When I was a kid, I thought I was a fiction writer. When I was a teenager, I thought I was a journalist. When I was in my 20s, I thought I was a poet. I’ve come to realize as an adult that I’m a little bit of everything: I’m a creative nonfiction writer. My natural style lends itself best to a certain kind of narrative form, while my interests (even as a reader) lean toward fact rather than fiction. It was strange to realize at first, but as I become more comfortable as a writer, I become more comfortable realizing where my strengths and tendencies lie.

Some musicians can play both percussion and string instruments, while others specialize in one or the other; I think the same goes with writers. No one questions why a crime novelist isn’t a poet, so why question why a journalist isn’t a romance writer or why a storyteller isn’t a sports reporter? Prose is always prose, but it comes in many different guises. Me, I’m more a documenter than an inventor, more of a storyteller than a reporter (and more a guitarist than a drummer). I’m better at and more interested in documenting the fantastic things that happen in reality than in imagining a fantastic reality out of thin air. It may be niche-y or odd and difficult to explain to friends and strangers, but truth be told, I don’t even read most bestselling novels, let alone have the desire to write one. I still dabble in short fiction, and I’d still love that jewel of a bestselling book: mine would just happen to be a nonfiction one.
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Hi George

Well, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that it is without doubt possible to be a copywriter or write non-fiction, and write a novel as well. I’ve been doing it for about seven or eight years.

But that leads me to the bad news, I’m afraid. From starting my novel to getting an agent last month, it’s taken almost four and a half years. Though it can be done in much less time, if your work full-time like I do, that’s not an unrealistic figure.

Your story will come, so long as you don’t expect it to happen overnight (which I’m sure you don’t). Writing a novel takes an awful lot of patience and even more determination to plough on when everything suggests you should do the opposite.

Iain

I think writing is a medium in which huge strides can be made. Every book, magazine article as well as blog post we read makes us better writers. Every single one of them.

Then, of course, there are books strictly on writing–which are obviously also of great help.

So, I tend to think that a writer can do it all. But they would have to be passionate about it. If a non-fiction writer desires to write fiction but isn’t really passionate about it, it’s probably not going to be very good.

Personally, at this time, I have no real desire to create a novel. Nor do I think fiction is superior to non-fiction–not even close.

What has caught my interest of late is short stories/anecdotes. I really do enjoy writing them from time to time and have come to understand how difficult they are to do.

I recently wrote up one and felt like I received an entire education on writing by doing so.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntended´s last blog ..A Chance of a Lifetime Only Comes Once

George,

By reading this post, I can tell you were destined to be a writer. Your writing style is spectacular, and makes the reader want to continue reading.

I’ve always thought I’m somewhat of a talented writer, especially for my age. I’m only 17, and have wrote well over 1000 articles — all of which I usually write and sell to bloggers and webmasters. I hope to continue writing for a long time to come.
The Gooroo @ Finance Advisory Stop´s last blog ..Moving – For The Better Or Worse?