Where the Lie Truths
20/02/09 21:59 Filed in: Writing
Life
The craft of fiction is the craft of perfecting a
great lie. The art of fiction is a kernel of
truth (hopefully) within that lie.
Unfortunately, I sound like a wannabe Oscar Wilde, but those two statements reflect how I see writing stories. Not that these statements are original thoughts. No doubt I heard them, or something like them, written or spoken elsewhere, although I couldn't tell you by whom. The question that has been nagging me these days is: where do the two -- the craft and the art -- meet?
I once saw an interesting film called Storytelling, where one of the characters, a creative writing teacher, says "Once you start writing, it all becomes fiction." (I once used this quote as the basis for a poem). The context of this statement relates to a story one of his female students has written. The story is a recounting of a humiliating sexual experience she had with this particular teacher. The teacher says that the story is not bad, but not great, to which another student says, in the story's defense, that it is true. The teacher's response "Once you start writing, it all becomes fiction" can be seen as some kind of lame defense for his sexual encounter with the student. Or maybe it's a comment on how memory is selective at best. Personally, I believe that memoir or autobiography should be classified as a form of fiction.
That quote immediately resonated with me. In it I recognized a universal truth. Perhaps the innate need for all of us to tell stories. But in telling stories, in crafting fiction, do we have a certain responsibility to the truth? I heard someone once say that good fiction carries with it a facsimile of truth. The reader has to believe -- or suspend his/her belief -- that what lies on the page is real.
Writers achieve this in different ways. Some do it through research, particularly if they are writing historical fiction, although most genres of fiction probably require some amount of research. Some do it by trying to create a feeling of immediacy in their prose, evoking the five senses wherever possible, so that the reader believes he/she is experiencing what is on the page.
So, what is the actual kernel of truth that is found in these well-crafted lies? Some illumination of the human condition? Something that tells us we are not as different from each other as we believe? Maybe it's the understanding that (to paraphrase the famous Jack Nicholson line) we can't handle the truth. We prefer to be lied to. We'd rather have the comfort of knowing that it's "just a story." Maybe, without knowing it, we indulge in these entertaining illusions so that we might know ourselves better.
Unfortunately, I sound like a wannabe Oscar Wilde, but those two statements reflect how I see writing stories. Not that these statements are original thoughts. No doubt I heard them, or something like them, written or spoken elsewhere, although I couldn't tell you by whom. The question that has been nagging me these days is: where do the two -- the craft and the art -- meet?
I once saw an interesting film called Storytelling, where one of the characters, a creative writing teacher, says "Once you start writing, it all becomes fiction." (I once used this quote as the basis for a poem). The context of this statement relates to a story one of his female students has written. The story is a recounting of a humiliating sexual experience she had with this particular teacher. The teacher says that the story is not bad, but not great, to which another student says, in the story's defense, that it is true. The teacher's response "Once you start writing, it all becomes fiction" can be seen as some kind of lame defense for his sexual encounter with the student. Or maybe it's a comment on how memory is selective at best. Personally, I believe that memoir or autobiography should be classified as a form of fiction.
That quote immediately resonated with me. In it I recognized a universal truth. Perhaps the innate need for all of us to tell stories. But in telling stories, in crafting fiction, do we have a certain responsibility to the truth? I heard someone once say that good fiction carries with it a facsimile of truth. The reader has to believe -- or suspend his/her belief -- that what lies on the page is real.
Writers achieve this in different ways. Some do it through research, particularly if they are writing historical fiction, although most genres of fiction probably require some amount of research. Some do it by trying to create a feeling of immediacy in their prose, evoking the five senses wherever possible, so that the reader believes he/she is experiencing what is on the page.
So, what is the actual kernel of truth that is found in these well-crafted lies? Some illumination of the human condition? Something that tells us we are not as different from each other as we believe? Maybe it's the understanding that (to paraphrase the famous Jack Nicholson line) we can't handle the truth. We prefer to be lied to. We'd rather have the comfort of knowing that it's "just a story." Maybe, without knowing it, we indulge in these entertaining illusions so that we might know ourselves better.
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