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Non-fiction texts

A selection of fashion and style magazines

A text is based on facts. It is really any text which isn’t fiction (a made-up story or poetry). Non-fiction texts come in a huge variety of types. You find them everywhere in life, from the back of the cereal packet at breakfast, to a text book at the library. They can range from a newspaper article to a review of a new computer game. They are written for many different purposes, and are aimed at many different people or audiences.

Non-fiction texts include:

  • advertisements
  • reviews
  • letters
  • diaries
  • newspaper articles
  • information leaflets
  • magazine articles

Literary non-fiction

Literary non-fiction is a type of writing which uses similar techniques as fiction to create an interesting piece of writing about real events. Techniques such as withholding information, vivid imagery and can all be used. These techniques help to create non-fiction which is enjoyable and exciting to read. Some travel writing, autobiographies, or essays that consider a particular viewpoint are key examples of literary non-fiction. Their main purpose is to entertain whilst they inform about factual events or information.

Literary non-fiction texts include:

  • feature articles
  • essays
  • travel writing
  • accounts of famous events
  • sketches (normally a fact file profile that gives key information about a person, place or event)
  • autobiographies (where you write about yourself) or biographies (where someone else writes about you). These texts may be written by sportspeople, politicians, celebrities as well as people who aren’t well-known