Thoughts & Things

Using Fiction As Inspiration For Non-Fiction

Several days ago, I made a blog entry about "Using Non-Fiction As Inspiration For Fiction" . I am a big fan of taking reality, and turning it into a fictional tale. Once I got thinking about it though, I realised that I also get inspired to create non-fiction based upon the fiction I read.

I can't count the number of novels I have read where I noted one particular element or another, and thought about the research behind it. I've found myself looking up real information based on fictional books, movies, and television, and wanting to write about that information. Some of it has been outlandish statements that I was curious to know the truth of, while other instances were details of a story that I wondered about the accuracy of.

Sometimes it's simply a matter of checking to see if the book included any sources, while other times it involves more digging. Of course, if I can't find the information at all, I assume it's fiction. I've read entire non-fiction books, listened to podcasts, read articles online and in magazines, watched youtube videos and documentaries, and so on, all in the search for the truth in a bit of fiction.

When I find that bit of truth, I like to write about it. It can be incredibly educational to piece together enough facts to create an essay, an article, or a blog post explaining the details of something I picked up in a novel. Sometimes it means simplifying something complex. Sometimes it involves creating a list of odd bits of information that might pique someone's interest. It can also mean connecting bits of information that others might not have collected in such a way before.

It can also be incredibly interesting to read a novel and draw your own conclusions based upon a philosophy, belief, etc, and compare that to the world at large. Looking at the minutia in a novel can provide a great deal of insight, and be worth writing about all on its own.

Just as much as you can turn non-fiction into a magnificent story, I think you can also turn a novel into a researched piece of your own writing. Those details could be even then part of the non-fiction details you use for a piece of fiction. Why not be inspired by your own article?

(I have committed to blogging daily with Give It 100. This is Day Sixty-Three. Seven days of leave taken total.)