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Nonfiction is characterized by facts, reality, and analysis, and can take on various styles, including narrative nonfiction and technical writing. Biographies, travel writing, and science and social sciences are common subjects. Journalism emphasizes objective reporting of recent events. Accuracy is important, but bias and distortion can occur.
The main characteristics of nonfiction are facts, reality and analysis. A piece of non-fiction attempts to portray truth instead of fiction, putting reality before imagination. Most commonly associated with the written word, nonfiction is also associated with photographic, cinematic, and spoken word creations.
Another of the characteristics of non-fiction concerns the wide range of styles. At the very least, it’s a dry diagram or list of facts, but it can also take on literary or fictional elements to create narrative nonfiction. A seldom-present element of non-fiction is dialogue; this is because any dialogue must actually be captured, on tape or video, to be a true representation of events.
In theory, a piece of nonfiction contains no falsehoods or fictional elements. This makes facts the most important of nonfiction features. Facts, however, are subject to bias, distortion, and abuse by non-fiction creators intent on making a specific point regardless of the truth. Some, like Herodotus, acknowledge that their sources may be inaccurate, while others are deliberately subjective.
Biographies and autobiographies present narratives concerning a person’s life or a part of their life. The exact focus and angle is up to the writer. These typically mix primary sources such as letters, diaries, speeches, and film clips with secondary sources and eyewitness accounts. One of the main features of nonfiction in biography is that it is very difficult to construct a complete and accurate picture of a person, perhaps even more so in an autobiography.
Travel nonfiction features a mixture of descriptions and experiences. Experiences tend to be biographical, while descriptions may use narrative non-fiction features or veer towards the more academic. A more scholarly side of travel writing examines a specific area of travel, whether it be a culture and language or a region’s unique topography.
Science and social sciences also range from academic to fiction. Academic-focused research papers tend to be dry pieces containing research, raw and processed data, and analysis. They tend to have narrowly focused goals. Narrative nonfiction in these areas seeks to tie such research papers into a narrative that spans a process, element of nature, or historical period. It covers areas such as biology, physics, history and archaeology.
Technical nonfiction is purely dry and aimed at explaining certain objects or processes. Typical features of nonfiction of this type include instruction manuals, blueprints, diagrams, and schematics. They are used for the design of buildings, electronic circuits, machines such as cars, and for explaining chemical reactions.
Journalism is another form of non-fiction. The characteristics of non-fiction as far as journalism is concerned include reporting events within a short period of their occurrence, gathering facts and opinions, and presenting them objectively. Above all other forms of non-fiction, journalism is the most averse, in theory, to outright lying. Journalism covers magazines, newspapers, some books and some documentary films.
