As I'm getting used to Wattpad I decided to take a look at the works under the two categories fanfiction and non-faction thinking that I would find some essays involving fanfiction writing. There was something I did not expect though and I find myself shaking my head at the fact I found them there. No... its not the kind of shaking my head where I think people are stupid and idiotic for doing this, but because I am surprised that people are doing it.

In stead of finding just non-fiction work I'm finding stuff that is instead fiction. These stories are RPF, otherwise known as real person fiction. They do not belong in this category and there is no way that a person could argue that RPF belongs in the non-fiction category. And here is why. A story is either going to be fiction or non-fiction, it can not be both. This is because the meanings of fiction and non-fiction are the exact opposite of each other. Fiction stories are stories that people made up while non-fiction stories are stories that really happened.

I think the reasons people are posting their stories to the non-fiction category is because it contains non-fiction elements, the non-fiction element being real people. This however does not make the story non-fiction because the events that occur in the story did not in fact really happen. It is still a work of fiction. So why not post your stories where you are more likely to get hits? Most people aren't going to go to the non-fiction story unless they want to read essays, autobiographies and biographies. You're losing an audience here.

That also said, if the story is your real life experience I have to say that while it belongs in the non-fiction section it does not belong in the fan-fiction section. Why? Because the story really happened to you and it is not a work of fiction. For example, lets say you happen to go to a concert with your favorite band or if you go and meet your favorite author. That story goes under non-fiction but not fanfiction.

Of course, it should go without saying that you can't post a fabricated story where you end up dating the members of your favorite band or you happen to be the long lost cousin of your favorite actor or actress. That's libel and you can get into legal trouble for those kinds of stories. So just go and post the stories to the correct category. And keep in mind that they are not the same thing. Fanfiction can never be non-fiction and non-fiction can never be fanfiction. Unless we're talking essays.