I was thinking some more about Vietnam this morning.
Four U.S. Presidents intentionally lied to the American public and to Congress, about the degree of military involvement in that war. We, the voting public, were basically fed a pile of crap for sixteen years.
Unbelievable! And probably more unbelievable is that we eagerly ate that pile of crap.
A couple months ago I read a book by Robert McNamara about his involvement and memories of the Vietnam War. As you may recall, McNamara was the Secretary of Defense under two of those four Presidents. I came away from the reading of that book feeling like it was terribly self-serving, that he had somehow washed himself clean of any wrongdoing during that entire fiasco. And I read a similar book by Henry Kissinger once, and it was amazing how lily-white he managed to paint himself.
Now those two books were labeled non-fiction, but in truth, parts of them were either a) fiction or b) bald-faced lies.
And that got me to thinking about many of the non-fiction books we read. They are all written according to the truth as the author sees the truth, but is that actually the truth?
Just something to think about!
Which brings me to my genre of choice . . . fiction!
I love being a fiction writer. I make a deal with my readers: I’m going to completely fabricate a story, alter reality, lie my ass off, but I promise to entertain the reader while I’m doing all that . . . and that is perfectly all right and expected. I am expected to alter the truth with my writing, and people pay me to do so, and how great is that?
The point is this: writers of fiction are entertainers and blowers of smoke. It is our job to release the reader from the ugliness and vileness of reality; it is our job to give them a respite from the pressures of their lives; it is our job to suspend the known world and create an unknown world.
If we do our jobs well, readers will come away from the experience feeling satiated and fulfilled.
If we do not do our jobs well, readers will come away from the experience feeling like they voted for Richard Nixon.
Just something to think about!
Have a great day of creating!
Bill
“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”
Billybuc
Artistry With Words 