Nonfiction Writing — Literary or Not?
There was a time when fiction was written one way and nonfiction another, making it easier for the reader to discern whether a work was nonfiction or fiction. However, with the growing popularity of what is called “creative nonfiction” (Chapter 19), where the techniques of fiction writing are applied to nonfiction, this is no longer the case. But as for standard nonfiction writing that applies to articles, reviews, and most nonfiction books, there is a distinctive style to writing nonfiction.
Unless writing creative nonfiction, do not employ literary techniques such as foreshadowing and symbolism. Avoid the use of dialogue unless it is completely accurate and verifiable and only in a way that would represent reporting the conversation rather than creating a scene.
Bryan Burrough, who frequently writes for Vanity Fair, distinguished fiction from nonfiction this way: “Fiction is an art. Nonfiction is construction.” While Burrough focused upon the notion that fiction writers build from their imaginations and minds and nonfiction writers were like builders of houses who gathered the lumber and nails and sheetrock and then labored to put them into place, there is another implication behind his definition which has to do with the writing style.
There has always been the idea that in writing nonfiction, so long as the rules of grammar are followed and the writing clear and comprehensible, what matters is the substance of the material. In writing fiction, however, the writing itself must be more artistic and literary to be considered fine fiction. While there remains a kernel of truth to this distinction, as you will see in surveying all the nonfiction genres, the writing of nonfiction has become anything but uniform and in some cases is just as “literary” as fiction writing.
