Creative NonFiction

If it's non-fiction then it's not NaNo :(

But you can write here :D Just can't be a winner...

But that's not important, you'll still have a book at the end of it all.

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· Katharine
· ML of Elsewhere Australia
· My BFS Challenge Post.

I can't verify my word count and get my purple bar?

Chet's NaNoWriMo Experience (updated)

Technically, no. Of course we can't stop you, but you didn't technically win NaNo. Because it's novel writing month, which is a lengthy work of fiction.

That's what the rules say anyhow, sorry :(

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· Katharine
· ML of Elsewhere Australia
· My BFS Challenge Post.

I was planning to keep to the 50,000-word requirement. Oh well, I guess I'll write the non-fiction in my spare time and focus on the NaNovel and getting the purple bar.

Thanks.

Chet's NaNoWriMo Experience (updated)

Well, no one's stopping you. ;) But you wouldn't be doing NaNo by the rules, so it wouldn't really be a NaNo win. :)

Heather Dudley
Forums Moderator
I use Liquid Story Binder to write my novels.

I say go for it. :3

I second damthisanarch. Rock those pandas out!

I'm very likely going to be writing creative nonfiction for at least part of my NaNo, and I'm going to verify and win, so I agree. Go for it.

"Novel" does not equal to "Fiction". I've read a lot of novels that were not fiction. Narrative biographies and creative memoirs are not "textbooks".

I read a lot of true crime. But the way that it's written is A LOT like fiction. planetsomsom has a good point - these paperback best-sellers are non-fiction novels.

I know this is a bit late, but I just wanted to add something to the subject:

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why - technically a nonfiction novel about extreme survival situations, but written in such a way that's vastly entertaining and inspirational as well as informative.

The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee - technically half travel writing, half history, but again, written in such a way that it reads better than many pure fiction novels I've come across.

In the Company of Crows and Ravens, Rats, Into the Wild, Book of Shadows, Reconciliations, Women Who Run With the Wolves (yes, there's folklore and myth, but it's an analysis OF folklore, myth, archetypes, et cetera, not a compilation of them), the Beauty Myth, Colonize This! (Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism), This Bridge Called My Back - none of them are straight fiction. All of them contain real-world insights on real-world subjects and people. I can honestly say that most of the books on this list are at the top of my favorite books, right in with the novels of varying levels of fiction. I not only enjoy these books, but I respect them infinitely and constantly look for others like them.

I say go for it. Let people split hairs if they wish. That may sound mean, but it just seems like a silly thing to be exclusive about. Nonfiction hits a range of expression that's near-equal, or equal, to fiction, and requires just as much creativity and skill. I know I will personally consider you a winner imo. Rock those pandas!

I also think it's a silly thing to split hairs about. I could easily write a memoirs and say it's fiction, or say that my book is 100% true when it's not ("A Million Little Pieces" anyone?) Fiction or nonfiction is in the eye of the writer to a large degree. My book is technically nonfiction, but I'm thinking of fictionalizing certain parts to protect certain identities. More of a roman a clef, actually.

“Every woman is a rebel, and usually in wild revolt against herself.” -- Oscar Wilde

“Every woman is a rebel, and usually in wild revolt against herself.” -- Oscar Wilde

Wow I must've been in such a hurry that I missed the rule about fiction. Fortunately my story is about a writer who decides to write about her life for NaNo but feels it's boring so embelishes quite a bit. And that's all you're getting but I'm pretty sure you'd be surprised by the ending. I sure was when I wrote it.

My humorous travel 'novel' is about 95% true but also incorporates fiction to cover identities and other trivial things. I am participating in my local gatherings this month but won't be submitting my word count. Knowing I wrote a good story is enough for me. Plus we have our own emblem so we can let them have their fun and just be us!

Update

I ended up writing two NaNo projects, one fiction and the other non-fiction.

I ended up finishing both projects past the 50K line.

Most days, I met my personal daily target of 2,000 words. This allowed me to take 2 days off during the month, and also sometimes to write not even 1,000 words.

I usually began with the fic NaNo, and after about 1,000 words, would switch to the nonfic NaNo. It often felt like I was in a writing relay, and also in competition with myself.

I submitted the fic NaNo for verification. The purple bar you see below my name is for the fic NaNo.

Surprisingly, the nonfic NaNo's word count is just 10 words less. I actually was writing more for the nonfic, at one point pulling ahead by more than 2,000 words. But I kind of eased up just to pass the 50K finishing line.

What's next

I wrote one more chapter of the nonfic NaNo and probably have another chapter to write.

As for the fic NaNo, there's room for revising, rewriting and expanding!

Chet's NaNoWriMo Experience (updated)

Hi there,

I am a newcomer to many, including this community but this is my point of view on the notion of Creative NonFiction:
I am an engineer and have headed several startups. While, for many investors the startups seemed outcomes of engineering science with business rules, I can tell you they were just believable fiction (I wrote the technical part of the Business Plans). We have raised 80+ million US dollars on them and there are two public companies actually delivering those services.

One characteristic of Fiction should be Mind Openness to new and different. I would rather expect a nonFiction forum struggling with accepting Fiction work in it since Non-Fiction is bound by a thousand chains of policies and rules.

So, please consider these and let me know your vote, is SETI, the quest for messages from other intelligences in space, fiction or non-fiction ? Is the Gaia theory, the theory about all life being part of a common living entity, fiction or non-fiction ?

Of course I am biased. I am writing (struggling to write) a novel that would be normally slotted into non-fiction since most of the arguments have experimental backing (you do this, you get this) - the core message of the novel is that cognition and intelligence are extensions of our immune system in the world of information and, for a healthy and fulfilling life, we need to reduce cognitive pollution and give better cognitive vaccines to our dear ones. Is that fiction ? I can put here a list of many PhDs, Professors and Scientists that would call it fiction in less than a heartbeat. But then, ......

So, to me, unless one publishes the results of the last year's Census or the rosters of the last year's baseball teams with no other comments attached to the dead information, any writing will be actually incorporating fiction - the way the writer understands and models reality.

:) Please let me know.

Listen to your hopes well :)