Other works can legitimately be either fiction or Nonfiction, such as letters, magazine articles, histories, websites, speeches and travelogues. Although they are mostly either one or the other it is not uncommon for there to be a blend of both, particularly non-fiction with a dash of fiction for added spice.

Literary Nonfiction, Factual fiction, Documentary narrative, the literature of actuality. This powerful, ever-controversial genre is called by many names including Creative Nonfiction, which is definitely a growing and developing genre.

What is creative Nonfiction?

Creative Nonfiction is that branch of writing which employs literary techniques and artistic vision usually associated with fiction or poetry to report on actual persons and events.

Forms of creative Nonfiction can include essays, diaries, autobiography, biographies, magazine writing, travel writing, nature writing, science writing, histories, journalism, dramatic, true stories using scenes, dialogue, detailed descriptions and other techniques usually employed by poets and fiction writers about important subjects - from politics, to economics, to sports, to the arts and sciences, to racial relations, and family relations.

Creative Nonfiction can in fact take any form, from the letter to the list, from the biography to the memoir, from the journal to the obituary. This is a relatively recently recognized “genre” that involves writing from personal experience and/or reporting on other peoples’ experiences. The best creative non-fiction work usually involves conducting a considerable amount of research.

How does Non-Fiction differ from Fiction?

Nonfiction is fairly direct. The author of a work of Nonfiction has specific information or ideas to convey. Authors of Nonfiction generally come out and say what they have on their minds.

The distinction between fiction and Nonfiction has been blurred in recent years. Novelists (writers of fiction) have based stories on real life events and characters (Nonfiction), and historians (writers of Nonfiction) have incorporated imagined dialogue (fiction) to suggest the thoughts of historical figures. This genre effortlessly outweighs fiction in the amount that has been produced but fiction generally has a longer lasting appeal as it is designed for entertainment and even rather average fiction survives a few generations.

Every book is intended to impact its audience in a particular way. This is true for Nonfiction as well as fiction, and this fact is often forgotten by readers. I am pleased to include the genre of Nonfiction on this website as there are some excellent books to be discovered.