Leslie Muzingo asked Stephen J. Matlock:

I recently read your article about racism on Medium. Which do you prefer writing, fiction or nonfiction?

Stephen J. Matlock Wow. Hard question to answer. I prefer fiction for the freedom it gives me to make things up. (I'm told that non-fiction should be somehow attached to factual claims.)

When I write about non-fictive events, such as racism, I enjoy exploring this real world, but I find that non-fiction can feel limiting. Sometimes I write the story I want to tell as fiction because I can dive deeper into meaning and symbol and purpose.

So--I think fiction, but by a 60:40 ratio.

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