MY EXPERIMENTS WITH FICTION
Writing Fiction vs Writing Non-Fiction
“Fiction is the truth inside the lie”
– Stephen King
So what are the real differences between writing fiction and writing non-fiction?
Does fiction writers face entirely different challenges and difficulties than those faced by non-fiction writers? Or does both of them face the same challenges?
Which one is harder to write? Fiction or non-fiction? (That really depends on how you write, but more about that in a moment.)
I have been writing and blogging for a few years now. But in the past three years, I have written only non-fiction. However, now I feel more excited than ever to write a fiction story because I realized that it is a better and more interesting way for me to spread my ideas and thoughts. Nevertheless, stories are the way in which we have passed values and morals from generation to generation throughout the centuries.
While shifting to writing fiction, there were a few things that stood out which made it different from writing non-fiction.
- Fiction writers spend most of their time writing while non-fiction writers spend most of their time researching.
- While writing fiction, it is important to let your imagination wander. However, in non-fiction, it is better to be straightforward, precise and easily understandable.
- Fiction writers must be really good at creating the real picture of the story in the reader’s minds while non-fiction writers need to be really good at making their ideas crystal clear.
- Fiction does not need much reference material to get started, while non-fiction writers need a considerable amount of reference.
- The amount of writing to be done would be more for fiction writers than for non-fiction writers. (Comparing the average size of a non-fiction book to that of a fiction book.)
Finally, I don’t think any of them are easier than the other but the main difference was that non-fiction writers will have a lot to do apart from the writing, while most of the work for fiction writers is with the writing itself.
I have just started writing fiction, so I am not an expert in any way, but I truly believe that every writer should try writing fiction, at least for once. Because once you realize the fact that stories are a powerful medium for spreading thoughts and ideas, you can do great things with it.
This post first appeared on TheResonantVoice.com
