In literature and writing, there are many genres that sometimes we do face some hardship to differentiate between them, in this article, we will shed light on two genres only: fiction and nonfiction.
So what do we mean by fiction writing and nonfiction writing?
Fiction can be defined as something that is not true, a story that has nothing to do with
reality, a story where you can find imaginary characters, places, events,.. etc, like Peter Pan,
Mr. Wonka chocolate factory, and many more. Fiction is fabricated and coming from only one place: the author's imagination, yet the whole story can be inspired by a true story/event and even contain some real elements like places.
Fiction genres include myths, crime thrillers, fairy tales, science fiction, dystopia, and
romance novels.
And as an example of fiction books we have: Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Frankenstein, Harry Potter series, Moby Dick, Where the Wild Things Are, the lord of kings, the handmade's tale, and many more. And for nonfiction, is a story based on true events and information that shall be verifiable, and nothing is made up by the author, and the more facts are included the more credibility the book receives. And the greatest example for nonfiction writing is biographies that tell someone's factual life where real characters, real places, and real events only take place in the book.
Nonfiction genres include biographies, autobiographies, cookbooks, travel guides, history
books, self-help books,...etc.
And as an example of nonfiction books we have: A brief history of time, I know why the
the caged bird sings, Out of Africa, Alexander Hamilton, Dreams from my father, How to win friends and influence people, and many more.
And between fiction and nonfiction, we find a genre that combines both: creative
nonfiction.
We talk about creative nonfiction writing when the author calls his imagination to tell facts, in the story you will find events that actually happened combined and associated with some
imaginary elements, for example, memoirs and narrative journalism as Unfinished, Eat, pray and love, Night and Into the wild.
Nowadays the gap between fiction and nonfiction writing has become smaller than before,
many nonfiction authors are using imagination and creativity to make their stories more
interesting and attractive for the writer of today. And for me as a writer, I prefer creative
nonfiction writing for it allows me to use both my imagination and factual events. And you,
which genre you prefer the most?