Non Fiction is factual. It sells way more than fiction and is likely to be your first sale. It was mine. Look through the magazines in your home and keep a tally of the fiction stories and non fiction articles. You may be surprised.
Good non fiction needs a three ingredients.
1. Subject: Pick something specific. Say you want to write about basketball. That is a broad subject, so you need to narrow it down. A biography on Michael Jordan. But so what? There have been hundreds of articles written on Michael Jordan. What will make yours different is you.
2. Personal knowledge: You happened to meet Michael Jordan at a 5K marathon to raise money for Asthma research. You started up a conversation with him and found out that you both are running to support a friend with Asthma. Now that’s a neat story!
3. Research: Even thought you’ve got something good, research will only make it better. You can look up more about Asthma. Are there different types? Is there a cure? How often to they have these marathons? Are they only in your town or all over the world? These details are going to make your article so much better.
You don’t have to meet someone famous to have a subject to write about. You can write about anything in the world. Sports, animals, science, art, siblings, computers, games, cars, hobbies, bugs, the moon, China, cooking, ancient Greece, the telephone, your favorite author, etc. The choices are endless.
Some types of non fiction articles or books are:
-Autobiography: When the author writes the story of
their life.
-Devotional: Sharing a personal experience and
relating it to a spiritual topic.
-Essay: Reflections from the authors personal point of
view.
-Fact Piece: An article on a specific subject.
-Historical: An article about a historical event.
-How-to: Explain the step by step process of how to do
something.
-Opinion: An article where the author gives their
opinion on a certain subject.
-Profile: A biographical article on a person that you
either interviewed or researched.
-Review: Give a brief overview and your personal
opinion of a work of art, album, book, or film.
-True story: Tell the events as they happened.
-Quiz: An article written in question and answer form.