True Fiction

I used to have very little interest in fiction. I wanted truth, not stories. It took a wave of rediscovery of powerful stories to jolt me out of that illusion. Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Les Misérables. Braveheart and Gladiator. All have some expression in them of the larger story, the great epic of God and his creation. And oh, by the way, the parables of Jesus are pretty powerful too. Oops. What was I thinking?

So now I have something of a dilemma. As a writer, how should I invest my time in the coming years? Should I continue with straightforward commentary about God and the world and human beings? Or instead of talking about truth, should I invest my time in compelling stories that demonstrate it? Both can change lives, but stories have a way of changing them more radically and memorably.

Regardless of the direction my writing takes, I'll forever be enamored with the ability of a story to capture my heart and express things that words can hardly describe. And, unlike I used to do years ago, I won't have any reservations about watching a good movie or reading a good book. Truth is everywhere, if we know how to see it. And I love how it shows up in a story.

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Julie Aldrich 18.06.2013 13:14

I'm always hungry for the truth...I have made some wrong decisions because I couldn't or didn't want to see the truth. I’ll take the truth straight up please.

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