Questions tagged [non-fiction]
Non-fiction is a form of prose writing that factually describes real events and people, sometimes offering additional commentary. This tag should be used for any questions relating to non-fiction, including non-fiction formatting and technique, non-fiction critiques, and the publishing of non-fiction.
266 questions
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How do I manage my online references?
I am writing a non-fiction book. I am doing lot of research online for the same. Most of the material I have included is from youtube videos, blogs, some other websites but none of it is from ...
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How do I go about writing a biographical account of my father? [closed]
I want to write a book involving the life of my father. He's been a political activist during his youth and the events that he narrates are worthy to be recorded.
But I am confused as to what it ...
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4
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What is the literary form or style of a story with no heroes?
I have a piece of non-fiction to write that I'll be doing by telling a story. It's somewhere between a news report, op-ed, and historical lesson, but told as a short story.
In this story there are ...
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How do I properly write in facts without harming anyone?
I'm currently writing, or starting to write, a book that discusses misandry and the such. I'm going to try to use as much evidence as I can without it seeming harmful.
For example, I want to add in a ...
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How to list main ideas in a conclusion chapter without being repetitive with the wording?
In the conclusions chapter of my book (technical, non fiction writing) I want to go over the main ideas I addressed throughout the entire book, as a reminder for the reader and really drive in some of ...
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How popular is report type book?
I'm professionally an engineer and though I've written a few articles for a website, it is nothing much. I quite like writing but I can't say I'm very skilled at it, but I am good at searching things ...
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Pictures in my book
I have recently been diagnosed with ALS. I was keeping a journal on the CaringBridge site, and I got enough feedback about it that I have decided to turn it into a book. I have added memories of my ...
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Is it a big no-no to have different sections in each chapter?
For non fiction writing, is it a must to structure all chapters in the same way?
For example, a book has a few chapters, with each chapter having a few sections that name the topic that's being ...
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When should I include a ''Note to The Reader'' section of my non-fiction book?
Background
I am writing a non-fiction book on epistemology. After my book's introduction I have included a note to my reader where I have briefly described my motivation for the layout of the book and ...
- 103
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278
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How to convert non-fiction narrative to monologue
I'm working on an audio book about history, and I've decided to have the audio book recited as a monologue, to make it somewhat more engaging, but I've written the original draft for the book as a ...
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Fiction copyright, mythologies and interpretations of ancient texts?
So, I understand that ancient mythologies and their characters such as Zeus etc are part of the public domain. However, what happens to individual interpretations of ancient texts?
For example, a ...
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How do you write articles without plagiarizing when everything has essentially been said about the topic at hand?
Basically, when dealing with non-fiction topics like business or security or Information Technology or any other factual topic, there is really only so many ways you can write the facts using the ...
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"Dear Stack Exchange, I am very disappointed in you" - How to construct a strong opening line in a letter?
In light of recent events, I intended to write a simple letter of complaint to StackExchange. The obvious thing to do would be to write an opening with the fact such as
It came to my knowledge that ...
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Correct way of Citing References in a writing a Non-Fiction book?
I am trying to write a non-fiction book about summarizing core computer science concepts. I plan to self publish this book through the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing program. My target audience ...
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Can I include personal experiences in nonfiction?
I am writing a book mostly about the history of my local airport. This will include the changes from the earliest airlines and airports til today. What I want to know, for example, I write about the ...
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How to write a non-fiction book? [closed]
I've heard that in order to write a non-fiction book I need to write notes and then put them together to make a book, but I'm writing notes from possible 4 completely different books, so when should I ...
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How to maintain sentence variety when writing a self description?
When I write to a "describe yourself" type prompt, I find myself wildly overusing "I am ..." type sentences. What are good ways to vary prose in this situation? (Preferably with examples)
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Using my blog comments from other people in my book
I’m writing a non-fiction book. The book is based around a blog I wrote. There were comments on the blog from family and friends, do I need to get their permission to use these comments or can I ...
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How to write a nice frame challenge?
When answering questions on Stack Exchange, some of us challenge the assumptions of the author. These frame challenges can often be quite popular answers. This popularity, however, can simply be a ...
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Past vs. present tense when referring to a fictional character
What would you write when referring to a fictional character in a non-fiction work? e.g. Tom Sawyer is a boy, he has no parents, he goes on adventures or Tom Sawyer was a boy, he had no parents, he ...
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How to write a good moderator nomination post?
Another stack site I use is currently having an election and I am considering nominating. There are two parts to the nomination process; the nomination itself and the questionnaire to candidates. This ...
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The art of clickbait captions
We all have seen at least one of these clickbaits (or some variation thereof):
"single mom discovers the meaning of life with a simple trick"
or
"billionaires don't want you to know this ...
- 10.6k
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How to find the right publisher in the USA besides contacting literary agents?
Is it possible to contact USA publishers directly? If so, can I find publishers by genre, like I can find literary agents by genre?
Or do publishers have no interest in genre? If so, what's the best ...
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How to find the right literary agent in the USA?
I want to publish an English language book in the USA as a foreigner. Someone told me that the USA is mainly interested in American subjects, so anything else is quite hard to sell. Besides the fact ...
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Writing about oneself objectively
I was recently updating some of my Stack Exchange profiles and I remembered how much I hate writing about myself. It isn't just Stack Exchange profiles either. It's resume cover letters. It's college ...
