Pieces of writing that are considered "non-fiction" are ones where the writer is trying to convince you that what they are writing about is a fact. That's not always true, of course, because someone might have their facts wrong, but I think you get the idea.
In general, non-fiction writing is the type found in textbooks, newspapers, encyclopedias, "how to" books, instruction manuals, recipes, and scholarly essays. Contrast that with a work of "fiction," which is based out of the writer's imagination. These would be most screenplays, novels, poems, and comics.
When trying to decide between the two, a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, "is this piece of writing true, based on some fact?" If it is, you are probably dealing with nonfiction I say probably because sometimes fiction writers can be pretty sneaky and make you think that what they are writing is fact, when it is really made up. What if your teacher asked you to write an essay about what you did last summer vacation. That would qualify as non-fiction, usually, and would be if you wrote about what actually happened last summer. But suppose you just made up a bunch of realistic sounding stuff...your teacher would think it was non-fiction, but you would know it was fiction. So you see how it can be a bit confusing?
Another way you can look at it is that non-fiction works are trying to convey some true information to you, even if they do it creatively. Fiction writers create stories that are meant to entertain and not convey factual information.
Fiction:
- Poem
- Adventure story
- Science Fiction
- Thriller
- short story
- mythology
- folk story
- fairy tale
- Parody
- most movies
- romance novel
- western
Nonfiction stories include:
- Biography
- Autobiography
- Forms and documents
- Legal documents
- Brochures
- Newspapers
- Interviews
- Historical speeches
- Textbooks
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