[stylist] Quote to ponder

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Is it so much lying or is that we should imagine beyond what is
currently stated as possible and impossible?

Perhaps a quote like this is more meaningful for people who are blind
because we face on a daily basis attitudes and perceptions stating we
can't do things. Many of us know that most of what is considered the
truth of reality is really just a perception that can be changed.

In terms of lying, a teacher of mine said that as long as we make what
we write believable, that's all that truly matters. Of course they were
saying this specific to fiction.

In particular, this is what a great fantasy writer must accomplish in
order to draw us into a world that is fantastical; to make us believe
what is happening. Any fiction though must have characters that are
three dimensional, that are believable and relatable. In essence, our
imagination must become a metaphorical pop-up book, grin.

One of my favorite fiction novels is Memoirs of a Geisha. I believe the
name of the author is Arthur Golden. The story is about a Geisha in
Japan happening during the 20's to the 60's. Golden is neither Japanese,
a Geisha, female or living during a portion of the time periods in which
he writes about, yet the novel is a beautiful, compelling story. He
becomes the authority; his imagination created this story about
circumstances he has no first-hand experience of.

With any nonfiction, it needs to be based in reality and not completely
fabricated. When it comes to creative nonfiction, conjecture can be used
as long as it is somehow stated as such, and dialogue is encouraged,
which probably won't be verbatim but remembered to the best of our
knowledge as long as it isn't completely made up. POV and tense can be
played with as long as the story itself is true. Of course perspective
is always suspect  because we all can witness the same thing and bring a
completely different perspective. What stand out to me or what I
remember and felt at a given time can be vastly different from someone
else.

Anyway, I think definitions can be loose and vary from person to person,
but writing on any level, in any form, is about making a person believe.
The word author derives from the word authority, so any writer, fiction
or nonfiction, is deemed as an authority on what they write. It's our
ability to make readers believe, to compel them, to persuade them, to
draw them in that makes us good writers. Whether it's really true or
not, perhaps at the end of the day it doesn't really matter...

Bridgit