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When blogging recipes, how can I support both readers who want the narrative/journey and ones who want the printer-friendly recipe?
Increasingly often, if you Google for a recipe your search results will be full of long, image-rich blog posts that, somewhere in there, have the actual recipe you were looking for. Many of these ...
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Plain language with long required phrases
I am trying to create documentation for an application, and it's for end users who use keyboard (not mouse) and a screen reader.
Some of our conventions require us to always use the full phrase as ...
- 4,642
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Making science for toddlers easy to remember
I have been intending to create a book for toddlers with basic scientific notions in it. Most books for this target readership that I have seen present whatever content in the form of a story, quite ...
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How do I keep an essay about "feeling flat" from feeling flat?
I was invited to participate in an anthology of essays about a tv show. I chose an episode based on the Wikipedia summary (since it had been so long since I had watched it), but after I watched it, I ...
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Organizing categories and tags for a writing blog
I've started a writing blog (specifically for research and other information about my novel in progress) with Wordpress and am having a very difficult time with categorization. In other blogs I've ...
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How can I trim my word count and still be proud of what I've written?
I am a new writer. My work is focused on real people. I ask a series of questions and go from there. Its all about their personal journeys with health. I like to capture the feeling of what people ...
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What challenges are there in writing a fantasy cookbook?
I ask mostly out of curiosity. Obviously, a proper cookbook would involve real ingredients and not fantasy creatures. There's such a cookbook for Skyrim and Lord of the Rings. What I am curious about ...
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Using words from another book
So, I thankfully own a video-game history book which I anticipate using to write, rather, a Christian, family-friendly account of this subject. To be clear, I'm not going to be rephrasing from the ...
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Self-publishing Nonfiction Help Guides on Amazon?
This is inspired by this question, but taking it in a non-fiction direction:
Is there a benefit to publishing non-fiction ebooks on Amazon as opposed to just putting them on your blog?
Let's assume ...
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Examples & humor in educational podcast
I know Technical Writing is not supposed to have our personalities in it, but when I taught, I sought out educational videos/resources that had a bit of personality in them. Example: The Oatmeal's ...
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Podcast Script - Recurring Elements
I'm finally starting to get my educational podcast together, which will focus on specific writing/editing topics, in small chunks (so they can be played in a class if the teacher wants to). The goal ...
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Is my work fiction or non-fiction?
I am currently working on a story. I would like to publish this on a literary magazine website, and this website has only three categories - fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
My story is probably ...
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How to respond to overenthusiastic copy-editing
I was approached by a science magazine to write a long-form critical essay, and I gave them a 6000-word piece with extensive endnotes. After two months of being with the editorial team it comes back ...
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Do I need to get people to sign a waiver to include their content in my book?
I am working on a book that will be based on the results of ten interview questions that I am asking of multiple well-known-in-their-field people.
Do I need to get these folks to sign a waiver or ...
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How to write a memorial plaque?
I've been tasked with drafting the text for a memorial plaque dedicated to group X. Group X was big, diverse, and had several hundred years of rich history. Amount of space I have is 2-3 sentences.
I ...
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how many copies of Hitchhiking with an Angel [closed]
My brother wrote and it was published in 2003. Not a novel but it was published and can find even in amazon.He has never recieved 1 penny. he asked me many times to find out what I could His name as ...
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David Foster Wallace's technique in "Consider the Lobster"
After reading the essay "Consider the Lobster" by the famous writer David Foster Wallace, I realized that Wallace had employed a rather sly technique. If you're interested in answering this question, ...
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Do I need to provide in-text citations in a news article for school?
So, for my Senior English Class, I need to write a news article about technology. However, I'm unsure as to whether or not I need in-text citations for said paper. Do I need in-text citations for a "...
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Writing a book that involves an ex husband
I'm new to the writing world (other than writing a lot as a child). I want to write my story to help empower women in similar situations but it involves writing about my ex. How does one tell their ...
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Mentioning famous person in autobiography
I've been writing an autobiography about sexual abuse that happened to me throughout my childhood. The abuser was the dad of a famous singer. Once I was old enough (18) to leave home and file charges (...
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In a book about political activism, can the author recommend illegal acts--or is that a crime, too? [closed]
We are writing a short book on how activists can fight against destructive governance...something like Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.
But this book does recommend some specific illegal acts, ...
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Is a parenthetical reference to a later part of the text redundant in non-fiction writing?
The response will either be an evasion (we will come to that later),
or it will be . . .
Is the above (or similar) parenthetical redundant?
(I couldn't find a suitable tag for this question, ...
- 263
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241
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Do I need permission to name organizations in a non-fiction book?
I am self-publishing a dog photography book. I have obtained permissions for all subjects in the book. One of the pictures I am using has the American Kennel Club (AKC) logo in it. I'm assuming I need ...
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Release for book of interviews
I would like to write an ebook in which I ask people to share their experiences in a specific topic. Where can I find a good release for these people to sign? Do I have to pay the interviewee? ...
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Creative Non-Fiction - Writing without Plot, Story, Characters, or Ending
I've just started reading Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby and it strikes me, when reading about his obsession with Arsenal that I too have an obsession - with words.
I would like to write a creative non-...
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