I didn't start writing fiction until I was well into my 40s. Before then, I had written only academic and medical reference works. Fiction is much more difficult to write than non-fiction - but infinitely more satisifying. It is also more frightening. You can hide yourself completely in non-fiction, but you can't hide who you are in fiction. Everything about you -your attitudes, your thoughts, and your feelings (especially your feelings) - comes shining through your characters. It takes courage and strength to lay yourself bare to the entire world. For, above all, a fiction writer must tell the truth.