If
your book is fiction, how could you change it to make it a nonfiction book? If
your book is nonfiction, what could you do to turn it into a story?
This is a very interesting topic and
I’ll be interested in reading all responses to this.
There are many forms and sub-genres
of nonfiction, ranging from reference books to instructional manuals and
everything in between. Some nonfiction books tell a story, as in speculative
and creative nonfiction, where the author, in good faith, assumes
responsibility for the truth or accuracy of the people, information and events
presented. Fiction contrasts with nonfiction by dealing in information, events,
and characters expected to be partly or largely imaginary.
Unless a book of fiction has been
written, based on real people, time and place, with details altered to
avoid identification, I can’t see how it can ever be anything but a work of
fiction. On the other hand, the mark of any good writer is to write a work of
fiction that reads as fact, The CelestineProphecy is one example of this where readers were convinced it was truth with
followers of the principle and groups popping up all over the world.
Turning nonfiction into fiction
is relatively easy, changing names, blurring dates and other identifying information
and weaving story lines through known fact. An example of this is The Butterfly Stalker, by Robyn Friend,
in which factual history has been woven into fiction to a point the reader can
only speculate on vague similarities in a well-crafted plot line.
How to turn nonfiction into
fiction is a question that is often asked in workshops I run, particularly from
those writing memoir or life stories who understand that while a life story may
be written from their own perspective, it remains a story that often belongs to
more than one person. There are also those who don’t want to use names of
living people or to leave themselves open to litigation. My advice is to focus
on the event/s rather than the individuals and to write this write this in the
same manner as a work of fiction, changing the names of characters and other potentially
identifying material.
Hi, Merlene -
ReplyDeleteI think you're absolutely correct about the vast number of subgenres when it comes to nonfiction. I'm thinking, however, that when it comes to nonficionalizing fiction, it would be far more difficult for the author of fantastical stories - like those about werewolves and aliens - than stories that are based in reality.
I look forward to reading all the others' responses to this prompt!
Laura (aka Marcie Brock)
My fiction is non fiction most of the time....... that's why I warn people not to mess with or I'll put them into one of my stories!
ReplyDeleteTerry