Is it important to read nonfiction?

RikkiKane · Nov 27, 2009

Is it important to read nonfiction if you want to be a good novelist? I personally just read fiction (that's what I love), and when I need to write about factual things in my novels, I just research the internet to make sure I know what I'm talking about.

What are your thoughts on this and how much nonfiction do you read compared to fiction? Do you think it's important to read nonfiction if you just want to be a good storyteller?

Maxinquaye · Nov 27, 2009

I'm primarily a non-fiction writer/editor.

I don't think there's so much to learn, except facts, by writing non-fiction. It's totally different as approaches and techniques go. Well, writing one or the other will give you a better language, and that will help.

You'll learn techniques of good style in both. But you won't be a better novelist for writing non-fiction, nor will you be a better non-fiction writer for knowing how to write fiction, except for on that superficial level already mentioned.

Straka · Nov 27, 2009

Some non-fiction works toe on the line with fiction in terms of the voice. I'm thinking in terms of military history, such as John Keegan, Lloyd Clark, and Stephen Ambrose.

Generally I think reading anything different than what your used too is good for broadening your horizons as a writer.

ChaosTitan · Nov 27, 2009

It's important to read, period. If you write novels, fiction should be your bread and butter. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy some nonfiction to spice up your diet. Biographies and memoirs are great sources to learn about real people--attitudes, values, likes, dislikes, the rhyme and reason behind their choices. It's a little additional insight.

Wayne K · Nov 27, 2009

My book is nonfiction, so I'm going to say it's imperative.

Sevvy · Nov 27, 2009

Depends on what non-fiction you're reading. I read books about writing, or about things I'm including in my fiction, all of which are non-fiction. I read the news and I've read autobiographies of famous authors (Check out Durai, Plath, Hemingway, and Stein if you wanna read some neat autobiographies).

If ideas for your fiction come from the world around you, you might want to read up about it.

Jamesaritchie · Nov 27, 2009

Well, nonfiction is the way you need to research, if nothing else. The more you know, the better off you are, and nonfiction is where we learn who, what, when, where, and how.

It's important to read fiction, and it's important to read nonfiction. Shoot, even reading the labels on soup cans can be useful.

Libbie · Nov 27, 2009

Personally, I think it's important to read everything you can read. If you're interested in a topic, read about it. You never know what nonfiction sources might spark a new idea for a novel, and where learning about more stuff might lead you.

Plus, many nonfiction writers are excellent storytellers, and you have much to learn from their use of language and pacing. Human beings are story-oriented animals. We've always used stories to communicate important ideas. We are attracted to narrative and plot. We are excited by pacing and characterization. That applies to nonfiction as much as to fiction. A good nonfiction writer knows this and makes their work just as driven and enthralling as a novel.

Carl Sagan is one of my favorite writers, though he's only written one novel. The rest of his books are nonfiction, and each one is as interesting and as fun to read as his novel.

Fillanzea · Nov 27, 2009

I do think that nonfiction can be very helpful for writing that's engaged and connected with the world. I subscribe to the New Yorker--I think its reputation for pretentiousness is unfortunate, because every week I get some in-depth articles on topics I wouldn't have been interested in if they didn't get delivered right to my mailbox, and I think they help me to think broadly about big issues, to put them into a broader context... and occasionally, just to turn up interesting little facts.

My current WIP is fantasy, but it's fantasy based loosely on silk factories in east Asia in the early 20th century, and I did a lot of research on those, but it was just as useful for me to read about all kinds of factories and labor issues, even present-day ones. It gave me some new angles on the questions I was dealing with.

There are some writers -- Neil Stephenson, Michael Chabon -- who just seem to possess this huge, broad well of knowledge, and it's not that they're necessarily showing off, but that they can draw connections that make their works deeper and less...solipsistic, for lack of a better world. That's something I admire, and that's why I like to read nonfiction.

Izz · Nov 27, 2009

I read a lot of non-fiction, particularly narrative accounts of a person's travels. Good narrative non-fiction is exceptionally vivid and contains a lot of writing devices i can learn from and use in my fiction.

ETA:

Fillanzea said:
There are some writers -- Neil Stephenson, Michael Chabon -- who just seem to possess this huge, broad well of knowledge, and it's not that they're necessarily showing off, but that they can draw connections that make their works deeper and less...solipsistic, for lack of a better world. That's something I admire, and that's why I like to read nonfiction.

Well put.

job · Nov 27, 2009

RikkiKane said:
I just research the internet to make sure I know what I'm talking about.

'research the Internet'
'know what I'm taking about'

= contradiction in terms.

One reason to read good non-fiction,
such as popularizations by scholars, peer-reviewed journals and primary material,
is to learn to recognize good sources.

I'm sure you, yourself, are well able to assess the reliability of Internet information. It's a dangerous practice, though, for the novice. Much of what is out there as 'fact' is simply wrong.

