I started out about to reply that some of the classics must have an extremely high coefficient of fiction, since some of the "classic" authors can take three pages to describe someone drinking a cup of tea.
But then I thought, "No, that's looking at it all wrong."
Thinking more about it, I think a careful and accurate scientific paper would have a coefficient of fiction very close to zero. An accurate and unbiased historical account would also have a low coefficient of fiction, though not as low, because no historical account can ever be truly objective simply because no writer can ever know all the opposing viewpoints of the events in question.
Some fiction, such as historical fiction, current technothrillers written with an accurate technical background, and hard SF that really tries to get as much as possible of the science right, might have an intermediate coefficient of fiction — perhaps around 0.5, as they are all basically efforts to tell a fictional stories based upon truth. Surprisingly, many stock prospectuses may fall into this same range, albeit for different reasons; they are largely efforts to take objective truth that cannot be argued, and spin it into a promise of future riches that is largely fictional or speculative.
Higher up in the 0.7-0.9 range, we find fantasy novels and fairy tales, both of which make minimal concessions to any actual resemblance to reality. They're not intended to be believable in the first place. Most religious texts may also fall into this range.
At the very top of the chart, of course, asymptotically approaching 1.0, we find political campaign promises....
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
But then I thought, "No, that's looking at it all wrong."
Thinking more about it, I think a careful and accurate scientific paper would have a coefficient of fiction very close to zero. An accurate and unbiased historical account would also have a low coefficient of fiction, though not as low, because no historical account can ever be truly objective simply because no writer can ever know all the opposing viewpoints of the events in question.
Some fiction, such as historical fiction, current technothrillers written with an accurate technical background, and hard SF that really tries to get as much as possible of the science right, might have an intermediate coefficient of fiction — perhaps around 0.5, as they are all basically efforts to tell a fictional stories based upon truth. Surprisingly, many stock prospectuses may fall into this same range, albeit for different reasons; they are largely efforts to take objective truth that cannot be argued, and spin it into a promise of future riches that is largely fictional or speculative.
Higher up in the 0.7-0.9 range, we find fantasy novels and fairy tales, both of which make minimal concessions to any actual resemblance to reality. They're not intended to be believable in the first place. Most religious texts may also fall into this range.
At the very top of the chart, of course, asymptotically approaching 1.0, we find political campaign promises....
Afterthought
(oddly enough, right along with fishing stories.)