Image generated by AI but the text written by a human. British kids in the late 1960s.
Sydney Portier’s portrayal of a teacher in the movie, To Sir With Love, was the first time I heard someone say fiction is lying. I laughed. He was a black teacher trying to connect with blue collar, British students close to failing in the 1960s. The relationship gradually deepened and he made a lasting impression on the students’ lives.
Now, when people make the same comment it makes me cringe. Some really believe it.
The first definition for fiction in Webster’s Dictionary states “something invented by the imagination or feigned” specifically: an invented story. It quotes Andrew A. Rooney as saying:
“I’d found out that the story of the ailing son was pure fiction.”
That sounds a lot like lying to some people. So fiction is fibbing when you justify the missing cookies from the cookie jar. But in literature, fiction describes imaginary events and people without the intent to deceive.
Jesus and Fiction
Fiction can convey truth, sometime more effectively. Jesus used parables when he taught the crowds that followed him. His madeup stories, painted vivid mental images that stunned audiences and engrained the meaning in their minds. What lacked in realism, made up in communicating eternal values.
His stories were down right scandalous for first-century Jews. A father hitched up his tunic, exposing his bare legs, to run and welcome a prodigal son who left home and basically considered his father as good as dead. How about the neighbor who refused to help another neighbor who had surprise guests and needed something to feed them. The lack of concern could jeopardize the asking neighbor’s social standing.
Are Painters Liars?
A painter may gather scattered trees for composition’s sake. He’s not called a liar. He may leave out an electrical line that cuts across a blue sky. Another may blur the background to emphasize the focal point in the foreground. When working from a snapshot with shadows, painters add detail left out by the camera’s technical limitations. Even the Jewish tabernacle used abstract color for decoration.
It’s the same for fiction writers. We don’t mirror reality. Real events and people are fictionalized, timelines scrambled, characters added and subtracted, and sometimes merged. Dialogue gets reconstructed. Reality serves as a springboard to convey an idea, a mood, a theme—hopefully with impact.
That’s how I approach writing fiction. In the end, I hope readers laugh and cry, feel encouraged, entertained, and enlightened.
