Why is non-fiction so much easier to write than fiction? x_X

I don't know that it is any easier to write, generally. I'm sure nonfiction writers slave away at their work as hard as novelists do. In the case of books that are extremely research-intensive, quite probably a lot of nonfiction writers work even harder.

It seems to flow more easily for you, though, so -- hey, roll with it!

Non-fiction is easier for me as well. The only part that is really hard work is doing the research. The writing, in my opinion, for non-fiction is a lot easier to do because it doesn't require any imagination. It just requires extensive research, and most writers do extensive research for fiction anyway.

The answer is simple to me.

Non-fiction takes no imaginantion. Fiction is all imagination

Non-fiction, you gather pre-recorded information to compile into a story.

Fiction, you have to make up your own information.

If a teacher says, 'I want you to research the mating habits of a frog and write 2,000 words on the subject by tomorrow'. Anyone can do that. Research.

If the teacher says, 'I want you to make up a story about the mating rituals of a Martian red sand Dodater'. Imagination.

Ken Schneider said:

The answer is simple to me.

Non-fiction takes no imaginantion. Fiction is all imagination

Non-fiction, you gather pre-recorded information to compile into a story.

Fiction, you have to make up your own information.

If a teacher says, 'I want you to research the mating habits of a frog and write 2,000 words on the subject by tomorrow'. Anyone can do that. Research.

If the teacher says, 'I want you to make up a story about the mating rituals of a Martian red sand Dodater'. Imagination.

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He took the words right out of my mouth and made them sound better.

Not that I've ever written non-fiction, so this probably doesn't mean much, but...

I would have thought fiction was easier BECAUSE you get to make things up.

With non-fiction, you have to stick to the facts. Do research. Make sure you have every verifiable fact...well, verified.

I'm naturally drawn to it because I have a God complex. I like creating worlds and not having to answer to anyone.

scarletpeaches said:

I would have thought fiction was easier BECAUSE you get to make things up.

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Says the fiction writer. Jus' sayin

With non-fiction, you have to stick to the facts. Do research. Make sure you have every verifiable fact...well, verified.

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Which is where direct quotes come in, as long as they're not overabundant. Plus, you're re-writing information that's already been written.

As for research, fiction writers do it as well, sometimes more. The author of The autobiography of King Henry VIII spent fifteen years researching before writing her fiction book. Yes, it's a fiction book. The author of CUT (poor book, by the way) spent two years researching for a book that isn't even two-hundred pages. Also, I write fantasy, but I had to spend hours and hours researching the Victorian era to make sure I got everything about the era correct. It's not considered the Victorian era in my novel because it's in an alternate universe, but the characters are very Victorian-like. Most fiction writers don't just do outlines, but they also research, and it's not just brief research either.

I'd think that non-fiction would be harder--you might have to go to college for four years or more before you're qualified to write it at all.

ChristineR said:

I'd think that non-fiction would be harder--you might have to go to college for four years or more before you're qualified to write it at all.

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That's true, but I think it'd be better if editors cared about a college degree than if they didn't. If you have a degree in creative writing, they don't give a crap, especially if your query letter doesn't reflect that degree. A degree in creative writing means nothing to them because they realize that a degree in cw doesn't make you a great writer.

sunandshadow said:

I just pounded out 2,000 words of story outline in barely more than an hour, and enjoyed doing so. Why oh why can't I write fiction like that? Why does writing the actual story have to be so full of hesitation and agonizing and questions I have to make a decision about but don't know what decision to make, until it feels like pulling teeth?

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I think it's harder...

It may be because I am meticulous with detail when it's non-fiction and it takes me even longer to look up info for whatever non-fiction topic I'm writing about (and the last non-fiction topic I wrote about was in college two years ago).

Then again, I also write historical fiction so there's still a ridiculous amount of research involved Perhaps it's not that different after all.

sunandshadow said:

I just pounded out 2,000 words of story outline in barely more than an hour, and enjoyed doing so. Why oh why can't I write fiction like that? Why does writing the actual story have to be so full of hesitation and agonizing and questions I have to make a decision about but don't know what decision to make, until it feels like pulling teeth?

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Maybe it's just you, but for me writing non-fiction is like pulling teeth. Lots of indecision over what topic to write on, then hours of research, then sweating over what angle to take, then a number of false starts.

No. Fiction is so much easier to write. It's just my imagination and I let it run.

I've always found that fiction is easier to write than non-fiction. At the very least, non-fiction takes a lot more time for me to write. In college, I used to have a formula. A research paper took me twice as long as a critical essay and a critical essay took me twice as long as a piece of fiction.

I suspect that this is related to research time. It isn't that fiction requires no research, but I find fiction tends to require less time looking up that exact passage so I can quote it or footnote it or simply reference it accurately. Fiction research tends to fall more in the realm of asking very specific questions of experts or of reading a lot of general stuff on a subject to get a feel for it.

And I don't really agree that non-fiction requires no imagination. Unless you are writing high school level papers or encyclopedia entries, then you are usually expected to have a point or a thesis to what you are writing. And that point is expected to be at least slightly different from what has been written on the subject beforehand. To say something about a subject that has never been said before or to look at it in an entirely new way requires a lot of imagination in my book -- though people prefer to call it "critical thinking".

But in the case of story outlines, I agree that they are easier to write simply because I know that no one but me is ever going to see them so I don't worry about the writing itself. If I can read it, then it is good. I don't have to worry about being eloquent.

Ken Schneider said:

Non-fiction takes no imaginantion.

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Yea, BAD non-fiction. Are you kidding me? Writing fiction is hard, but writing non-fiction isn't much easier, if you are doing it right. It's just different things are difficult. Good non-fiction is research intensive, but also, manages to bring the facts together through an interesting narrative.

