Using Fiction Techniques in Your Non-Fiction Writing

Hi everyone. This is Janice Thompson, full-time freelance author and speaker. Welcome to this lesson on using fiction techniques in your non-fiction writing.

If you’ve been writing non-fiction for any length of time, you might be struggling with boredom. Maybe your pieces are feeling a bit unimaginative. They fall flat. If so, take a few lessons from your neighbor, the fiction writer. He lives in an exciting world filled with metaphors, strategic thinking, humor, and creativity.

Whenever he feels like it, he can reach into his bag of tricks to employ fun and exciting literary components so that his stories will spring to life. The fiction writer uses great characterization methods, careful plotting, strong themes, individual voice, point of view, and more. . .tapping into his creativity all the while. Non-fiction writers, we have a lot to learn from our counterparts. If we follow their lead, boring, commonplace non-fiction becomes a thing of the past.

I’m going to give you ten fiction techniques that you can employ with the non- fiction pieces you’re writing.

We’ll start with theme, which we covered in a prior lesson.

FICTION ELEMENT #1: THEME: A theme is a broad idea. The general message. Some would say it’s the overarching moral of the story. Fiction writers are accustomed to working with themes, but the non-fiction writer is often so rushed that he forgets. Pause to consider the benefits of letting your theme shine through in everything you write.

FICTION ELEMENT #2: TONE: Tone is critical in fiction, but it’s even more so in non-fiction. How you determine your tone depends on two things: 1). Your audience. 2). Your topic. Tone is how you come across. Does your compassion shine through? Do you sound angry? Frustrated? Happy-go-lucky? Let’s pause to think about how important this is. You wouldn’t write a silly note to someone who was dying. No, you would write it in the correct tone, the correct voice. If you were writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper, you wouldn’t write it like a casual email to a friend. If you were writing a true crime piece, you’d leave the light-hearted tone off. And if you were writing a comedic self-help book, you wouldn’t use dark images to convey your message. In other words, the tone needs to match the subject and that will change from book-to-book, topic-to-topic, audience to audience.

FICTION ELEMENT #3: WRITER’S VOICE: The fiction writer thrives on letting his voice shine through. The non-fiction writer could—and should—do the same thing. But, what is this vague thing known as “the writer’s voice?”

Imagine your telephone rings. You don’t take the time to glance at the Caller ID, so you’re completely unaware of who’s on the other end of the phone. You answer and hear your mother’s voice, which you recognize right away. You don’t need to see her to know it’s mom. Now imagine you answer the phone and hear your kid brother’s voice. He’s laughing about some joke he just told. You don’t have to ask, “Who is this?” You know it’s your kid brother. Or maybe you answer the phone and hear your elderly grandfather, his voice shaking and frail on the other end of the line.

Each of us has a unique voice. No one talks like you. No one has your intonations, your lilt, or your cadence. In short, only you are you. And only mom is mom. Only grandpa is grandpa. . .and so on. The same is true with your writing voice. No one can write like you. So, don’t be afraid to be yourself.

When you’re not afraid to be yourself on the written page, your voice will come shining through. Your personality is clear.

To Thine Own Voice Be True!

Here’s a great way to know if you’re being true to your writing voice. If a good friend reads your book and says, “Yes! That’s Bobby!” or “Yes, that sounds just like Mary! No one else on the planet could have written this scene like she did!” then you’ve been true to your voice. In short, you’re being an individual, different from those around you.

Your voice is uniquely you. When you’re true to yourself, your voice is honest. Readers won’t stumble through a scene you’ve written and say, “Man, it sounds like she’s trying to be someone she’s not.” No, they’ll just say, “Wow. Unique voice. No one else could’ve written it like that.”

Your enthusiasm and passion for your topic will shine through if you’re true to yourself. You won’t be able to hide it.

A writer who’s true to himself comes across as authentic. Your book will sound like it was written by a real person. It won’t be phony, stilted or awkward. Readers will feel like they’re getting to know you. By the time they get to the end of they book, they’ll think you’re old friends.

One final thought on voice: Like tone, it’s appropriate to both the audience and the genre.

