During my three years as a writing teacher I've had various students pass through my class working on a variety of different subjects. While my classes are specifically geared toward fiction, I've had students come to class with nonfiction works such as family memoirs and others that are historical in nature. Initially when this came to my attention I thought my class and their project were incompatible. Then I had a discussion with a student that missed the first class of my Novel Bootcamp Part One (through Northshore Community College).
She was working on a nonfiction piece about her family and the way in which events in her family's life dovetailed with those during World War II. We met just prior to the second class, and during this meeting I caught her up to speed on the first class, which focuses primarily on story structure. I'm a structure based teacher as well as a structure based writer to some degree. I believe in the three act structure (really, it's four acts, as Act II is broken up into two parts) and it was while discussing this fact that I realized that the structure can be applied to any story.
"Well, certainly not a nonfiction piece," she said. "And certainly not a piece like mine."
I disagreed. All stories have, at the heart of them, some form of three act structure; even in its most basic form: beginning, middle and end. Because, ultimately, no matter what story you're telling (fiction, nonfiction, historical, historical fiction, various genres) it's all ultimately about the characters and what happens to them.
The student disagreed, and pointed to works of historical fiction (a genre that, up until that point, I've read very little) such as The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. Stories such as this, the student claimed, hinge not on any structure since it is based on true life events that follow no structure.
I vehemently disagreed, and pointed out that most historical fiction (the film Titanic for example) follow the characters and what they go through, with the history being the backdrop.
The student shook her head, remained for the second class, and I never saw her again.
I, in turn, read The Other Boleyn Girl, and still stand by my statement. The structure is there. Authors may very well be writing about characters that actually existed and the events that mark their lives, but we must remember that they are characters that the authors have brought to life--real or not. And, as such, their story follows structure and character arcs much like any other fictional characters. In bringing historical characters to life authors take what they will from the person's life in order to weave a compelling satisfying story.
Which ultimately brings me back to the fact that I was wrong. A nonfiction work being written in a fiction class is NOT incompatible. There is much a nonfiction writer can learn from the craft of fiction--character arcs and story structure being just the beginning.
As I begin another semester of Novel Bootcamp I'm always both curious and excited by the variety of possible projects students will bring to the table. If you've been chipping away at that manuscript and feel as if what you're chipping away at might be a boulder, then be sure to looking to the Novel Bootcamp series at Northshore Community College. It might just surprise you.
