Writing non-fiction

[Jabrosky]

Back in my undergraduate years, I took great pleasure in writing academic papers. I would even write them for fun without a professor assigning them beforehand. It was actually fairly easy for me to do as long as I cared about my topic. One time when I was taking a course on African music, I typed up a six-page paper within one morning and ended up with a ~95% score on it. Experiences like this have convinced me that I could have some fun writing informative non-fiction for a living.

Honestly, I seem to have an easier time writing non-fiction than fiction of any genre. Doing the research can take some time and serious probing, but once I get that over with, all I have to do is relay information in support of my argument without worrying about prettying it up. In addition having a clear thesis in mind can do wonders for guiding me through a project and getting it finished.

Has anyone here ever entertained the prospect of writing non-fiction too?

 

[Chilari]

Yes, one of my other projects is a book about ancient Corinth. It was a major city in Classical Greece, but is largely ignored in modern times - probably because of Victorian Christian beliefs about the classical city's foremost temple, the Aphrodisium, which was also a sacred brothel, and because very little was written about the city and its people and what was written has largely been lost. But there's over a century of excavation material and all sorts of snippets in Herotodus, Thucydides and other sources about the wars and politics the city was involved in, the rulers of the city and so on, so there is stuff that can be said.

The problem, of course, is research. I'm quite happy doing research, but finding the time is tricky, and so is finding sources I can read for free. Some journal articles cost as much as $12 each, and there are literally hundreds of them. So I'm starting on the stuff for which copyright has expired, plus a few books I have, including a few I used for an assignment I did at uni which sparked my interest in Corinth in the first place.

But at the moment, it's a low priority. Maybe I should set definite targets, like doing enough research to write a short blog post about Corinth every month. After the move later this month I might try that out. I'll actually have the space to do the research too - my current desk isn't designed for books spread out across it like my old desk in my parents' house I am stealing to take to the new flat is.

 

[Feo Takahari]

I've considered writing philosophy papers. I took a class for a requirement in college, then took another when the first didn't count. Both treated my beliefs as a historical curiosity, long since debunked, with little or no relevance to the present day. I had responses to the "debunking" arguments, and I believe those arguments miss the point, but it doesn't seem like anyone else has made my counterarguments before. I don't know if I'm any good at writing philosophy, but I can at least bring a new approach.

 

[SeverinR]

I have written non-fiction in school, got an A+ on all of those reports.
But I just don't get the excitement of creating like I do when I write Fantasy.