The first session of the morning was on non-fiction and the panel...
Claire Winyard – director of TV drama and documentary
Can’t create anything good out of bad fiction
Commercial constraints are good, pressure is good
Brian Viner – journalist, TV critic and author of comic non-fiction
It’s all in the editing
Phil Hewitt - arts editor and non-fiction author
The skill isn’t in doing it fast but in keeping going
Can't attribute the comment below but they came out of the discussion...
You as author are best bested to publicized your book
The story has a universal appeal
-the power of the characters, not the setting
-emotional power
-universal story
Help the author think big
The other big issue that came out this session was that somehow non-fiction was perceived as less than fiction. I confess this question took me by surprise because in my own head I thought it was the other way around....but the comment 'it reads like fiction' was used to demonstrate that fiction was held above....
What do you think...is non-fiction the second class citizen?
2 comments:
I wouldn't think in terms of class - both address different reading markets - but I have found among non-fiction writers a sense of superiority when the subject of fiction comes up. I've always put this down to their failure to realise how much planning and research can go into producing a good piece of fiction.
Liz X
It's funny how they feel undervalued by us and the world - Liz!
lx
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