Transitioning from non-fiction to fiction

[Sir Vivor]

Is there anyone on the forum who can share some tips on such a writing career shift?

What are the main differences between the two industries? What are their non-obvious similarities?

Years ago I was involved with a number of books on (Java) software development.. and therefore know a bit about how the non-fiction industry works - I dealt with three publishers. I'm wondering in what ways the fiction industry differs. Because I've learned over the years that making many assumptions can bite you..

Any info appreciated.

 

[AlexH]

I've only written from a technical point of view in terms of information for clients and colleagues. One of those documents was longer than any story I've written. So I don't have any advice in terms of the industry.

Both fiction and non-fiction have helped my writing in both, especially in terms of brevity and not using certain often-unnecessary words.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

I have never written anything substantial in non-fiction, however the first thing that comes to mind is that in non-fiction you usually need to explain how or why something works (the steps and mechanics), in fiction this can often take away from the narrative and bring the reader out of your world and back to the real one. As a writer it helps if you know all the workings in your world, the reader doesn't need to be privy all the information.

 

[janeoreilly]

I haven't written any non-fiction but I have met a few non-fiction writers and the two sides of publishing are definitely completely different animals. I remember a conversation with one non-fiction writer who was absolutely horrified that you couldn't approach a publisher with an idea for a novel before writing it but needed a completed manuscript and that you were expected to write it with no guarantee of ever seeing any money. I'm fairly sure I've also heard that for non-fiction it is often a set payment up front and that's all you get regardless of how well the book sells, whereas with fiction it is based on sales.

I'd also throw in PLR and ALCS - there's basically no ALCS payments for fiction but you can do quite well with those for non-fiction.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm wondering in what ways the fiction industry differs.

Some members here have previously highlighted difficulties in moving from objective writing and passive sentences common in technical writing, to active and emotionally close writing for fiction.

 

[Mirannan]

I have a little experience in this. I would say that commercial writing (flyers and product information leaflets) is distinct from either but more like non-fiction book writing. The difference is that if one is writing a flyer, every word counts for several reasons. One is the space available to get your point across in type of an easily readable size, and the other is that for such material there is a very stringent limit on just how much text a potential customer is prepared to read.

Both of which pressures mean that if you write any amount of such material, you will soon learn to write succinctly - and, for similar reasons, to use simple words rather than technical jargon or erudite polysyllables - except for one example of the latter, perhaps. I always write the full text corresponding to abbreviations, at least once.

One example: Text about essential fatty acids refers a great deal to DHA and EPA. Why? Because the expansions (docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, respectively) are real jaw-crackers. Even professionals in the field don't throw those around much.

 

[Martin Gill]

I'm a pro non-fiction analyst/writer/editor. I was an analyst for 6 years, now I'm a research director. I write for business publications - mostly the firm I work for - but also 3rd party sites like Forbes, TNW, etc. I'm well published professionally, and am a pretty decent writer (I get docs through the copy editing team with almost no edits, I've won internal awards, I've been published on leading industry sites, I was very highly read as an analyst and got good client feedback). You can go hunting for me on Google if you want

I've written for fun for ever - mostly for roleplaying - character briefs, backgrounds, etc - but increasingly I've been writing fiction. I've written a bunch of short stories and 2 novels - both unpublished as yet, both approx 100k words. The first was really an experiment to see if I could tell a story over 100 words.

I haven't struggled with passive voice as we write in active voice for work - we have very strong style guides for action-biased writing. We also aim for brevity, which has helped me in fiction. Less is more. So, being a well established and well edited/tutored non-fiction writer has given me confidence in my technical ability.

Where I've struggled is a little bit with POV initially, though feel I've got that nailed now. I've only written 3rd person. I want to try something in first. I've struggled more with really nailing the characters and getting the emotional arc right. Part of this is because of my gaming background. I'm more used to writing characters then handing them over to other people to play - or writing NPCs that bounce off other players. Being in charge of everything has been where I've struggled the most. Gaming - tabletop and LARP - constantly throws curveballs. When I write I need to invent the curveballs and work out how the characters will react, and how their actions drive the story, rather than them being passive.

 

[tinkerdan]

This is an interesting question, however I might be inclined to think the question leans more toward fiction writing vs technical/textbook writing.

The reason I say this is that news and magazine writing qualify as non-fiction most of the time however I recall Hemingway started out writing news and Stephen King talks about how everything he learned in writing the news helped him in making his fiction concise and effective. So there are some areas of non-fiction that might take a minimal amount of transition.

I for one have had the experience of, once having published two fiction novels, having my boss ask me to edit his technical manuals and write brochure for him. I've tried to explain that there is a massive difference in what I'm doing and what he's asking for; however I'm always of the mind that I get paid to do what he wants, so I've done my best when he asks. He constantly hands me sheets of text and asks me to check them and I even one time managed to joke with him and say, ''Sure I'll pass this on to my editors."


However just the other day I noticed that he seems to have had someone take the two page brochure that I wrote recently for him and they nail it all in a single page that he was taking with him to an expo in Florida, So I suppose that he might be learning something about what I tried to tell him earlier.

 

[Martin Gill]

everything he learned in writing the news helped him in making his fiction concise and effective.

I’d never seen the Stephen king comment before but I agree with it. When you have limited words, you learn to be super concise. And as a journalist you are constantly slammed with deadlines, so you have to learn to write well, and quickly. We have a rule of 7 lines or less for paragraphs. I try to edit my guys to 5 or 6. They hate me.