Download ArticleDownload ArticleThis article was reviewed by Gerald Posner and by How.com.vn staff writer, Aly Rusciano. Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
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So, fiction and nonfiction. What’s the deal with them? They both have “fiction” in them, so they must be the same thing, right? Well, not exactly. Fiction and nonfiction are the 2 main genres we use to tell stories, and although they have some things in common, they couldn’t be any more different. We’ve put the genres head-to-head in this article, so you can learn to tell them apart. Keep scrolling because you may just find that you're a fiction or nonfiction lover.
Things You Should Know
- If something’s make-believe, it’s fiction. If something’s real, it’s nonfiction.
- A story with real-life characters and events depicted factually is nonfiction, whereas a story that stretches the truth of a real-life event is fiction.
- Fiction and nonfiction works can be similar in tone because they can share the same literary devices, such as similes, metaphors, imagery, and more.
Steps
Expert Q&A
Tips
- There are multiple subgenres of fiction and nonfiction, but the same rules apply: if something’s real, it’s nonfiction; if something’s made up, it’s fiction.Thanks
- If you watch a movie or read a book that says “based on true events,” it doesn’t mean it’s a work of nonfiction. It simply explains that the writer was inspired by something that happened in real life and stretched the truth to fit their narrative.Thanks
References
- ↑ https://www.jstor.org/stable/429900
- ↑ https://www.britannica.com/art/fiction-literature
- ↑ https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Literature_and_Literacy/Writing_and_Critical_Thinking_Through_Literature_(Ringo_and_Kashyap)/04%3A_About_Fiction-_Short_Stories_and_the_Novel/4.01%3A_What_is_Fiction
- ↑ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/non-fiction
- ↑ https://youtu.be/OZdd5i9qGZk?t=235
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