Conveying a message

[Solidus]

What do you guys think is the best way for an author to convey a message?
Fiction or non-fiction?

[Skipping Record]

I am actually sitting in my English classroom discussing this topic with my professor right now (or rather, moments ago before he began speaking with another student).

What he says (and I agree with him) is that fiction is nothing more than non-fiction with less restrictions on factual information. In order to be believeable, however, there must be some basis in fact.
I propose that it can also go the other way. I have trouble reading non-fiction unless I read it as a fictional story. But that's just because of my personal preference.

I believe it all depends on the author as well as the one reading. I personally get more out of non-fiction, just because that is what I enjoy more. The less effort I have to put into getting my mind to go over the words and understand them, the more I'm going to get out of it.

[vivekian]

I think that it also depends on the reader to a large extent. What he/she would like to read - fiction or non-fiction? Sometimes fiction works best depending on what you are trying to convey and sometimes non-fiction also reads like fiction which of course depends on the authors' style of writing.

For instance, I have loved Marquez's Fiction whereas his attempt at Non-Fiction always puts me off...

[mir]

i think fiction, actually. With fiction, authors can twist events to those most fitting his/her message, put his/her words in the characters' mouths; express their own views through a clean-slate medium.

in non-fiction, there are all the constrainsts of following what actually happened, and also if you put in your own views too much people will call it propaganda.

but i write fiction, with lots of hidden and not-so hidden messages :), so i wouldn't really know.

[PeterL]

It depends on the message that the author wants to convey. In fiction the message can be conveyed directly in the plot and dialogue, or it can be conveyed indirectly through what is not mentioned but becomes clear over the course of the work. Consider Slaughterhouse 5 and the Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut as examples of the first sort and consider The Island of the Day Before by Eco as and example of the second sort.

In Non-Fiction the message has to be stated directly, and that can be less than ideal. Coming at a conclusion indirectly in non-fiction requires showing all of the evidence, then saying to the reader: What do you think? Is such and such right, or what?

[certiorari]

I usually go by experience and observations. I can see how some events in a fiction story can relate to an author's experiences and what they had observed. Fiction, though, can be very realistic and very fantastic at the same time. Messages can be said with drastic changes from what would have really happened. Or like Aesop's fables it can be simple life lesson.

Non-fiction pretty much has to be true. The only exception would probably be Autobiographies because memories of a person can be very different from how others experienced it, or they just can't remember it like it just happened so the message would be obscured. If the book was more of a textbook then information would already be documented.

I think it's just how people look at things when the message is being said.

"Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin." -Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

[PeterL]

...
Non-fiction pretty much has to be true....


Didn't you mean that "Non-fiction should be true." In my experience most of what is put forth as non-fiction doesn't reflect observable reality. Newspapers are an excellent example of non-fiction writing that should be true, although it is not necessarily true.

[certiorari]

Didn't you mean that "Non-fiction should be true." In my experience most of what is put forth as non-fiction doesn't reflect observable reality. Newspapers are an excellent example of non-fiction writing that should be true, although it is not necessarily true.

Well, yes. My wording can be off sometimes :).

Newspapers are somewhat based on fact and yes, not necessarily true. It's like rumors. The message that rumors usually convey get started when... for example, Al sees Marie doing something that Al thinks is strange for her. So Al tells his friends and Al's friends say that Marie was doing something completely different than what Al witnessed. What I'm saying is experiences and observations can be jumbled from what really happened, and yes, that non-fiction should be true, but it's not always true. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. :)

[PeterL]

Well, yes. My wording can be off sometimes :).

Newspapers are somewhat based on fact and yes, not necessarily true. It's like rumors. The message that rumors usually convey get started when... for example, Al sees Marie doing something that Al thinks is strange for her. So Al tells his friends and Al's friends say that Marie was doing something completely different than what Al witnessed. What I'm saying is experiences and observations can be jumbled from what really happened, and yes, that non-fiction should be true, but it's not always true. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. :)

Yes, rumor and newspaper stories; that's a good comparison. It is unfortunate, but most reporters are the people who are worst at reporting. As long as readers keep in mind that the stories are just one person's perspective, they can be useful, but axccepting them as actual fact can be a major problem.