There’s this magical place that exists, nestled between the world of fact and lie. It’s a place called fiction.
It’s a place where I like to spend a lot of my time.
Fiction can look like a lot of things. It can be wizards and knights, analogies wrapped up into quests. It can be a simple love story, one where everything happens exactly as expected and tastes exactly like a warm cup of tea. It can be magic or dramatic or unexpected. It can also be eye-opening, and carry with it a sadness that sits with you awhile.
Fiction can take you out of your world and let you see another time and place as vividly as if you were there.
Fiction can teach you to empathize with someone whose story is in no way similar to your own.
Fiction can teach you kindness and grace. To be more gentle. To know the story you’ve been told is not the only one.
Fiction was a tremendous part of my childhood, a place I could go when my world just wasn’t enough for me – or too much. It taught me some of the lessons I might otherwise have missed. Fiction allowed me to lead a hundred lives each school year, turning dull bus trips into adventures.
True, fiction can be an escape, a way to ignore the everyday and disappear into another place.
But sometimes, isn’t that what we all need? A little more wonder?
There’s a wonderful Ted Talk from Mac Barnett on this topic (you can watch it below, or at this link).
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“We know these characters aren’t real, but we have these real feelings about them.”
“Kids are the best audience for serious literary fiction.”
“You can’t find the seams on the fiction.”
“Metafiction: stories about stories.”
“The best readers deserve the best stories we can give them.”
Let’s create great stories.
P.S. Have you listened to the Chasing Creative Podcast yet? Each week we chat with a creative person or couple and they share their amazing story!
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