Teaching kids the difference between fiction and non-fiction is not for the faint of heart. To help kids master the topic, teachers guide kids through compare and contrast lessons, often creating visuals like the one above. (Find the original photo and a bang up lesson plan here.)

Now that I’m a writer, I’ve come to appreciate the differences between creating works of fiction and non-fiction. Today’s top ten list explains several ways the 2 kinds of writing are quite different.

10. Writing non-fiction is like first creating all the jumbled pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and then working long and hard until they fit together.

9.  Writing fiction is like unwinding a ball of yarn, praying for it to hold together until you’re done, and when it doesn’t, going back and tying up loose end after loose end after loose end…

8.  Non-fiction research involves reading meaty, often indecipherable books on hard-hitting and sometimes depressing topics and trying not to fall asleep until after plowing through 1 chapter.

7.  Fiction research means reading novel after novel by your favorite authors of the same genre and reading far, far into the night…and then sighing before announcing to people that you stayed up far, far into the night doing research.

6.  A non-fiction writing schedule requires a calendar with days blocked out for writing all the chapters, the back matter, and sticking to it religiously to meet a deadline.

5. A fiction writing schedule requires reserving a substantial number of appointment-free hours each day, then sitting down to write, and when you look up, discover you’ve been writing twice as long as expected, you’ve missed whatever appointment you scheduled late in the day with plenty of time to spare in case you lost track of time while writing, and your characters have gotten them into another big mess you have no idea how to resolve.

4. Writing a non-fiction book means you can sit in a chair to write about educational best practices, and at the same time be very, very grateful that you no longer come home dog-tired after spending 180 days a year implementing those best practices as you did during your teaching career.

3.  Writing fiction means that if you are writing a novel while completing an allergy elimination diet, you can live vicariously by allowing your characters to eat any forbidden foods your taste buds desires.

2.  When your husband comes home and finds you sitting at the computer writing about serious non-fiction topics such as the death of a child with tears running down your cheeks, chances are he’ll feel bad enough to take you out to supper.

1.  When your husband comes home and finds you so immersed in the story world of the the fiction scene you’re been wrangling for the past 4 hours that you stare at him blankly, wondering who in the world this new character is and what he has to do with the plot, chances are he’ll be hungry enough to take you out of supper instead of waiting for the meal you intended to start 2 hours ago.

What’s the difference between fiction and non-fiction to you? Leave a comment.