When Fiction and Non‑Fiction Decide to Coexist

Lately, my writing life has stopped behaving like tidy shelves labelled “fiction” and “non‑fiction”. Instead, everything seems to be talking to each other — ideas crossing over, themes echoing, one project nudging another awake. And honestly, I’m enjoying the chaos.

Work Desk

I’ve been deep in the world of Don’t Die for Me, Argentina, which is out in May. It’s sitting in its first‑draft form, waiting for me to dive into edits in February. Even though I've not worked on it this month, the characters keep wandering through my thoughts. I hope it stays with you in the same way.

At the same time, I’ve been gathering interviews, observations, and real‑life stories for Still in the Game. Talking to people, reading about peoples experiences in their submissions — it’s all been feeding a different part of my brain. What surprised me is how much this nonfiction work has sparked ideas for the next UK‑based Goodwin book, Die Trying, which is set at a rugby club. I’m only a chapter in, but already the energy from those real conversations is bleeding into the fictional world in the best possible way.

And then there’s the wildcard: The Story Behind My Stories. Part memoir, part travelogue, part “how did I end up here?”, it’s been quietly forming in the background. I love recording the podcast and I’ve been rereading my old Thailand diary. Those memories unrelated to the memories I used in Thai Die are finding their way into the book, shaping it into something that isn’t quite nonfiction in the traditional sense, but definitely isn’t fiction either. It sits in that in‑between space where lived experience becomes story.

What I’m realising is this: fiction and nonfiction aren’t competing for my attention. They’re feeding each other. The interviews for Still in the Game are giving me texture for Die Trying. The emotional threads in Don’t Die for Me, Argentina are present in Thai Die but you'll have to read it to see why on both. All helping me shape the memoir sections. The diary entries are reminding me why I write at all.

Everything is connected — not neatly, but naturally.

So yes, fiction and nonfiction are coexisting. And for the first time, it feels less like juggling and more like a conversation between the different parts of my creative life.

Have a good week,

Love

Helen xx