Informational Fiction versus Non-Fiction - Guest Post By Barbara Renner
When I retired from teaching I decided to try my hand at writing children’s picture books. Since my retired husband and I had more time available to us, we decided to spend the summer in Minnesota. This was a long way from our home in Arizona in more ways than 2,000 miles. We traded a dry hot desert for humid lake country, rattlesnakes for giant mosquitos, and coyotes for ducks. But the ducks that really caught my attention weren’t really ducks, they were gorgeous waterfowl known as Common Loons and Trumpeter Swans.
Before I wrote my picture books, I did a lot of research by reading books, studying ornithology websites, and visiting a national wildlife refuge. I wanted my books to be fiction stories based on fact. In my first Trumpeter Swan book, SPRING! TIME TO BUILD A NEST, A STORY ABOUT TRUMPETER SWANS, the adult swans realize they are about to lay eggs and begin their search for a home. The story is written in a fun, child-friendly manner, but based on what actually happens as they build their nests. As I discovered later, this type of writing is called Informational Fiction.
In an Informational Fiction book, the primary purpose is to share information that is true, but is framed by a made-up story line using fictional characters. Author Kate Messner was inspired to write OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW while she was on a snow shoeing field trip as a teacher with her middle grade students. As they were looking for animal tracks, their guide told them about tunnels and caves under the snow where small animals lived during the winter. Kate decided to write a story about a made-up little girl and her dad who go cross country skiing and discover the secret animal kingdom under the snow. The heart of the book is the back matter that contains factual information about the animals, even though the story is framed by a fiction story. Teachers and librarians can use the factual parts of Informational Fiction books as teaching tools.
In a Nonfiction book, every part of the story has been researched and is true. The important thing to remember about writing Nonfiction is to find reliable sources and experts for the facts. Excellent starting places for research are libraries, online searches, Wikipedia, and Amazon for comparable titles. Even though Wikipedia is not a reliable source, it’s a good starting point because a list of references are posted at the end of the articles. Authors should use the triangulation method for gathering their research: primary sources, secondary sources, and latest research, so their books are reliable. When writing biographies, if quotes are used, they have to be the actual words spoken in order for it to be classified as true Nonfiction. This is the hardest part to verify through research, particularly if it’s an historical biography. An excellent blog by Elizabeth Bird dated April 1, 2020 debates the use of quotes in Nonfiction.
The difference between Informational Fiction and Nonfiction applies to all genres. I look at Lisa Genova’s novels as Informational Fiction. Lisa is a neuroscientist and acclaimed author who has written fiction stories based on her research as a scientist. STILL ALICE addresses early-onset Alzheimer’s and EVERY NOTE PLAYED describes the devastating affects ALS has on someone’s body. There are a multitude of excellent Nonfiction samples. AbeBooks lists a variety of 50 essential, according to that site, nonfiction books.
Whatever your genre, keep writing and reading.