Nonfiction Novel

The non-fiction novel is a literary genre which, broadly speaking, depicts real historical figures and actual events woven together with fictitious conversations and using the storytelling techniques of fiction. The non-fiction novel is an otherwise loosely defined and flexible genre. The genre is sometimes referred to using the slang term "faction", a portmanteau of the words fact and fiction.

In modern literature, it is commonly thought that this genre was formally established with the 1965 publication of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. That the genre was widely recognized in 1965 is undeniable, but influences on the genre can be traced much earlier.

Works of history or biography have often used the narrative devices of fiction to depict real-world events. Scholars have suggested that the novel Operación Masacre (1957) by Argentine author and journalist Rodolfo Walsh was the first non-fiction novel.

Operación Masacre details the José León Suárez massacre, which involved the 1956 capture and shooting of Peronist militants, including rebel leader Juan José Valle. These events followed a 1955 military coup, known as the Revolución Libertadora, which deposed Argentine president Juan Domingo Perón and eventually brought the hard-line general Pedro Eugenio Aramburu to power.

Truman Capote was one of the first authors who was recognized for nonfiction novel writing. Capote read the story of the Clutter murders in a newspaper and was immediately intrigued. He used the events surrounding the crime as a basis for In Cold Blood. He spent years tracking the story and spent considerable time with the people involved. He watched hours of film footage, listened to recordings, and read transcripts and notes. He once claimed that everything within the book would be true, word for word. Although this is impossible, the majority of information is accurate and extremely detailed. Capote was able to interview the murderers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith. This meant that he was able to establish their characters, making the details within the book extremely accurate. The way in which the book is written objectively means that Capote has little influence over the granular facts of the case. The creative choices he can make are those of tone and tenor. He can modulate the readers' sympathy toward the subjects, the killers.

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