The truth can be stranger than fiction. Consider this cliche phrase for a moment. We read and write fiction based on the various truths of our lives or the lives of others. Fiction, that delivered through all manner of storytelling genres–film, writing, plays–offers us a peek through someone else’s window, into another realm of possibility.
A writing colleague of mine recently attended a workshop that explored how fiction teaches us about important social cues. There is shared experience in narrative. It was said that children perform better at social tasks when they read fiction. If we think about the early reading we did on the knees of our parents, this makes sense because we’ve been exposed to all kinds of moral lessons and values through the fiction in children’s picture books.
I’ve been told by people who only read non-fiction, that fiction is escapist entertainment. I beg to differ as many important life lessons can be potentially transmitted through various forms of storytelling. It’s about the message, not the medium. There is truth in fiction, even strange fiction. It may not be our truth, but we can and and do learn from it.
What important life lessons or truths have you learned through fiction, as either a viewer, reader or writer?