It's sort of a term I made up. Fiction non-fiction. It's where you write something in the form of non-fiction but the 'facts' you are stating are actually fiction. Has it been done before? If so does anyone have any examples of it being used? Thanks in advance
Well, plenty of stories claim to be true, or the reprinting someone's diary or a bunch of letters or somesuch, but I assume that's not quite what you mean. I assume that you mean sort of the written equivalent of what in film would be a mockumentary, like, say, This is Spinal Tap? Offhand, I can't think of one.
My current manuscript is fiction based on non-fiction if that's what you mean. The story is for all intents and purposes my autobiography, and presented as a factual piece, however to protect myself and those involved I created a false name, changed my place/year of birth, gender, parent's names, etc..., and fictionalized some aspects of my stories to leave some shadow of doubt about weather it was me or not to anyone who participated in these events that might be reading.
Do you mean like Memoirs of a Geisha? I completely believed the story until the statement after the end... All seemingly real and based on true things but the plot itself fiction. Also, add a "either" option for the poll.
I suppose, yes, you could compare what I'm talking about to a mockumentary. Although I'd best give an idea of what my book is actually about - it's essentially a story about the siege at Waco but there are many alternations and added scenarios that render the story completely fiction. Despite this, I'm trying to make it sound as if it's in non-fiction format. Sorry the idea isn't completely set in stone yet, but yeah... basically I was just wondering if you think the idea is worthy of writing. Not thinking of getting it published or anything... yet....
I finished a project just like the one you are working on but it is not quite what I'm going for in my current story. I'm writing something completely fiction but trying to write it in non-fiction format. I don't really want to write in the third person/first person story-teller sort of format. I'm trying to write something a bit different.
Would it be an alternative or plausible history? Cause if that so, then it'd technically be science fiction as you'd be going down a what-if avenue that could have happened realistically.
Well, I suppose it would be more of an alternative history. It's a bit different to a sci-fi what-if in some regards though. I've completely re-arranged the events and when/where they took place. Instead of occurring in Waco, Texas it takes place in Aiken, South Carolina. Instead of occurring in 1993 it occurs in '92 (not much of a difference) The Davidians have been replaced with a completely different cult that I made up myself. In essence, it's a written account of the events at Waco with my own fiction elements added in.
Sorry I can't find a title or author, but there was a novel a couple of years ago, written by a former federal prosecutor. which described his theory of the Michael C. Skakel / Martha Moxley murder case. It was a very good read, and at the end the author said he had wanted to write it as non-fiction, but feared a lawsuit.
I thought all stories were told in a believable manner that allows the reader to think it is non-ficton (some stretch more than others lol). You don't start a story saying "jut so you know this is not real."
I've not read it, but I gather World War Z was written in that style. A fictional story - in this case of the zombie apocalypse - told in a non-fiction-style format of a series of interviews.
it's still just 'fiction'... and that's what you must call it, if you want to interest agents or publishers in taking it on... if you're only going to self-publish, then it probably won't matter what you call it...
I've read tons of stories (many in first person) that are written as if they were true. In fact, a few of them I've actually had to double-check to make sure they were, indeed, novels. So I don't think it's anything really new - just a style of writing.
I think it's quite often done. The kinds of books I'm thinking of are those in which reliance is made, as an integral part of the plot, on "sources"/"resources" which have been made up for the purpose. Sometimes in a completely fictional setting; at other times in a partly-fictional-partly-historical setting ("fictionalized accounts"), and so on. Are these the type of scenarios you mean? Examples that spring to mind are Reverse Negative and The Zaharoff Commission, both by Andre Jute (also author of the rightly acclaimed Writing A Thriller, in which he discusses the technique), and some of Minette Walters' books (of which I've read so many that I can't now remember which ones are which ).
It seems like this would apply to most books -- the one I'm reading right now, Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart seems to fit within your catagory. But again, it seems to me like a lot, if not most fiction would.
also, your poll doesn't allow for a 'neither' vote... which is what I would choose, since neither of the other choices can possibly cover all writings... some of both will be more interesting and some less...
As far as your poll, I agree with Maia. I don't know how anyone could meaningfully answer this question. I often find true stories more intriguing and interesting that fiction, but there certainly are some fantastic fictional stories out there. You could compare one book from each category, and get a different answer each time. And some fiction stories are actually mostly true. There's only been some minor tweaking for some storytelling or disguise purposes.
It sounds like fiction to me, regardless of how many actual facts and events are taken from reality. I am going from the other direction on something, taking a factual story and calling it fiction in order to allow myself more lattitude to make the story more readable. The old Dragnet used to say "the following story is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent." I am going to go a bit beyond changing names but not any more than I have to. But I will allow myself to make up dialog that might have been and involve myself in the story more as the writer and stray from purely objective, just the facts ma'am type writing.
