Switching from Nonfiction to Fiction

“Writing nonfiction is different from writing fiction. There’s a lot of overlap of course, but it’s still different. So don’t be surprised if your process is different, too.”

I said that to a convention-acquaintance several decades back. She’d published a lot of articles, but had this fantasy novel she wanted to write, and she’d come to me for some basic advice.

A couple of years later, I ran into her again, and asked how the novel was coming. It wasn’t. So we went out for tea to figure out w...