That’s what fiction writers do. They tell lies (stories) to give the reader an insight into the human condition.
Because, let’s face it, if you are anything like me your days are filled with endless running on the spot, just to keep from going backwards.
You run to get the kids to school, part time jobs and uni. You run to get the house work done (shopping, cooking, washing). You run to get to work with everything ready so you don’t let yourself or anyone else down. And you run to make the time to do the extra things that make life worth living. (For me it is writing and story related).
With all that running it’s easy to overlook the profound in the everyday. (We all need a bit of time to sit back and watch the waves).
Writers who told lies to reveal inner truths:
Charles Dickens ‘Oliver Twist – recurrent theme of social reform and good versus evil.
Mary Shelley, ‘Frankenstien’ – What is human?
Jane Austen ‘Pride and Prejudice’ – The title gives this one away.
George Orwell ‘1984’ – The danger of a totalitarian state.
William Golding ‘Lord of the Flies’ – Golding claims the book was written to trace the problems of society back to the sinful nature of man.
Ray Bradbury ‘Farenheit 451’ – The repression of the questioning mind by the destruction of books (access to knowledge).
Ursula K Le Guin ‘Left Hand of Darkness’ – Explores the themes of gender, politcis and religion.
If you are a modern writer who wants to explore an inner truth this could be confronting for your readers. You have to overcome their unconscious prejudices before you can win them over to identify with your protagonist. Once they identify with a character they can feel empathy. And empathy is what leads to insight.
This is why the genres Fantasy and SF are so powerful. By removing nouns loaded with associations, the writer can introduce characters that the reader responds to and explore themes without risk if distancing the reader.
If you are writing a contemporary novel you have to do lots of research to get your facts right. If you get something wrong someone will know and it will throw them out of the book. Once you break the suspension of disbelief you lose your reader. But, even with all that research, you won’t be able to find the perfect set-up to put your character in so you can challenge the protagonist and explore your underlying theme because you are limited to the world as we know it.
An invented world gives the writer the freedom to create settings and events specifically to test their characters and explore their themes. This is why fantasy and science fiction are such powerful genres. (With invented worlds you still do lots of research so that the worlds are consistent and believable).
In 2004, Le Guin gave a talk at the Children’s Literature Breakfast, where she described what she sees as the function fantasy serves in contemporary society.
“Fantasy is a literature particularly useful for embodying and examining the real difference between good and evil. In an America where our reality may seem degraded to posturing patriotism and self-righteous brutality, imaginative literature continues to question what heroism is, to examine the roots of power, and to offer moral alternatives. Imagination is the instrument of ethics. There are many metaphors beside battle, many choices besides war, and most ways of doing good do not, in fact, involve killing anybody. Fantasy is good at thinking about those other ways.”
So there you have it, writers tell lies to reveal inner truths. What books have made you stop and think?
