Nonfiction

The two pieces in this section each take a distinctive approach to nonfiction.

In ‘God Brings Good from Bad for Flynn’, Marcus Patch researches the life and work of John Flynn and uses events from Flynn’s life to explore a particular idea about faith, adversity and perseverance. Marcus has gone beyond simply retelling Flynn’s story: he has selected events that connect with the idea he wants to explore. Marcus is bringing together what he has discovered about Flynn with what he thinks about Flynn’s life, its meaning and significance in relation to specific aspects of faith. This is one of the things nonfiction can do extremely well: a writer can begin with the facts of another person’s life and use them to explore a larger idea.

In ‘It is better to learn through books or computers?’, Isvara Larwood takes on the challenge of writing an argument. He begins with a question that is part of everyday life for many young people and takes a clear position, organising his reasons in a logical sequence, and addressing his reader directly. Isvara isn’t just telling us what he thinks: he is trying to persuade us to see the question from his point of view. That is an important move for a nonfiction writer: inviting the reader into his or her thinking about something.

There are many other directions a young writer might take. You could write about a person whose life you want to understand – as a biography, perhaps, or through a more personal portrait. You could keep a diary, write a memoir about an experience that has stayed with you, investigate something that puzzles or interests you, report on something that has happened, or follow an idea through an essay. You might begin with a question you genuinely want to answer and see where research takes you. Nonfiction gives you the opportunity not simply to tell others what you know, but to use writing to explore, investigate, explain and persuade.

And that brings with it particular challenges. What information do you choose? What sources can you trust? How do you distinguish what you have discovered from what you think about it? How do you make an argument without simply telling your reader what to think? How do you turn facts, evidence and ideas into writing that someone actually wants to read? These are exciting questions for a writer because nonfiction is not simply about getting the facts right. It is about deciding what you want to discover, what you want your reader to notice, and what you can do with the material once you have found it. It’s about how to tell the story you want to tell!

I really would love to see more nonfiction in the next issue. Tell us about someone whose life fascinates you. Investigate a question you genuinely want to answer. Write from an experience you want to understand more deeply. Research something and tell us what you discover. Make an argument, or try to change the way we see something. There is plenty of room here for writers to experiment with what nonfiction can do.

Submissions for Word Oysters Issue no. 4 are now open until the end of November. Please email your work to wordoyster@protonmail.com