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To start with I am going to share my assumption with you.
I assume you already know the answer to the question of ‘what is the difference between fiction and nonfiction?’ in the back of your mind.
But what I believe is that you either want your idea verified or want to read it in an articulated form which is why you clicked on the link to this article.
So, let me tell you that fiction is the work generated from the author’s imagination which may or may not get inspired by real incidences, people, or events whereas non-fiction is the work that brings forth the truth and facts on a subject, events, life, or people.
And if you ask me, is nonfiction real? Then yes it is real and is fiction real? Then no, it’s not.
Doesn’t matter if people say that the line of difference between fiction and nonfiction has turned thin but the fundamental difference between fiction and nonfiction will never change.
Now since we have already started a conversation about fiction vs nonfiction, why not go into a little bit of detail.
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What is Fiction?
Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the meaning of fiction as ‘something which can be imagined or feigned’.
A good way to understand the meaning of fiction is to look at the mediums that represent it.
Novels are the first medium that comes to my mind whenever I hear the word fiction.
The story, the plot, the characters, the events which you read in a novel are born from the novelist’s imagination.
Although, the imagination of the novelists, many a time, derives its inspiration from their observation of reality.
Read More : Difference between novels and books
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Dan Brown set much of his first novel Digital Fortress in Seville where he indeed studied in 1985.
In his novels such as The Da Vinci Code, Inferno, Angels and Demons, you will find references to many real-life cities and monuments.
Jane Austen took inspiration from her brother Francis - an admiral in the Navy - for many of her characters in her novels such as Mansfield Park and Persuasion.
Apart from novels, fiction is also channeled to audiences through mediums such as theatrical performances, movies, comic books, operas, puppetry, short stories, and fables.
If you think about any of these mediums you would automatically associate creativity and imagination with them.
When it comes to books, fiction can further be classified into the following 3 types -
Genre fiction - The fiction written by the author with an intent to fall in a particular genre such as crime, science fiction, horror, historical fiction, mystery. Examples of fiction in the ‘Genre fiction’ category include ‘The Book Thief’, The Martian, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc.
Literary fiction - You can think of literary fiction as the work that can be discussed or taught in class. The fiction that has a little bit of academic touch to it is literary fiction. Although the category has sprung up recently it does overlap with genre fiction. Examples of literary fiction include To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, Be Loved by Toni Morrison.
Realistic fiction - When the author sets the backdrop of the plot in the real-life world, places, events then such fiction is realistic fiction. Examples include Looking For Alaska, The Fault in our Stars by John Green.
Speculative fiction - Speculative fiction refers to the setting which is a completely imaginary place or time. Few of the novels from the SciFi genre such as The Martian and The Time Machine find their place in this category as well.
Read More : Difference between graphic novels and comic books
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What is Non fiction?
Non-fiction work is basically about presenting facts, truth, history, events with transparency, accuracy, lucidity, and directness.
Scientists, economists, millionaires, billionaires, ace investors prefer reading nonfiction over fiction as nonfiction types provide valuable information that helps them build their knowledge base and in turn succeed.
Letters, Academic papers, biographies, autobiographies, textbooks, instruction manuals, journals, memoirs, essays, cookbooks, travel books are a few channels or types using which non-fiction content is presented to the readers.
Classic examples of nonfiction books include Sapiens: A brief history of mankind, A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking, Into The Wild by John Krakauer, The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank.
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Creative Nonfiction
A category of nonfiction that has emerged over a period of time is creative nonfiction.
Creative nonfiction is when an author presents nonfiction to his or her readers creatively.
An example of creative fiction is an article written by a journalist giving all the factual information about a person or an event but in a way that you find entertaining to read.
Travel books, autobiographies, memoirs, journals fall into the sub-category of creative nonfiction where more emphasis is given on writing the truth and the facts in an accurate as well as in an appealing way.
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Differences between fiction and nonfiction
You now are familiar with the definition of nonfiction and fiction which leads me to believe that your mind must have figured out the key difference between fiction and nonfiction already.
But, why not help your mind further by comparing them against each other in this final section of the article. So, here we start -
Fiction is generated from the author’s imagination. The plot, the backdrop, the setting, the characters are all imaginations of authors which help in weaving a spectacular story that is entertaining to read whereas, nonfiction is the presentation of truth, facts, and knowledge on a subject to the readers.
The events and people discussed in nonfiction are all real.
The goal of fiction content or books is to entertain the readers whereas, the purpose of nonfiction is to provide valuable knowledge about a subject, or events, or a person to the readers.
Creative nonfiction, most of the time, provides true and accurate information about a person in an entertaining way.
Fiction is mostly considered subjective which means it holds the author’s perspective, their opinions, their point of view using which they can turn the plot, and kill a character.
Nonfiction is both subjective and objective.
Well, objectivity means that the writer or the author is compelled to present the truth regardless of what their perspective or opinion towards it is.
The nature becomes both objective and subjective in the case of creative nonfiction as the author presents the accurate information tagged with his perspective or feelings which gives it a novel-like read.
A nonfiction author gives references to the sources from which he or she has gathered the information, facts, etc.
You usually find the references either in the footnotes or in the last few pages of the book whereas, you will barely find any references in a fiction book as the content is entirely out of the author’s imagination.
Types of nonfiction books are cookbooks, memoirs, biographies, technical papers, essays, self-help books, science books whereas the best type of fiction books is novels.
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Final Word
I hope you have got clarity on the differences between fiction and nonfiction.
While nonfiction is mostly recommended to gain knowledge and thus, in turn, be successful in life, readers read fiction to give themselves thrill and delight.
Both fiction and nonfiction books provide value in their own way but I would love to know which one you prefer to read?
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