James D. Macdonald · Nov 27, 2009

Is it important to read nonfiction?

Yes.

Claudia Gray · Nov 27, 2009

I'm with Libbie -- reading absolutely anything you can get your paws on helps.

Besides, "reading nonfiction" is often another word for "research."

Caitlin Black · Nov 27, 2009

I have a SF/F bent in my writing. I've always been a dreamer, and my earliest recollection of reading was Fantasy, so I feel confident in that regard. I still read loads of fantasy though.

Then, I studied Physics and Maths, and I fell in love with SF. So basically I've read loads of theoretical physics books, and I can now safely feel confident in my SF machinations. It's like learning another langauge. It's always good.

I don't read non-fiction for research. I read non-fiction because I like it. Okay, so there was one NF book that I read for research. It was a guide book on writing romance.

But yes, I'd say reading NF is important. It helps with whatever area of real life you're most interested in, and has the power to make you a specialised writer in the sense that you somehow managed to know more about one thing that 99% of the population, and can weave it into your stories in a readable manner.

One thing I learned from that romance guide is that people like to learn when they read fiction. Whether they learn about a career, or science in some way, or just learn about a location, it's all a big selling point (providing the romance takes centre stage, she says - but I read "story" where she said "romance").

Read read read, gogogo.

Kalyke · Nov 27, 2009

Good non-fiction is story telling also. Laurie Garrett told stories about recent and rising disease in "The Coming Plague" and Richard Rhodes told the story of the building of the Atomic Bomb in "Dark Sun." I do not really differentiate from fiction and non fiction when it comes to "telling stories." It is the same thing. I like books that deal with the possible, and use a realistic approach. I am somewhat biased because I have a degree in "non-fiction" writing, and I tend to approach fiction from a non-fictional vantage point. I write much better when I "pretend' that the events have actually happened.

aadams73 · Nov 27, 2009

Read everything you can get your hands on, even if it's just the back of a condiment bottle. You never know when you might need to know what's in mustard.

Nothing you read or learn is ever wasted.

Chasing the Horizon · Nov 28, 2009

It's certainly good to know a lot for writing, but I don't see any point in reading about things that don't interest you. At least for me, if I'm not interested in what I'm reading it all goes in one eyeball and out the other, lol. I've never found that non-fiction books are helpful for learning the actual craft of novel writing because they're just too different.

I actually do read a lot of non-fiction, but for better or worse it's all about the same subject. I love psychology and have read hundreds and hundreds of books about it, both memoirs of living with mental illness and books written by professionals. But nothing else really holds my attention. Of course, knowing psychology is immensely helpful with my writing.

Ken · Nov 28, 2009

... it's important to be versed in the goings on in the world in addition to being familiar with its history, and since the only way to really become so is to read non-fiction writers should partake.

bsolah · Nov 29, 2009

I think it's important to read nonfiction, but I guess how important it is as a novelist will depend on what type of novels you're writing.

I'm a Marxist horror writer so I don't think I'd be doing much good if I didn't read at least some Marxist books

entropic island · Nov 30, 2009

Non fiction can help with language usage, but is rarely an essential for lots of the mainstream fiction I read. Except for research, of course. In fiction, when things are not researched properly, it's obvious. I think that is probably most evident in mainstream fiction and science fiction. Fantasy you can stretch things a bit. (You should be able to do that in science fiction, too, it just depends) In comedy, it's absolutely not a necessity. Unless it's comedy like Al Franken or Stephen Colbert. Then you need to know your stuff, like AF and SC do.

Moonfish · Nov 30, 2009

I write fantasy - non-fiction about the oddest things spark ideas and new thoughts in me. I use them for setting (travel books for instance), culture-related things and then I'll just read about a tribe somewhere and something they do, part of their culture, will make me think hmm, if I took that but changed it and then there would be one guy who... Etc.

Codger · Nov 30, 2009

Only if you want to increase your store of knowledge.

MattW · Nov 30, 2009

Anything and everything you read is valuable. Fill up your brain with words and thoughts, let them bounce around. Sometimes something interesting from a history book will bounce off a clever voice from a novel, which will careen off into a discredited theory of physics.

If you read too much fiction, you might close yourself off to lots of great information, characters, places, events, or even minute details that can make a paper and ink world really come to life. Even worse, you may start sounding like other authors and less like yourself.

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 30, 2009

Knowledge is power.

RikkiKane said:
Is it important to read nonfiction?

James D. Macdonald said:
Yes.

QFT.

Jamesaritchie · Nov 30, 2009

This strikes me as no different than the question "Is it important to read fiction to be a writter."

Whether it's important doesn't much matter. You have those who love to read, and those who do not, and never the twain shall meet.

That either is even a question amazes me.

Is it important to read nonfiction?

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