Narrative Nonfiction

Narrative nonfiction’s historical context

Before any formal categorisation of narrative nonfiction, works like Xenophon's Anabasis (370 BC) were stories about actual events, written as seven books. It tells the adventurous story of a mercenary army hired by Cyrus The Younger to take Persia. This narrative style has been seen to have progressed into what was later termed New Journalism or even Narrative Documentary.

Back in the Renaissance, books like the slightly sensationalist The Triumph of God’s Revenge Against the Crying and Execrable Sin of Murther (1635) by John Reynolds were being published and achieving bestseller status. These were not journalistic but rather novels based quite closely on true stories. Some critics believe these works to be the origins of the true-crime genre, which is similar in approach and subject matter. True crime is also closely linked to the movement of New Journalism, which has a much broader subject matter approach.

As you can see from this quick overview, the concept of true events narrated as stories is not new but has been refined by more modern authors and become a little more structured since its origins. Many books came between these early novels and the works of New Journalism. It is a worthwhile rabbit hole if the subject interests you.

New Journalism

As a movement, the start of New Journalism has been linked to Tom Wolfe’s article 'The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby' (1963), Gay Talese’s 'Frank Sinatra Has A Cold' (1966), and also the publication of Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood (1966). Wolfe and Talese were both journalists who wrote more engaging narrative style pieces, while Capote was a novelist who uniquely approached journalism.

Wolfe officially defined New Journalism as a genre in his 1973 essay and anthology The New Journalism. The anthology is a manifesto that featured novels by authors and journalists from Truman Capote to Joan Didion, Hunter S Thompson, and Norman Mailer. It defined the tenets of the genre's approach with its four characteristics:

Use of the third person or multiple points of view

Instead of factually listing the details of events, the writers develop the characters by giving them motivations and backgrounds and making them multi-dimensional. In some cases, various points of view are used in one narrative.

Status details and environmental context

Their environments are as relevant as the characters. Wolfe believed environments were necessary to depict as part of the ‘social autopsy’. A bit of a bleak way to describe a character's situational context.

Use of scenes

Similar to a novel, New Journalism used scenes to create an atmosphere rather than just a strictly chronological chain of factual events.

Natural dialogue

The accurately represented dialogue was crucial to depict a character and events and engage the reader. The genre used dialogue that was often based on extensive interviews and recordings.

New Journalism is regarded as having become what is now generally referred to as narrative nonfiction or creative nonfiction. These terms are largely interchangeable.

Fig. 1 - Narrative nonfiction pioneer, Hunter S Thompson.

Narrative nonfiction characteristics

Literary genres tend not to be very clearly defined, which is true for narrative nonfiction. As there are different subgenres within narrative nonfiction, the precise details of the characteristics can change. Luckily, some overarching ones exist and are mostly agreed upon.

Factual and well researched

Narrative nonfiction is based on fact. Additionally, to depict a story engagingly, sometimes an author will need to do more in-depth research than for a purely factual piece. This research makes sense if you consider that the facts and the narrative need to be developed rather than just chronologically relayed, like the details of a news feature.

Literary

Unlike regular reporting, a narrative nonfiction piece contains multiple literary devices and techniques to make it more engaging and relatable. Narratives, plots and scenes are used. Characters are well developed, and literary devices assist in making the story both interesting and informative. Natural dialogue makes the story more engaging while incorporating a point of view puts the work in the realm of literature.

External focus

Generally, autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs are not considered narrative nonfiction or are considered a related subgenre. Usually, these works are focused on other people and events, not on the author's own life. Although some personal stories may have similar characteristics, they tend not to be grouped with works that deal with another person, many people and external events.

Immersion

Typically, narrative nonfiction writers or literary journalists immerse themselves in the lives and environments of the protagonists of their true stories. This is a method to represent facts that allow for literary aspects like complex characters and scene development combined with extensive research. Usually, this approach adds subjectivity to the reporting not seen in traditional journalism.

Types and examples of narrative nonfiction

The two main types of nonfiction narratives today can be categorised into media or novels. Media is a really broad term because it can cover works from magazine and newspaper articles to online essays, Medium posts, travel writing and even podcasts. Novels tend to be published both offline and online these days but are not generally considered to be media. Due to its nature and origins, narrative nonfiction spans both of these worlds.

Narrative nonfiction in modern media

Many magazines like Esquire or The New Yorker have been involved in New Journalism from the start and continue to publish narrative nonfiction today. These are media publications that traditionally tended to employ journalists, not novelists. As typified by novelists like Joan Didion and Hunter S. Thompson, who were originally journalists, that distinction is now more blurred than before.

True crime is closely linked to New Journalism; therefore, it is part of the narrative nonfiction genre. The modern publishing trend with this particular variety leans towards podcasts and series. The genre has come under scrutiny for being insensitive to victims and a little sensationalist in tone.

Narrative nonfiction in modern books

Many authors in this genre write novels and articles, which used to be something that novelists did not do. Since the days of New Journalism, narrative nonfiction books like Norman Mailer’s The Armies of the Night (1968) have become bestsellers and even won Pulitzer prizes. Today, the trend continues with books that combine true stories and literary devices becoming increasingly popular. The genre is much broader in theme than true crime, with subjects as diverse as science, space travel and hikes up Mount Everest.

¹ Lee Gutkind, Hattie Fletcher, True Stories, Well Told, Creative Nonfiction Association, (2014).