I have been hearing the genre definition "Faction" for some time recently, without knowing what it is. I just looked it up, and I'm none the wiser. It seems to be fiction about real events or people, but with fictional elements included. That's more or less the same as Historical Fiction, isn't it? Or is Faction about more contemporary things? (People who are still alive, events that are still happening or just happened?) Does anybody know the difference? Or are they interchangeable terms, with "Faction" being simply a newer term for the same thing?
Never heard of it before now. Apparently it's a portmanteau of factual fiction, but it sounds more like a marketing term someone decided thought was clever. The phrase itself has been around since at least 1998, though, being used in this book to discuss documentaries produced by the BBC that were heavily dramatized. If I had to say, my guess would be that Historical Fiction is a fictional story in a historical setting and Faction is more akin to films "based on a true story."
I've discovered (while modding and getting to know new members) that many have put that down as their main writing interest. Some say Fantasy. Some say Horror. Some say Action or Adventure. And some say "Faction." It's a term that lots of people except me seem to know about. Your concept seems to make sense, but at what point does 'based on a true story' become Faction rather than Historical Fiction?
I agree with @The Dapper Hooligan. It seems like faction (a new term for me) would be those sort of stories that are based on true stories where as historical fiction would more capture a time period and what it was like then. I also think it sounds like there is more freedom in writing historical fiction. With historical fiction, you are created a story that could have happened at the time. Faction is saying this is basically what happened, while taking some creative liberties. It's sort of a weird term because fact and fiction are basically opposites. Personally, I wouldn't have thought of creating a term that combines them. Faction makes me think of those lifetime movies that say they are based on a true story. I think faction is more about retelling a story, a sort of ripped from the headlines thing. And it wouldn't need to be historical to be faction. I guess that's my take on it. Like I said, it's not a term I've come across before, but I can think of books I've read that would fit into this category.
That would be my take on it—a modern story based on a real incident or person, but isn't non-fiction—EXCEPT several of the definitions (I only quoted a few) specifically mentioned historical fiction as being 'faction.' I was hoping that one of our members who said 'Faction' was their preferred genre would step in here, and explain what they think it is.
See, from reading the above websearch, I’m thinking more Faction would be Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter or else 47 Ronin (these examples being film). Both are based on factual, historical people. Both take some factual events and reapply them into their wildly fictional stories. I might be wrong, but that’s how I would interpret it. Edit: https://sknicholls.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/what-is-faction/ From the above author, he basically describes Faction as non-fiction that utilises the literary techniques of fiction novels. Also, fun fact: a film need only by 10% accurate to use the term “Based on a True Story.”
Or zero percent, I think. I cannot see how legal rigour can be...accommodated...in realms of...ghost story...
For a minute there I almost 'got' it ...then I lost it again. It's beginning to sound like a category that can be anything you want it to be, as long as it's connected in some way to something that actually happened somewhere, sometime, to somebody. I mean, Lord of the Rings is NOT Faction, right. Okay, so far so good.... What about Gone With The Wind ...I mean, it has the Civil War in it. And that really happened.
It could be. Tolkien did insist that the events did take place in Earth's distant, prehistoric past. John Carter was a Civil War veteran in Princess of Mars, so I'm counting that, too.
I think Gone with the Wind is still historical fiction. Yes, the Civil War happened, but the story is made up. I think faction would be more along the lines of someone finding an old diary from that era and turning it into a novel. I don't see a time period or backdrop of the story actually making it this so-called faction genre. If I remember correctly, I think the movie Glory was based on real events so that might fit the category. Wasn't The Perfect Storm based on a true story? The author also wrote a book called A Death in Belmont that was also based on a true story. But those books came out before the term faction, I believe. The more I think about it I'm not sure I'm really buying into this faction genre. I wrote a short story about war and picked a particular incident that I'm very familiar with. Although I stayed true to the events as best I could, my characters are made up and the story is made up. I would think my piece is more historical fiction than faction. What I wrote could have happened inside the scope of what did happen. I didn't write the story of this war or the story of the particular incident so much as told a story that emphasized how what was going on affected the people involved. I could have included actual people that were involved, but I decided to tell a bit of a different story. I've often thought about taking that short story and turning it into a novel. If I were to do that, some of the people in history would make appearances in the narrative, and as much as I would want this novel to really shows the horrors of war, using actual events, it would be through my made up characters and their personal involvement that the facts would come out. And I would think this is historical fiction still, not faction. Do we really need another genre? Anyway, I, too, would be interested in hearing from people writing faction how they are interpreting it and what kind of stories they're working one.
Apparently when Roots (Alex Haley) was first published in 1976 it was marketed as faction, because even though Haley fictionalized undocumented events, he swore that at it's core it was a true story. If that's true, then I really don't see how it's different than historical non-fiction.
this book confused the heck out of me just by looking at it! I was discarding old, falling-apart books, and pulled this one and the pages fell out and handwritten notes and drawings and was like "what the hell?" I was a little mad that it had sat on the shelf for as long as it did without anyone questioning the state of it Brought it to my supervisor and he said it was supposed to be like that. It was supposed to look like an old journal. @jannert , I came across a book at the library categorized as a "true life-novel" about a woman. The cover was an old photograph of the woman the book was about. It wasnt classified as a "memoir" because some of the events didnt happen and some of the "characters" were made up. My coworker asked the same question: "so is it Historical Fiction?" She also brought up the A Million Little Pieces controversy, how it was presented as a memoir, but had fictionalized a lot of the events. But "Faction" is now a new term that I have to keep an eye out for
It needs definition. Definition that isn't contradicted by the next definition. The definitions are all over the place. And I did try.
