Fiction or Fact

I chose to title this post "Fiction or Fact" just because I wanted to be different.  One of the things I struggle with as a writer is writing fiction.  I'm wondering if that means I'm just not meant to write fiction?  But rather fact - or, nonfiction.  Well, I guess nonfiction doesn't have to be fact does it?  It could be my opinions.

So I guess my blog title is bunk.  But I'll leave it as is.

What appeals to me about fiction is it allows a greater manipulation of words and bending of reality.  It allows creativity and beauty, in trying to express what you mean rather than say it outright.

But yet my strength has always been nonfiction.  I am paid daily to write facts.  I'm paid to write material that is clear, concise, and makes sense.  And now I'm paid to write things that teach, in addition to those other things.

I like it, but yet how does writing stuff like that make a mark or affect people in some way?  I think I have to morph it somehow.  I'm not sure.

I wonder what my first step should be in trying to write a book again?  I'm thinking maybe I need to outline something this time around.  Because that's what I do in my day job.  I don't just start writing, like I do in my blogs.  I have an outline and I fill it in as I go.

So probably whether I'm writing fiction or fact, or my opinions, or whatever...I need to have a fully developed outline for whatever it is I'm writing about.  No winging it for me.

And maybe that's the point of this blog...for me to realize that I'm not a "winging it" kind of writer.  And that doesn't mean that words don't flow out of me once I get going, just like other good writers.  That just means I need a starting point and a destination for the words to flow between.  Without it, I'm picturing a flood that rushes through and then, suddenly, stops.  It's run dry.

Yeah.  Maybe that's my problem.