Style: Docufiction

Docufiction is a literary device that combines elements of documentary and fiction to create a compelling narrative based on real events, people or phenomena.

It blends factual information with fictional storytelling techniques.

Why a writer would use it

A writer would use docufiction to engage readers by presenting true stories or facts in an immersive, dramatic way. It allows the writer to fill in gaps in knowledge with plausible fictional details, bringing the story to life.

Use-case

A writer is creating a historical novel about a famous figure. They research the person's life and major events, but some details are unknown.

The writer uses docufiction to imagine dialogue, relationships and small events that align with the known facts to craft a complete, engaging story.

A couple more examples:

1. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

This non-fiction novel recounts the murder of the Clutter family with fictional details like dialogue to flesh out the factual outline.

2. The Blair Witch Project

This horror movie presents itself as "found footage" documentary filmed by missing student filmmakers, but is entirely fictional.

Effect on AI prompts

Using docufiction techniques in AI prompts, like framing requests as real scenarios, could encourage the AI to generate more detailed, realistic story-like responses.

However, the AI may present fictional details as facts, so outputs would need to be carefully fact-checked. Docufiction prompts are better suited for creative writing than informational content.