Well, I'd say probably the recent Bohemian Rhapsody film would be Faction. Schindler's List might also be Faction. Perhaps the film The Pianist too. Platoon perhaps. They're all heavily dramatized with a heavy element of fiction, but the events are real and the people are real, esp the one about Queen. Historical fiction, I'd guess, would be more like say, a fictional character set in WWII falls in love with a fictional Nazi officer. The setting is historical, but the story - the people and events - are entirely fiction. The German film The Lives of Others would be historical fiction - set in 1984 in East Germany about how one Starsi officer changed his ideology after spying on a playwright they suspected to be a defector. These people weren't real. These events weren't based on anything real. The setting, however, is historical. I mean, I haven't heard of Faction until I read this thread, but from the definitions you guys are giving, this seems fairly clear to me.
That's about as clear as any definition. But still not really clear to me. Study.com has this to say about historical fiction ...which is the definition I would have gone with. And you can see how it clashes with Faction. I think I can buy into the idea that Faction has main characters who actually existed. But WW2 did actually happen—and according to some of the definitions I quoted, real 'events' also count as Faction. But if the main character IS somebody who actually existed, and you're making up what you think their lives were like, that's Faction? I can kind of see how to draw the line with that one. So Wolf Hall would be Faction? How about Shakespeare in Love? I've got an idea. Maybe we need yet another category: Fiography. Fictional Biography? That would cover those two. Autofiography? A pack of lies told about your own life? Walter Mitty rides again? Hey. Am I a genius? Okay, just a vain hope.... For me, there is a clear distinction between Fiction and Non-Fiction. "Faction" seems to want to straddle the two, to some extent. It might be a good idea, but in practice, I think it's unclear how to apply it. I'm not sure it's all that useful as a genre category. Can you imagine being a bookseller, attempting to fill the 'Faction' shelf. (Yes it is, no it's not. A bit of a pantomime, indeed.) "Non-fiction" contains nothing the author knows isn't true. Authors may make mistakes—or leave out stuff that doesn't fit their view of events or people—but they don't make up any of the components of the story. "Fiction" may be about any real topic or person, but the author has to make up some portion of the story—either for dramatic purposes, or to imaginatively fill in gaps between known facts and what else might have happened.
I usually just distinguish between strict historical and period. My novel is a strict historical( not faction if faction is modern) based on real people and events with a layer of creative interpretation and storytelling. I also have a idea from earlier of a very period 1950's America drama dealing with historical events and people only as background for a very fictional story, though conceptually plausible. Perhaps you could call it historical fiction as a category with biographical vs period depending on whether it's based on anything specific from the period or just an insert. But didn't that blog guy define faction as modern?
@Oscar Leigh - are you actually trying to tell me Queen isn't modern? When the band members are still alive? There're still people alive today who remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. I think all the examples I listed would fit under the "modern" label. I think anything from the 18th century or so is considered modern. @jannert - having read the definition you quoted, I'd say that final one on real events with real people would fall under Faction. You need to pay attention too as to when the definition was written. If Faction is a relatively new term, then whatever Faction is was probably once considered to be under the category of Historical Fiction, purely because the category Faction hadn't yet been invented. But I agree with you that "Based on a true story" or disclaimers such as "Some events have been changed" are much clearer and serve a better purpose. All this talk of fiction vs faction reminds me of New Adult vs Young Adult, and what even falls under YA. I never looked up nor grasped the difference between NA and YA. And then technically YA should have protags who are still in their teens, up to eighteen, but then there's books sold in the YA category with protags who are in their 20s. So... *shrug* I think some of these terms are a little arbitrary really. Or maybe those YA books with protags in their 20s were sold as YA because NA wasn't a thing yet.
What about a fictional retelling of real events? For example, James Clavell's Shogun. None of the characters are real, but they're all based on real historical characters.
Fictional retelling of real events, to be honest, sounds like the perfect summary of how I understand Faction in my opinion. (disclaimer: remember I'd never heard of Faction until this morning, so the fact that I think this sums up what Faction is doesn't have to indicate anything)
I really wish that people who claim Faction as a favourite genre would enter this discussion. I am truly wondering what they believe it is. According to Wikipedia, Faction is a slang term for a non-fiction novel. I was going fine till the last example, which was originally marketed as non-fiction (ie 'truth') but turned out to be a hoax. So...what, exactly? Is Faction a non-fiction work that turns out to be full of lies? Maybe the key word in this definition is 'slang.' Kind of like 'bodice-ripper.' Somewhere between a category that you'll find in a bookstore and somebody's description of what it contains? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fiction_novel
