This might sound controversial, but for me, writing fiction is harder than writing non-fiction. People often assume it’s the other way around — non-fiction is full of research, fact-checking, and the responsibility to get things right. All of that is true. But here’s the difference: with non-fiction, the story already exists. With fiction, you have to invent it.
Building a World from Nothing
Take Across the Brief, the novel I’m currently rewriting. Every page is a balancing act. Megan, Tom, Jenna — these aren’t real people. I created them. Which means every word they speak, every decision they make, every detail of their world has to come from me.
Fiction is a series of constant choices. If I write Megan as too sharp in one scene, it changes how the reader sees her later. If Tom takes the wrong emotional turn, their whole relationship feels off. Even deciding what floor of the office they work on can affect how a scene plays out. Nothing exists until I put it there.
That freedom is thrilling, but it’s also exhausting. When the story stumbles, there’s no archive to check or source to correct. The only way forward is to make another decision and hope it’s the right one for the characters and the story.
The Comfort of Facts
Now compare that to The Man in Red and Yellow Who Will Live Forever, my book about Hulk Hogan. Writing that was tough in its own way — I had to fact-check match dates, verify stories, and cut through decades of wrestling mythology. But I wasn’t inventing Hogan’s world. It already existed.
The task there was structure and spin. Which stories do I include? How much space do I give to WrestleMania III versus the nWo? Do I frame Hogan’s influence as positive, negative, or somewhere in between?
The challenge wasn’t about making the story up — it was about arranging it. I was a curator, not a creator. The facts provided the skeleton. My job was to put the flesh on it and decide how brightly the spotlight should shine on each moment.
Two Different Kinds of Hard
Both fiction and non-fiction can be brutal. Non-fiction demands accuracy and balance. Get a fact wrong, and you’ve failed the reader. But fiction has no net. If the characters don’t feel real, if the story doesn’t ring true, the whole book falls apart.
When I cut a chapter from Across the Brief, it isn’t because it didn’t happen — it’s because it didn’t work. That’s a different kind of heartbreak. Fiction forces you to live with those decisions every day.
Non-fiction lets you lean on reality. Fiction makes you carry the whole weight of the story yourself. That’s why, at least for me, fiction is harder.
What Do You Think?
I’m deep in the final rewrite of Across the Brief, and I’ll be honest: I love it, but it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever written. Every page feels like a tightrope.
If you write, do you find fiction or non-fiction tougher? Drop me a comment — I’d love to know how others see it. And if you’re curious about what I’m wrestling with in Across the Brief, check out the Coming Soon page.