Fiction vs. Nonfiction

 Getting the Best from Both Worlds.

I finished work on a book to help writers with writer’s block. The book called 
Idea Genesis was vetted with techniques discovered while teaching storytelling/filmmaking to high school and college students. I experienced about a 100 percent success rate with students struggling to create a good idea.

The Good and Bad News

During a panel event at Phoenix comic con this past June, the presentation for the book was very well received. Everyone really enjoyed the concepts & techniques used to generate great ideas quickly. I realized afterward however that there probably should have been a chapter for nonfiction writers as well.

Fiction

Fiction is imagined stories featuring characters, situations, and locations for the purpose of dramatic impact and entertainment. If done right, we live vicariously through these characters to experience the thrill and the joyride of the journey.

Genres add more to the experience by adding specific elements to the story in terms of form, style, and subject matter to appeal to a certain audience.

Fans have certain expectations that must be met when reading fantasy, romance, sci-fi, humor, or horror. The primary thing the writer must do is create interesting characters and situations leading to conflict and unique resolutions. Using 3 act structure can help pace your story and keep forward momentum.

Nonfiction

Nonfiction takes a completely different approach. The style of the writing is done to point out the truth and facts of a given example or situation. The reader is expecting to gain knowledge, inspiration, critical thing skills, and wisdom based on what you reveal.

Does nonfiction have genres too? Why yes it does. History, philosophy, biographies, self-help, science, and business are a few of the notables.

Some things to consider with nonfiction would be the usefulness of the material and the authenticity of the writing. If you are not touching on solutions to problems people are experiencing, real-world life lessons, ways to inspire, or knowledge/ tips to benefit the reader emotionally or financially you may not have much luck. Drawing from your own experiences is key to authenticity.

Best of Both Worlds

The advantage of fiction is that it doesn’t have to be based on reality, and you can build to climatic situations with the correct structure. Is this possible with nonfiction? Can you apply elements of storytelling in your work? You sure can.

Though you are dealing with facts, there is no reason not to think beginning, middle, and end, building to a climatic revelation or inspirational moment. How about writing your nonfiction with genre trappings like a mystery, action/adventure or humor? The readers are following you on your journey and hopefully, your trip is worth the ride

Some techniques that work well with nonfiction are meaningful questioning, being the devil’s advocate, listicles, do’s and don’ts, and instructional steps to achieve an objective or overcome problems. Alternately, some of these techniques when applied to fiction could help you generate more situations and scenarios for your characters.

Lessons Learned

If you are truly creative enough you can use the best of both worlds to help in whatever type of writing or genre you attempt to tackle.

• Genre conventions can help add excitement/ interest to your style/form of writing in both camps.

• Storytelling structure can help build to climatic points regardless of writing fiction or nonfiction.

• Certain nonfiction techniques can be used to generate additional situations and scenarios for your fiction writing.
  
  
• Use the best of both worlds, be creative, and have fun.

Want to generate ideas quickly with your writing? Get the Ideas Genesis ebook here.