Explore nonfiction and its characteristics. Read informative and literary nonfiction definitions, discover different types of nonfiction genres, and view examples.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Nonfiction Definition, Types & Examples
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Frequently Asked Questions
What makes something nonfiction?
Nonfiction is a genre of literature based on facts. The people, events, and settings in nonfiction writing are real. Sometimes the details may be from one person's perspective, but they are not imaginary and can be verified.
What is fiction vs. nonfiction?
Fiction is writing based on characters, settings, and events the author made up. Nonfiction writing is based on real people, places, and events.
What are the types of nonfiction?
There are two main types of nonfiction writing. They are literary nonfiction and informative nonfiction. Literary nonfiction often uses storytelling to convey facts, such as a memoir or journal. Informative nonfiction includes articles and interviews.
Table of Contents
ShowNonfiction (spelled non-fiction in British English) is a genre of literature based on facts, actual events, or real people. It is generally contrasted with fiction, a genre of literature that describes imaginary settings, events, and characters. Some forms of nonfiction can sometimes be mistaken for fiction because they are written as prose like a novel, but the essential difference is that the text must be factual to be considered nonfiction.
What are Nonfiction Books?
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Nonfiction texts (including those beyond just books) are intended to inform and educate readers on a particular topic or various topics by presenting accurate and truthful information. Nonfiction books cover a wide range of topics and include self-help books, academic textbooks, cookbooks, reference books, journalism, travel guides, parenting books, and educational resources.
Characteristics of Nonfiction
Given the meaning of nonfiction, in nonfiction writing, an author writes about real people, places, and events to inform readers. Often, nonfiction texts may include additional features to support or illustrate their claims. These may include:
- photographs
- captions
- diagrams
- maps
- glossaries
- table of contents
- cited sources
Nonfiction writing may be organized using various text structures such as:
- Cause and Effect: The writer describes actions (cause) that led to the main event (effect).
- Sequential: The information is presented in order (the beginning, middle, and end).
- Problem and Solution: The writer will present an issue that needs to be fixed, followed by one or more possible ways to fix it.
- Descriptive: The writer includes details to help a reader create mental images of the subject.
- Compare and Contrast: The writer uses details to explain ways in which two or more subjects are alike or different.
Importance of Nonfiction
Nonfiction is a valuable resource across societies, as it provides access to critical information, helps to educate readers, and helps to foster deeper understandings of the world around us. While fiction can be educational, nonfiction is often a crucial means of exposing audiences to factual information and new concepts, through academic writing, for example. Without nonfiction, the lesson you are reading right now would not be possible!
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There are two primary forms of nonfiction writing. These are literary and informative nonfiction. While the definition of nonfiction indicates that nonfiction must include information that is true and can be verified and this is true of both forms, the two differ from one another in the way that they present information to readers.
Literary Nonfiction
Literary nonfiction, or creative nonfiction, is a sub-genre of nonfiction where the author uses storytelling to inform, educate, and entertain the reader. Although, like with all nonfiction, the people, places, and events must be factual and verifiable, literary nonfiction is often considered more engaging than informative nonfiction because the author uses fewer technical words, inserts their point of view, or includes personal accounts.
Authors who write literary nonfiction use literary techniques common in fiction writing to immerse the reader rather than merely presenting facts. However, literary nonfiction must still be based on facts; otherwise, it becomes a work of fiction. A literary nonfiction text is typically read in order since literary nonfiction tends to tell a story.
There are many different variants of literary nonfiction. These include, but are not limited to:
- Historical Nonfiction: Writing about a past event from one person's perspective, often by incorporating perspective shifts or immersive techniques.
- Travel Writing and Travelogues: These often can be written in a literary nonfiction style by incorporating personal narratives, imagery, or the author's perspective.
- Science Writing: This type of writing often focuses on a discovery, a scientist, or the impact of science on the world and may be written from the perspectives of those involved.
- Autobiographies, Memoirs, Biographies, and Diaries: All are different personal accounts of a person's life and experiences that are often strong candidates for immersive writing techniques.
Informative Nonfiction
Informative nonfiction presents facts in a simple straightforward manner in order to inform a reader or explain a concept. The author of an informative nonfiction text takes an objective, unbiased view when writing on the topic. Informative nonfiction can still be written to entertain, but its primary purpose is to teach or inform. Typically, an informative nonfiction text is organized by chapter and broken into subtopics. A reader can use the table of contents to locate the subtopic they are interested in and read the text in any order.
Reference books such as encyclopedias, news articles, and textbooks are examples of informative nonfiction. A writer may interview a person of interest and publish the interview to share details about the person's life, profession, or involvement in an upcoming event. This interview is considered nonfiction because it is based on facts provided by the interviewee.
An encyclopedia provides details on various topics, from historical events to current events and political leaders to cultural traditions. Textbooks offer detailed information on one topic. Often these nonfiction texts include summaries and questions to help a reader review or study the information. News articles focus on current events and provide facts and details of the event and the people involved. News articles may include quotes that state an opinion, but the writer remains unbiased in presenting the information.
