# Why must a novel be fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-a-novel-be-fiction/247721 "2004-05-29T23:29:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-a-novel-be-fiction/247721/1 "2004-05-29T23:29:49Z")
I know this sounds like a stupid question. A novel is fiction by defintion - end of story. But, what if it is a fictional story based on truth? Is it automatically historical fiction? (To me, historical fiction only means it is based on soemthing famous - like a fictionalized story of Geroge Washington and the Red Coats flying to the moon, lets say.) But, if a “novel” were promoted as “based on a true story”, is it still a novel? And if so, does it default into being “historical fiction”? …If not, then what is it? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-a-novel-be-fiction/247721/2 "2004-05-29T23:45:08Z")
Norman Mailer, Truman Capote et al. would agree, having written several novels (Executioner’s Song, In Cold Blood) based strictly on historical data. Whether they’re really novels, of course, is open to conjecture. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-a-novel-be-fiction/247721/3 "2004-05-30T01:21:05Z")
A novel, even if it’s based on a true story, is assumed to be a made-up story and thus is differentiated from an account that presumes to be the truth. In addition, a novel uses different techniques (e.g., quoting long conversations) that are not usually done in nonfiction. Mailer and Capote both uses the novelistic techniques to tell a true story and called it a “nonfiction novel.” ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-a-novel-be-fiction/247721/4 "2004-05-30T04:29:21Z")
This is a [most unhelpful pdf file](http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_chapter/1405117060%5CEagleton_sample%20chapter_Then%20english%20novel.pdf). I always assumed that a novel was 1) fiction 2) at least 40,000 words. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-a-novel-be-fiction/247721/5 "2004-05-30T13:15:34Z")
How about “novel”=“something you buy from the fiction section of a bookshop.” What about, say, _Anne Frank’s Diary_? I swear that normally gets stored with fiction, even though it’s as autobiographical as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-a-novel-be-fiction/247721/6 "2004-05-30T14:27:10Z")
The umbrella term for a story is narrative–narratives can be fiction or non-fiction. A novel is a fictional narrative. The sort of thing you are talking about can be called a narrative, or, if you want to be more specific, a “novel-length narrative”. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-must-a-novel-be-fiction/247721/7 "2004-05-31T02:59:03Z")
> [@Manda JO](#): > > The umbrella term for a story is narrative–narratives can be fiction or non-fiction. A novel is a fictional narrative. **The sort of thing you are talking about can be called a narrative** , or, if you want to be more specific, a “novel-length narrative”. Are you answering my OP, the Anne Frank question, or both? - Jinx 😕