Lesson 7

 
Fiction Verses Nonfiction Lesson 7
 Are you back again? I thank you. I hope your week dealt with all positive things. Today we will delve into nonfiction. In order to do a non-fiction it takes a lot of research, knowledge, not only on the subject matter, but personal knowledge. Maybe you are doing a book about your life, or an experience that you had. You want to do it as accurate as possible, which covers your point of view. They want the truth, but like Pontius Pilate sang in Jesus Christ Superstar, (we both have truths. Our mine the same as yours?”)

Writing Class 101 by Rick Kurtis
 
I had a woman disagree with me when I said it would be okay to place an unnamed character in a true story just for a conversation to add filler, to make the story flow. The author did ten years of research and had over 1000 pages of interviews and notes from veterans from World War II. He wanted to add soldier comradery and feelings, hope, dreams, in order to put the true events in order to make the story flow. She said no, absolutely not, while I said yes. He wasn’t there, but wanted to honor the memories of those brave men. Sometimes even hearsay is allowed in court if someone told you something well. He was told by a soldier who really couldn’t remember the other man’s name or what the conversation was, but then who really cares? The main point is that they were in deep.
In order to cover yourself, just put a disclaimer on the front page like the true crime story shows. ‘True events, places, and names have been changed to protect the innocent and to make the story more interesting.’ True events could be my interpretation, which could be different than yours, even if we saw the same thing. It’s your book. It’s your truth. Let’s move on.
Maybe it is a how to fish, or a cookbook. There you go. Put your recipe for the best barbecue Dutch apple crumb cake into a book. Who can tell you different?
How to fix a toilet. Ah, buy a new one?
Where to shop cheap. Yard sales, ninety-nine cent stores?
You did the research and found what you needed, and it worked for you. Someone else might want their money back and didn’t like your thoughts. That’s too bad, no refunds.
Or maybe, how to write a book. There are so many out there. So don’t worry and write away.
 
Now to fiction. The sky is the limit. Everyone has their own style. It doesn’t matter what genre you write, here is what I have heard that sells: Tears and Heartstrings/those romantic novels or sad perils that they try to overcome. Next is crime, murder mystery and intrigue, the whodunit books. Then we have ghosts and the paranormal unknown. Vampires and the werewolf, along with the walking dead will never die, and will live forever. Sci-fi is always a good mixing pot in any or all of the above suggestions. Just keep things pronounceable and in English. For fun you can throw in a few alien words, but explain what is going on or what was said.
My genre are just simple books mixed with tears, heart pounding action, and a few tied with paranormal, romance, and space aliens. My other books are children’s adventures to inspire children to read and to put themselves in as the heroines.
I don’t want to get started on the rated X which no publisher wants to touch, yet there are so many of them out there. Another thing I read is that publishers don’t like profanity, nudity, sexual content and extreme violence. But yet, they too are out there. Is there an underground publishing company on the dark web that only few know how to find?
Religious books, whether fiction or non-, can be very inspirational like mine, ‘Day of the Cross,’ a three book series.
So, write your story, and don’t think too much on what people say. In real life, everything is fiction, written from an author’s perspective. Just practice on making it readable and enjoyable. That is the key. You are a storyteller, whether it is true or not.
Next week we will work on writing style, sentence structure, and wording. Until then,
 
Happy Writing from rickkurtisbooks.com