I've been reading Sol Stein's Stein on Writing, and have just found a gem of a distinction: Stein's take on the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Stein says that Nonfiction conveys information. Fiction evokes emotion. He goes on to point out that because the intended results of each type of writing are so different, fiction writers should be wary of distracting the experience of their readers, even momentarily, with information. For fiction, raw information comes across as an interruption, the author filling in. So, fiction writers better find a way to weave facts into a story unnoticed, because they should be providing their readers with an entertaining emotional experience. Their goal is not to educate them.