Nonfiction is an important genre of prose that is extremely underrated. When one hears the word nonfiction, most think of the academic essays they were forced to write in high school, college, and/or university, but there are many famous writers who have written acclaimed and excellent nonfiction, including E.B. White and Virginia Woolf, that were anything but boring.

Nonfiction writing, technically, is everywhere. Everything from the dictionary on your bookshelf to the pancake recipe on your kitchen counter, are, by definition, nonfiction. What you're reading right now, in fact, is nonfiction. But there are other forms of nonfiction that are even more pervasive, such as the articles you read in the morning newspaper. Still don't think nonfiction is important? Consider this: the critiques people leave you on your works of art are also forms of nonfiction.

Some people who favour reading fiction do not even realize the value of nonfiction writing. Have you noticed that nearly every novel you read has an introduction at the beginning? How often do you read it? Most of the time, those introductions tell you a bit about the author as well as what inspired he or she to write the story. This information can greatly enhance your appreciation of the novel.

My favourite novel at the moment is Margaret Laurence's "The Stone Angel." The novel's narrator is Hagar, a cantankerous old woman in declining mental and physical states, who reflects back on her life, uncovering the truth of her character in the process. The novel's themes are thickly interwoven into a wonderfully unique and emotional novel. I loved the novel instantly. Afterwards, I flipped back to the beginning and read the introduction (I usually read it after in case the introduction provides any "spoilers"), discovering that Laurence, who was getting on in age herself, actually committed suicide shortly after publishing the novel. This knowledge added a level of depth to my appreciation of the novel because of its sad irony. It made Hagar’s character that much more real.

Nonfiction is a truly important genre of writing that is growing in significance on a daily basis. People today are even more fascinated than ever in true stories, which is one of the reasons reality TV has become so popular. The reason for this new fascination is simple: readers want to know how real people think and act, rather than reading contrived examples of preset conditions.

So, what is nonfiction? Some would say that nonfiction is writing that tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Others would say that nonfiction simply relates the facts. But these definitions, while partially accurate, do not capture nonfiction’s entire essence. While it is true that nonfiction writers should never deliberately mislead a reader, there are three factors inherent in nonfiction that affect this condition: memory, perception, and creativity.

A writer’s memory will greatly affect how they write nonfiction. While many writers maintain writing journals to jot down potential writing notes, not ever detail can be captured. So, when a writer returns to a place in their memory, some details will be lost, altered, or improvised as a result. For example, if a writer wants to include dialogue in their piece of nonfiction, there is a very good chance they will not remember everything word for word. In such cases, some parts of the dialogue will need to be included even though it may have been stated differently or not at all. It all depends on the writer’s memory of the conversation. What keeps a piece from becoming fiction is whether or not something is deliberately misconstrued for the sake of changing how the events really unfolded. A nonfiction writer never intentionally changes the facts to suit their own means.

Perception is, perhaps, the most obvious factor that influences nonfiction. Everybody perceives the world differently based on their own unique understandings of the world, such as the religious or political beliefs, their culture, family, and other individual experiences. The same event can be interpreted in dozens of ways without anybody telling a lie. It’s all about individual perception. Again, however, it is about the intent of the writer. Are the facts being deliberately altered? Imagine this: Dave is crafting an essay about his disastrous first day of high school, where he got in a fight with an older student named Jack. Dave remembers the events clearly: Jack started throwing insults, his friends started laughing, and Dave started to lose his temper. Dave remembers feeling threatened by the senior student because of Jack’s superior size and the presence of his friends. Dave truly thought he was in danger of being beat up, so he threw the first punch. All of these points are honest and can be included in the story without making it fiction; whether or not Jack truly intended on attacking is irrelevant. But, if Dave were to write that “he came towards me, ready to throw a punch,” when Dave knows no such action was taken, he has now fictionalized the story. He altered the facts to make his action sound like self-defense. The story would no longer be nonfiction.

Creativity is still very much a factor in nonfiction writing. Most people who equate nonfiction writing with academic essays think nonfiction cannot be fun to read or write, but these people are missing out of the literature world known as creative nonfiction. With creative nonfiction, the craft is important. A creative essay is not a relation of facts in chronological order, unless, of course, you want it to be; rather, nonfiction writers take certain liberties with essays that others don’t even realize. Nonfiction writers relying on creativity will take personal experiences and write about them in a way nobody expects. For example, Bernard Cooper, in “The Fine Art of Sighing,” developed members of his family into fascinating characters simply by describing how they each did something small and seemingly insignificant: sighing. Cooper describes each sigh in detail, pointing out how certain sounds or accompanying gestures tell a story about that individual. In truth, there is no limit to what a nonfiction writer can do as long as they are being true to their knowledge of events. Honesty is the only rule in nonfiction.

So, think you’re ready to give nonfiction a try? Great! I would like to direct you, then, to the brand new Nonfiction Nook over at ProsePlease. You will find a few writing prompts there to help you get started. I look forward to seeing what you submit!