What’s the Difference Between Fiction and Non-Fiction (and can novels be either?)
Let’s get back to basics
I was speaking on a networking panel last year and was introduced in an awkward way. Before the panel, I’d told the chairwoman a bit about the background of my work – I was a non-fiction author and content writer. All good, I thought. When it came to my section of the talk though:
‘Next up we have Kit, a novelist and….’
Oh no.
I was so taken aback by this mistake, one that had absolutely never occurred to me, that I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to embarrass her by beginning my speech with a correction. So, in a moment of panic, I just thanked her and talked about what I’d come there to talk about, my non-fiction work. Whether the audience thought that I was also a novelist, went away questioning their own knowledge of what that word meant or weren’t even listening to begin with, I’ll never know.
But it did occur to me that it’s dangerous to assume that everyone knows and understands what one might deem to be pretty basic. This realisation was compounded recently by the French lessons I’m taking. I often look up French words, think I understand them, then ask my teacher to clarify only to be told that they’re far more nuanced than I thought.
