Laura Purdie Salas and creative nonfiction and fascinating facts and

Laura Purdie Salas wrote an interesting take about how writing nonfiction is often a creative process on the Celebrate Science blog today.

I agree with Laura the robots don't write our books.  That would be boring.

I remember one day when I was giving a talk at a school about writing nonfiction when one upset student jumped up and shouted, "How can you write stuff like that.  Nonfiction is boring!"

That stopped me cold. My immediate response was, "Well. If it's boring, I can't write about it.  I ONLY WRITE ABOUT THE INTERESTING STUFF."
Think about it.  The Interesting stuff.
It got so that I included this bit in every talk I gave from then on.
I look for the FASCINATING FACTS.

Where we differ from creative fiction writers is that nobody is desperately waiting for the next book by that famous author... (whoever)   People are looking for a certain subject,  If they're lucky, they find one by a good author who is passionate about the subject, which makes the reader excited about the subject.

Librarians, on the other hand, when they discover a writer who can present nonfiction in interesting ways will always look for other books by that same author, no matter the subject, and will purchase them for their library system instead of books by less talented writers.  (and publishers get a reputation among librarians when they consistently publish either dull or fascinating books.)

Nonfiction Monday -- Creative Nonfiction

In a recent blog entry, Melissa Stewart talks about Creative Nonfiction and all its many forms.  She says that her ideas on this topic are evolving, but that her main point is that there is a lot more creativity going into contemporary nonfiction than just storytelling.  She'd love for you to read her blog post about this over on her Celebrate Science blog, plus do read other posts she's written about it, and please contribute your own ideas on the topic.

If you've gone to many SCBWI events recently and have noticed that more information about writing nonfiction is being offered (especially at National), you have Melissa Stewart to thank. She's the person who convinced the SCBWI board that this is an important area for us writers to know about.

Links to more blog posts about nonfiction are being gathered over at the Miss Yingling Reads blog today.
-wo

When is nonfiction, NOT nonfiction?

Whats the difference between nonfiction, 'creative nonfiction,' and 'informational fiction?
Check out this article by Jan Fields.

(Hint: if your writing has anything made-up in it, it's NOT nonfiction.)