I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what is fact and what is fiction. What is true and what is not. I sort of touched on this in a previous post, What is real?, and today I want to revisit this subject and look at it in more depth for how it applies to us in in our own lives, and to the characters in the stories we write.
One dictionary definition of true says:
Being in accordance with the actual state or conditions; conforming to reality or fact; not false.
But whose reality or fact does that truth conform to? Are the perceptions of the actual state or conditions the same for everyone? Everything I’ve witnessed in my life has led me to believe that there is no one definitive truth about anything. Apart from maybe that there is a single underlying consciousness that powers everything. But I’m not absolutely sure about that either and don’t think I can ever be. I know what my truth is but I don’t think it’s necessarily true for everyone else.
The same goes for the “facts” that others know. Many people believe without any doubt that our planet was created by the Big Bang and life on earth evolved from then on. Many others don't accept that as true and have a whole host of other facts that make up their reality.
My actions are my only true belongings. - Thích Nhất Hạnh
I think this quote from Thích Nhất Hạnh is true of everything we experience - the only things we can definitely know are true for us what we see and do. But even then, that truth is not definitive. It’s not true for everyone. In my own life, my truth of the reasons why I am estranged from my family won’t be the same as theirs. I did it for my own sanity and wellbeing, but based on the things they used say to me when I was still in touch with them, their truth will be that it’s because I am a strange, selfish person who only thinks of myself.
Recently I was involved in a project that
organised called “Same Walk, Different Shoes”, and a true event from my life was fictionalised by another writer. It has been an amazing experience and one part in particular of the story that the author created from my prompt has had a profound effect on me, even though the scenario he imagined was not the same as my life. Seeing the life he created for the character, it also made me realise that despite the multi-layered abuse that went on during my upbringing, things could have been so much worse than they were. I’m going to expand on this more below.First, I invite you to read the story that came from my prompt, which I share below behind the paywall as I am opening myself right up in this post and keeping it to my paid subscribers feels like the right thing for me to do. I will also share the prompt I provided, and after you’ve read them both I’m going to look at the way the author used my truth and why it had such an impact on me, and how we can try and do the same in the stories we write. Over the coming weeks and months, I am going to be exploring in more depth how we use real life, our truths, in our stories and also how what our characters believe to be true is a key element in how their story unfolds and how they develop.
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