Life Fiction

Growing up, I was always taught that fiction was the kind of writing that was meant more for one's own personal entertainment than for conveying truth. Truth was defined to me as facts, or concrete knowledge that could not be disproved. However, over the years, I have come to see truth in a different light.

In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf makes the statement that, "Fiction here is likely to contain more truth than fact." I strongly agree with this statement. Truth is more of a personal understanding; it is knowledge that has been gained or understood within an individuals mind over the course of their lifetime. We constantly search for truth within our everyday lives -- truths about the world and those around us, as well as truths about ourselves and our direction in life.

Fiction serves as a means to finding truth. Though the characters or story plot may not be based on actual facts, fiction allows us to look passed the definite details and enables us to focus more on the message being conveyed within the work. In this, we are now able to view fiction as a means to obtaining a greater form of truth. This kind of truth moves beyond the little details that mean nothing to us as individuals. Truth can vary from person to person and is open for disagreement and discussion. Life, in and of itself, is uncertain so what would make us think that the things that define it have to be certain?

Pieces of the Puzzle

       For me, writing is like a puzzle just waiting to be tackled and completed.  In our minds, there are hundreds of structureless thoughts floating around. These thoughts lack direction and make little sense when analyzed on an individual basis, much like the individual pieces of a puzzle. Writing is a way to turn our thoughts into something more than a jumbled mess. Like pieces of a puzzle, our thoughts come together to form a coherent image or idea. There is only one way these pieces, or thoughts, fit together to most effectively project the main idea upon the observer. Although there may be many attempts at accomplishing our ultimate goal of completion, the final outcome is worth the time and effort. In the end, we feel a sense of success and achievement for having constructed something logical out of something so initially disorganized.