Vanessa Diffenbaugh Quotes

My work was entirely nonfiction.

There is no longer any such thing as fiction or nonfiction; there's only narrative.

Most of the things in 'The Things They Carried' didn't happen to me. Ninety-five percent of it's invented. It's not what occurred.

I never wanted to do a documentary or write a book.

I write and teach creative nonfiction. I was a reporter.

I think I do more fiction than autobiography.

Basically, I think of fiction and non-fiction as different ways of engaging with the world. You reach a point where you feel you have said all you possibly can, in reportage or a review essay or a reflection on history, which 'From the Ruins of Empire' was.

I have a children's book already out and my autobiography.

Maybe I will write a memoir, perhaps I'll do some essays, or maybe I will write a mystery story.

When you deal with nonfiction you deal with human characters.

You can tell a more over-the-top incredible story if you use a nonfiction form.

I have some great stories and I will get around to writing a book.

I think you can do a lot with fiction, and in some cases you can say even more in fiction than you can in straight-up documentary journalism.

Fiction isn't memoir and memoir isn't fiction.

A book is either autobiography or a novel.

I've never had any interest at all in being a journalist or writing some sort of historically accurate autobiography.

Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, writing takes me to another world.

Journalism allows its readers to witness history; fiction gives its readers an opportunity to live it.

What I like about non-fiction is that it covers such a huge territory. The best non-fiction is also creative.

I'm a biographer; I can live with a little hyperbole.

A memoir is my version of events. My perspective. I choose what to tell and what to omit. I choose the adjectives to describe a situation, and in that sense, I'm creating a form of fiction.

Autobiographical fiction is very tricky.

Those who have been writing literature have not been writing life.

All fiction is lies – if it weren’t, it would be biography, history, or reportage.

Yes, I have two books that are about me: one of them I wrote, and the other one was written about me. One of my books, which is called 'Spying on Miss Muller,' is really about me even though it's a novel. My autobiography is called 'Once Upon a Time.'