a certain situation.

Not everything that has ever happened has been recorded, so having someone who was present recount the story is the only way to learn the details. However, a good nonfiction writer will usually acquire accounts from multiple sources whenever possible, cross-check those accounts with objective facts, and record the accounts by tape or with notes.

These days nonfiction almost always requires fact-checking, which is the rigorous process of double-checking that the, well, facts are actually true. This means keeping an audio or written record of your information is vital for a nonfiction writer. Ask yourself these questions about your writing:.

If the answer to even one of these questions is YES, then you should either remove the material that was flagged by these questions, or you should call your work fiction. Sure, it can be a fictionalized account of a real-life story. Learn more about submitting creative nonfiction and how to stay out of trouble here. Question: What other gray areas can you think of between fiction and nonfiction? With fiction, the author makes the facts fit the story.

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