Writing Nonfiction Quotes

It's the technique, I think, of writing a novel that is difficult for a nonfiction writer. — E. O. Wilson

One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material. — William Zinsser

Writing fiction is fun. Writing non-fiction is life-changing. — A.D. Posey

If uncovering the truth is the greatest challenge of nonfiction writing, it is also the greatest reward. — Candice Millard

When you're speaking in the truest, most intimate voice about your life, you are speaking with the universal voice. — Cheryl Strayed

Writing a nonfiction book should primarily be about establishing credibility and authority in a specific domain. — Hassan Osman

Writing nonfiction means I tell people's stories for them, not because they're special but because we all are. — Jo Deurbrouck

I never really considered writing something that was nonfiction. — Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Writing a nonfiction story is like cracking a safe. It seems impossible at the beginning, but once you're in, you're in. — Rich Cohen

Fiction is entertaining. Nonfiction is epic. — A.D. Posey

Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, writing takes me to another world. — Leonard Mlodinow

Writing nonfiction is more like sculpture, a matter of shaping the research into the finished thing. — Joan Didion

I tend to read more nonfiction, really, because when I'm writing I don't like to read other fiction. — Irvine Welsh

Nonfiction. I didn't choose it as much as it chose me. It squatted and birthed me one raw winter day then jerked me up and set me to scribing. — Chila Woychik

It's exhausting writing nonfiction, particularly when it's personal. It's tiring, always speaking about things that are not necessarily fun retelling. — Ishmael Beah

As a writer who writes poetry, nonfiction, and fiction, I think it's important to always maintain a firm grasp on genre and ethics. — Kathleen Rooney

You know, everybody's ignorant, just on different subjects. — Will Rogers

Writing nonfiction has been my most serious education, and for all those years it kept me from even glancing in the direction of despair. — Marilynne Robinson

....and on occasion I like to write in pencil, because I need to know that I can erase the words, even if I never do. — Bruce Black

If you wrote about sex the way Jim [Salter] writes about sex in nonfiction, you would be a sociopath. — Lorin Stein

I feel better off doing what I know how to do. I feel a strong element of fictional style in travel writing anyway. Some call it creative nonfiction. — John Gimlette

It ain't so easy writing about nothin — Patti Smith