Fiction or non-fiction?

Another prompt on: http://nablopomo.blogher.com/ was: Would you rather publish fiction or non-fiction?

Fiction. Hands down every time. I had thought one time ago about trying my hand at writing non-fiction but I couldn’t get my real thoughts/feelings down onto the page. Then two years ago when I was doing a creative writing course I had to do a piece of non-fiction writing.

It was the hardest piece of written work I’ve ever completed. Yes I did complete it & received quite a good mark for it but I changed my mind so many times on the subject matter as I couldn’t decide what I wanted to write about.

I wanted a story that held my tutor’s attention but one that didn’t feel too cliché, even for non-fiction. I was going to write about my grandfather but every time I tried writing it I became stuck. I couldn’t get the right words down on the paper. I couldn’t structure the sentences to how I wanted them written. It was just too tough to write. I remember even ringing my dad to confirm details, but that didn’t move my writing along in the way I was wishing it would.

It actually annoyed the hell out of me as it was something I really wanted to write & had a passion to write but still no words came.

So I had to settle on second best & wrote about a part of my teenage years. It wasn’t the best I could have written but as I said I received a good mark for it.

For me I would therefore rather write fiction every time. I enjoy placing characters into situations I may not originally care for but that I come to love. I enjoy letting the story lead me instead of my ‘life’ leading it alone. Of course as writers we tend to put us into our stories but there’s something exciting about fictionalising those stories & not actually realising we are starring in what we write.