In my academic work, I read a lot of dull non-fiction, and a lot of wonderful non-fiction. My favorite example is Oliver Sacks, who doesn't just throw facts on paper, but presents them in a beautiful and meaningful way. There is plenty of creativity and imagination involved in it, I am sure of it. (Another example is Jared Dimond, and there are, of course, plenty of others). Sometimes, it's a difference between a book and a text-book.

I'm sure there are plenty of non-fiction writers out there, toiling over dull facts, trying to pull them in to an interesting context, saying something like "I wish I were writing fiction, then I could just make it all up!"

Skye Jules said:

That's true, but I think it'd be better if editors cared about a college degree than if they didn't. If you have a degree in creative writing, they don't give a crap, especially if your query letter doesn't reflect that degree. A degree in creative writing means nothing to them because they realize that a degree in cw doesn't make you a great writer.

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I am not sure what you mean by "a degree in creative writing." If you mean, an undergrad degree, then you are right. Of course, an undergrad degree in anything doesn't count for much these days. However, I do believe that people with an MFA have a good track record of publication. In fact, many programs actually culminate when an MFA candidate publishes their "thesis," be it a novel, a play, or a collection of poems.

It is? I've never successfully finished a book length work of non-fiction, so to me it seems a LOT harder to write than fiction. *shrug* It takes all kinds.

Are you kidding? Non-fiction is ten-thousand times harder than fiction. Every time I've written non-fiction, I've gotten yelled at for making 90% of it up. No-one yells at me for making up my fiction.

I still maintain that a story showing people struggling to survive after a complete collapse of the world economy counts as an essay on the stimulus package. *grumble*

Skye Jules said:

That's true, but I think it'd be better if editors cared about a college degree than if they didn't. If you have a degree in creative writing, they don't give a crap, especially if your query letter doesn't reflect that degree. A degree in creative writing means nothing to them because they realize that a degree in cw doesn't make you a great writer.

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Well, it may depend on what kind of non-fiction you're talking about. Experience says a lot in journalism, I think. Good clips. Years in the business. Though I know some papers definitely prefer a J-school degree, there are those which appreciate experience as an equivalent. Actually, I'm kind of glad I landed a job at a daily before going to J-school, because I learned the job, the wages, the unstable market, the nitty and the gritty, so to speak. I learned this isn't really the market I want to stay in much longer.

I don't really think a degree means much because, well, why would it? If the writing is accurate, insightful, tight, error-free, then who cares?

I'm in college, in a job in my field, and a friend who does computer work for the court system (self-taught;dropped out of high school) makes waaay more money than I do.

But I do think writing is one of those fields where, since you produce an end result prior to getting hired, the end result speaks for itself. Degrees are sort of meaningless next to the writing itself. It may differ for, I don't know, quantum physics or some other highly-specialized field. I don't know enough about how those kinds of journals and magazines accept work to say for sure.

Nonfiction is much, much harder for me...

I find non-fiction easier too. You just have to organize your thoughts and express yourself clearly. But I didn't really want to write magazine articles and I don't have a platform for a book, so fiction it is. Besides, even if it's harder, it's more fun.

Non-fiction is easier to write, but takes longer to research and edit. At least for me. I used to be a medical writer and that's not something you can be breezy about facts with.

I just want to say... my first query letter is the hardest !*#ing thing I've ever tried to write. I'd say that's one score for fiction. I'd rather have one week to write 25,000 words of fiction than the same amount of time for this single agonizing page.



That being said, yeah, I still think fiction's easier overall, though it has its own hard points.

...on second thought, is that a loss for fiction, because we have to write these queries...? Maybe not, I don't know how hard proposals are. Probably about the same.

In the original post from the OP he was referring to an outline -- not a book. Objectively it may well be quicker (I'm not sure easier or better) to write a basic outline for a nonfiction book than for a fiction book, especially if it's relatively bare-boned. For example, let's assume the subject is the basic systems of the human body. If the primary purpose of such a book is to write an outline that tells readers what these systems are, and the writer intends to use same to create a book, this is easy -- there's no creation involved. You find out what they are, you list them along with basic information, and you are done. So, if by nonfiction those who have posted are speaking about a formulaic book, a very basic reference work, and such, they may be right. However, if they are talking about writing an outline that represents a book that has a concept based upon the basic systems of the human body, I completely disagree with them.

If you want to write commercially acceptable, well received nonfiction, the gathering of detailed, factual info is a must. Some fiction writers do research, but usually far, far less. Nonfiction writers get an idea for a book and the first thing they should do is research the market to see if there's a similar book already in print, good or bad. If good, and the writer doesn't believe s/he can do better, they drop the idea. If bad, they do months of research, and only when they fully understand the subject, begin an outline of varying sorts. Now the nonfiction writer has to decide how he can write the best book ever written on the subject, include all the required information, and make it enjoyable and understandable, not a tomb. Commercial nonfiction is anything but bland.

Examples: Neal Bascomb, Simon Winchester, Jared Diamond, David Haldberstam, Max Frankel, to ame a few.

Having written both fiction and non-fiction, and knowing other writers who do the same, which is easier depends on 1) the project and 2) the writer. Some writers find writing fiction easier; some find writing non-fiction easier. (All non-fiction isn't simply research and use the facts to create a story, btw.)

With me, it depends. Some days fiction is easier. Some days non-fiction is easier. Some projects are easier than others. Different projects are easier on different days of the week.

Oh, and Sunandshadow, your 2000 word story outline isn't really writing non-fiction. Just isn't.