Random Musings on Fiction

I just finished watching "Grey's Anatomy". No, this posting isn't going to be a review of the show, nor am I going to write any spoilers here! (I would hate to ruin anything for anyone who might be reading this.) I will tell you that it was quite an emotional show.

Which has me thinking: why do we get so emotionally involved in things we know are not true? Books, television shows, movies, etc. (The small and big screens do rely on writing as a starting point before they can even think of filming.) We allow ourselves to become personally invested in works of fiction, and become attached to the characters and scenarios despite knowing that at the end of the book, or the end of the episode, the real world won't be all that different just because so-and-so died, or what's-her-face ended the relationship with oh-that-guy.

I know I do it all the time. Fiction is by far my preferred reading/viewing material, and when I finish a book or a movie, I try to get my hands on the sequel (or, if it does not exist, fan-fiction, which while not usually anywhere near as good as the original, can serve as a good surrogate) as quickly as possible to find out what happens next. I need the story to continue, I need to know what else happens to these people that don't really exist.

In an absolutely perfect universe, I think there would be some dimension where the story does continue, where fiction is true and all the characters of books, films, TV shows, and theater live out their lives. The Doctor is out there saving the planet, the Scarlet Pimpernel is rescuing French aristocrats, and (SPOILER WARNING if you are one of the few people in the world who doesn't know how Pride and Prejudice ends) the Darcy’s are living happily ever after.

Maybe that's why we need fiction in the first place. Compared to the worlds that writers create, ours can sometimes pale in comparison. We live in a society where everything has an explanation. Reading or watching a piece of fiction allows us to escape into places where unicorns exist, time travel is possible, and true love really can conquer all.

Of course, the show or the book always ends. There isn't always a sequel, and a series can't last forever. And that is where we learn our lesson from fiction. We can't make it real. We can't travel to that alternate dimension. However, we can make the most of our own lives, to make of them stories worth living. Or reading. Because, hey, truth can be more interesting than fiction.


*Side note* Many apologies for waiting so long to write a second post. Really though, this is my third blog post ever written, because I guest wrote for Aching Hope over at Slumpvis Musings! Okay, end of shameless plug.

A first time for everything...

Whenever I've been asked to list my hobbies, hobbies, I always have chosen to include writing. It seems to go perfectly with my most frequent activity, reading. The two are a pair, like peanut butter and jelly, milk and cookies, or peas and carrots. Reading and writing.

And yet, I really have not done much writing in quite a long time.  In my younger years, as an elementary student, I was quite the prolific writer, although most of my stories seemed to revolve around my dog and the exciting life I imagined her to enjoy while the human beings in our family were away from home. As I grew older, however, my time was taken up by school assignments requiring a focus on facts, not fiction. I used to joke with friends that the papers we had to write were designed to suck away all creativity, leaving us unable to write for enjoyment.

So here I am today, an unpracticed writer. Oh, tell me to give you a thesis statement and five pages on history, theology, literature, etc., and I could surely fulfill the requirement. But I have my own stories to share and opinions to give, and I can't quite seem to be able to get them from my mind onto the paper. Or screen, as it is in our technological age. Thus, I am following the wise advice given to me by my writer friends, and blogging to practice writing.

This blog will probably be quite random, varying from attempts at fiction to rants and raves on current events. Welcome to whoever is out there reading!