What defines narrative non-fiction? How does it differ from journalism?
The best of non-fiction steals from fiction. That s why you hear the terms literary journalism or creative non-fiction the terms vary. It was called new journalism back in the 1960s. It s a craft that s been around for a long time, but has blossomed in the last 30 years. It s journalism, but there is a real emphasis on storytelling: on empathy, trying to understand the world through a protagonist, trying to move from scene to scene like fiction, letting the story spin out itself. The term that I feel most uncomfortable with is creative non-fiction, because it suggests that somehow you can take liberties. The one, never-to-be-chiseled dictum is, it s got to be authentic, genuine, real. For that reason, I like [writer John] McPhee s term, the literature of fact. That s exactly what it is: taking fact and making literature out of it. Is it difficult to force actual events into a narrative structure? Part of the challenge is to go out and find stories, to find something that lends itself t
