Comments on: What Is Nonfiction?

By: Sandra McLeod Humphrey

Sandra McLeod Humphrey — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:32:33 +0000

What a great description–I can totally buy that!

By: Marc Aronson

Marc Aronson — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:57:45 +0000

that enters a whole other genre — propaganda, ideological tract, manifesto, jeremiad — there the driving force is the position of the writer, and everything — from word choice and type face to facts and dates — is at the service of broadcasting and selling that belief

By: Ernie

Ernie — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:34:50 +0000

I think I’m on the same page as you with respect to facts-in-the-service-of-a-story and vice-versa but what about the decision that comes before the writing?

If someone puts verifiable facts in the service of a patently false story at what point would you say that it crosses the line to fiction? I’m thinking of some of current political genre which purports to be non-fiction but seems to include more spin than a 70′s disco.

Is it just bad non-fiction or has it fully crossed the line as you see it?

By: Marc Aronson

Marc Aronson — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 08:15:43 +0000

Interesting. Look fiction can be full of facts take War and Peace and that is a book that is essentially a meditation on history it means to tell us a truth about human action. But the book succeeds or fails not based on it’s count of napoleons soldiers or description of his battle formations but rather on the world Tolstoy creates within the novel. He uses facts but creates his own story. In reverse when I write a biography I use all the insight into character I can muster. I try to figure out the people I write about in the same way a novelist develops his characters. But my speculations can be challenged or tested by finding out new or contradictory information about those historical figures through research. Not by questioning my skill as a novelist.

By: Ernie

Ernie — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:41:42 +0000

Marc, I like your definition a lot but am curious as to how you weigh author intent in your definition?

For example, would you consider a work that used verifiable facts to “prove” the author’s personal convictions a work of non-fiction?

By: Hank Cochrane

Hank Cochrane — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:21:35 +0000

Yes, I understand. I didn’t mean to get all Harold Bloom on you (though I am a fan). You just got me thinking and as it turns out, the subject is richer than one might think at first glance.

By: Marc Aronson

Marc Aronson — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 07:40:48 +0000

Sure they serve different and equally valid needs. I just tried to map out a descriptive difference not a hierarchy of validity.

By: Marc Aronson

Marc Aronson — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 07:39:38 +0000

Thanks My feeling is that the issue is less dialogue versus scenes and more one of clarity and seriousness. So long as there is a very good route map allowing the reader to tell what is made up by the author and what based on research.

By: Hank Cochrane

Hank Cochrane — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 01:52:08 +0000

Excellent job delineating the differences between fiction and NF. I think you have crafted about as workable a definition as one might for. Still, I think a truly complete definition of the difference between NF and fiction must include some kind of understanding as to why both are necessary.

Broadly speaking, the reason that people craft fiction as opposed to nonfiction (and vice versa) can’t be reduced to a simple matter of preference (except in the case of individuals of course). That is, NF and Fiction aren’t simply different in how we verify the realities they depict. They also each serve separate but necessary cultural needs (not that the lines aren’t often blurred). Reporting on human events and our existential dramas is a complicated business.

By: Roberta

Roberta — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 13:02:14 +0000

Thanks for your insight into this often difficult topic. Another element, that I believe Beth is alluding to, is the increased use of creative nonfiction, particularly in biographies. Personally, I can understand why a biographer may want to create dialogue to move a story ahead in an interesting way, but when the author begins to make up events, I think it moves into the realm of historical fiction.

Wonderful topic.