FICTION ELEMENT #4: POV: I could spend hours discussing POV (point of view) and its importance in both fiction and non-fiction writing. Think of the point of view of your piece in much the same way you’d think of a camera angle. Your point of view character is the one behind the camera. When you’re writing from his POV, you are someone limited, in that the only real perceptions you can

show. . .are his. His thoughts, his feelings, his responses. He can suppose what others are thinking and feeling, but you have to stay inside his head, not head-hop to other characters in the scene. Some would argue that POV is not an issue in non-fiction, but think again. Whose POV will you use to “bring the point home” in the real-life stories in your book? Choose just the right person, just the right character, as it were. Those little vignettes can bring your book to life.

FICTION ELEMENT #5: PLOTTING: The next component of a great non- fiction book is a well-developed plotline. Oh, I know, I know! You thought only novels had to be plotted. Not so! A carefully thought-out non-fiction book will go a long way with an editor. Like the novel, the non-fiction book must have an awesome beginning, middle and end. We addressed the issue of braiding in an earlier lesson. Braid your book in such a way that your reader ends up feeling satisfied as you move in and out, up and down.

All great plots (fiction and non-fiction) will reveal the following:

Goals and motivation

Conflict (internal and external)

Highs and lows, ups and downs (so that the story never grows cold or getsboring)

Great chapter endings (This is so important! Leave ‘em begging for more!)

Continual building toward a great climax

Believable (and satisfactory) resolution in the end

FICTION ELEMENT #6: PACING: Appropriate pacing keeps the action going throughout. Slow the pace when you want to drive home a point. Pick up the pace (using short, choppy sentences) when you want to leave the reader breathless and begging for more.

FICTION ELEMENT #7: CHARACTERIZATION: Don’t settle for shoddy characterization. Bring those characters to life! I use the Pandora’s Box method, which I referred to in another lesson. Using this method, your characters—in this case, the people you’re writing about—have multiple layers and varied motivations, often going back to their childhood. Showing multiple layers is good, because the more you show, the more your reader can relate.

FICTION ELEMENT #8: STYLE: We all have our own style. It’s reflected in our clothing choices, our hairstyle and even the home we live in. It shows up in the car we drive, the people we hang out with and the music we listen to. Why, then, would we think that style wouldn’t be important in our writing? It’s time for a writing style show.

Your writing style has to be completely natural to who you are. You can’t pretend to be something you’re not. Your non-fiction will be stronger if you work with your own strengths. So, choose words in the same way you would choose a blouse or a pair of slacks. Make them fit you, personally. Choose phrase and inflections the same way you would adorn yourself with jewelry or a hairstyle. They’ve got to be the perfect accessory so that your style shines through.

FICTION ELEMENT #9: DIALOGUE/NARRATIVE: Basically, the “telling” of the story falls into a couple of categories: narrative/prose and dialogue. Dialogue is fairly self-explanatory. It includes the back and forth conversations of your characters (with or without the he said, she said tags). Dialogue should always propel the piece forward or offer insight into motivations/situation. Narrative is the glue between conversations. With your narrative, you have an opportunity to share a lot of information. But, beware! As we’ve already mentioned, you don’t want to resort to “telling” when you should be showing.

FICTION ELEMENT #10: A COMPELLING PROPOSAL: Most novel proposals are beautifully written from start to finish. Many non-fiction writers slap together a quick proposal, focusing more on the market analysis than the actual writing. Take a clue from your fiction-writing friends. Editors want to see your writing as well as your carefully thought-out research. Your marketing analysis is important, yes, but so is the writing. Let it shine through in your proposal.

EXERCISE:

Let me close out this lesson with an exercise. Think about your favorite novel. What fiction techniques did you enjoy most? Did it employ humor? Was it a thriller/suspense that kept you on the edge of your seat? Try to use those same techniques that drew you in as you write your non-fiction book.

So, there you have it, non-fiction writers. Maybe you’ll never write the great American novel. Likely, you don’t care to. You’re perfectly happy writing that non-fiction book because you know it stands a better chance of bringing in some cash. But it, like the great American novel, can be compelling, exciting...and lots of fun to write.