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There are many examples of nonfiction texts, across both literary and informative forms. Here are just a few examples.
Literary Nonfiction:
- Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: Krakauer pieces together the events of a young man who ventures into the wilderness in 1992.
- Educated by Tara Westover: This book is the author's memoir of her experience in a survivalist family and her experience in seeking education.
- Night by Elie Wiesel: Night is a memoir by the author recounting his experience during the Holocaust in German concentration camps.
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were unknowingly donated to science, and her impact on the medical world.
Informative Nonfiction:
- The Encyclopedia Britannica: The Encyclopedia Britannica is a general knowledge text with thousands of biographies and articles on various topics.
- National Geographic Concise Atlas of the World: This atlas is a collection of maps and graphics of various regions of the Earth.
- The Chicago Manual of Style: This manual is a guide on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and style.
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Nonfiction writing is based on actual events and facts. It includes accounts from real people and details of real places. Fiction writing includes imaginary details, people, and events. Nonfiction writing has text structures, including diagrams, photographs, and captions. There are two main branches of nonfiction. Literary nonfiction is nonfiction writing that tells a story and uses literary techniques to express ideas and entertain. As a result of using imagery and other literary techniques, some literary nonfiction may be confused with fictional stories. The primary difference is that literary nonfiction is based on real people, places, and events, whereas an author makes up the people, places, and events in a fictional text. Biographies, historical fiction, travelogues, and diaries are examples of literary nonfiction. Informative nonfiction is writing intended to inform readers of real people, places, and events. Examples of informative nonfiction include encyclopedias, textbooks, newspaper articles, and interviews in publication. A writer can structure their nonfiction writing to present details using text structures such as problem and solution, cause and effect, sequential, compare and contrast, or descriptive.
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Video Transcript
Types of Literature
Literature: it's a big term that encompasses just about every type of written word. It may be overwhelming to think about all the different types of literature, but there are actually two main groups all literature can be categorized under. These two categories are fiction and nonfiction. Fiction includes all written works that are invented or made-up by the author. This includes novels, short stories, and poems. Nonfiction, then, comprises of the written works based on real events. In this way, literature that is nonfiction can help us understand our world. Let's look closer at the characteristics and examples of nonfiction.
Characteristics of Nonfiction
There are several important traits of all nonfiction works. Most importantly, nonfiction writing must involve real people, places, and events. The stories told in nonfiction works must be true. If something in the story is made-up, then it falls under fiction. Nonfiction must also contain facts, which are information that can be proved to be true. With this in mind, a writer can select and organize the facts in a number of ways in order to accomplish his purpose. Some facts can be omitted, and others can be shown in a specific light, but overall, facts must be present in the written work.
Most nonfiction works also have a similar author's purpose, which is the reason the author writes. Most nonfiction is written to express or to inform. If the author's purpose is to express, the concepts expressed are always based on true, real-life situations. Because of this, one could argue all nonfiction serves to inform the reader, as well.
Types of Nonfiction
Now, let's look at the two types of nonfiction. The first is literary nonfiction, which includes nonfiction writing that reads like fiction. This means that literary nonfiction includes the elements of fiction, like characters, setting, and plot; however, in nonfiction these elements must be real and not imaginary. The stories are meant to amuse the reader, as well as inform on true stories. Literary nonfiction includes biographies, autobiographies, and essays.
The other type of nonfiction is informative nonfiction. The purpose of informative nonfiction is to explain or inform about a concept or situation. This type of nonfiction exists to provide the reader with factual information. Informative nonfiction includes articles and interviews.
Examples of Nonfiction
There are many types of nonfiction examples in the world of literature. Remember, literary nonfiction includes works written like stories, but based on true events and people. All autobiographies and biographies fall into this category. Here are some well-known autobiographies and biographies:
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
- Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
- Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
- Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie
The second type of nonfiction, informative nonfiction, also includes a variety of forms. Remember, informative nonfiction provides factual information, and the two most common forms are interviews and articles. An interview occurs when one person asks another questions about a specific topic. So, any article you read in a magazine that interviews a celebrity is an example of informative nonfiction.
Another common example is any local or national newspaper. Newspaper articles came into existence in order to inform people of important current events.
Lesson Summary
To sum up, literature is a massive concept that incorporates all types of the written word. The two main categories of literature are fiction, which includes imaginary stories, and nonfiction, which includes writing based on true events. Nonfiction must include real-life situations and factual information and usually has a purpose to express or to inform.
There are two types of nonfiction. Literary nonfiction has all the same elements as fiction, but those elements are real-life examples. Autobiographies and biographies are included in this category. Informative nonfiction provides facts and information. Interviews and articles are included in this category. Overall, nonfiction writing provides answers to our questions and gives us facts about the world around us.
Learning Outcomes
As the video ends, you should find it easier to:
- Describe the characteristics of nonfiction
- Cite examples of nonfiction works
- Distinguish between literary nonfiction and informative nonfiction
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