What is Narrative Nonfiction?

As a self-published author, you are asked to choose a genre for your book. The easy part is deciding whether your book is fiction or nonfiction. The more difficult part is determining what type of fiction or nonfiction to categorize your book.

Basically, there are two types of nonfiction books: narrative nonfiction and prescriptive nonfiction. All biographies and memoirs are considered narrative nonfiction, while how-to books are described as prescriptive nonfiction.

Remember, if you are writing a memoir, you must be able to attest to the accuracy of the details. In addition, the story must have the same elements as fiction stories: a beginning, middle, and end as well as conflict, interesting characters, setting, etc. If your memoir doesn’t meet these standards, you may want to write a fictional story loosely based on real life. This allows you to add information to create a better story and protects you from possible legal issues.

ABOUT WENDY STETINA: Wendy Stetina is a sales and marketing professional with over 30 years experience in the printing and publishing industry. Wendy works as the Director of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable customer service reps and publishing consultants; and together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process in order to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction, or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Wendy Stetina can put you on the right path.

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