Historical fiction and biography are two genres that might appear very similar at first, but that are in fact quite different. Historical fiction, as the name describes, is fictional. This means that it does not describe facts or provable events. While it is based on history (hence the term "historical"), it does not claim to recreate history. An example of historical fiction would be Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon. On the other hand, biographies are based on the life of a person who lived in the past. These are mostly factual and are based on research of events that happened and people that did exist. Therefore, these more closely resemble reality.