Writers lie. So do tape recorders and video cameras. So does memory. As a fiction writer this doesn't bother me at all. I only have to be true to my imagination, to the characters I create, and the events that I cause. In fiction, the writer is God, without quarreling apostles, without competing deities and without any foot-dragging villagers.
The above words, spoken by Amy Bloom, reveal a sad truth. A truth which actually shelters an even deeper lie. Yes, everything and everyone (except God) lies. Our memories are not so often mistaken in telling us the truth as they are in crafting a new truth. A truth which is, in our eyes at least, better. Yet that is not so. We have to be true to the One who is true, who is, in fact, Truth Himself. Or is it really true after all? Is it true that it is better, even easier, to live a lie? It happens so frequently. So nonchalantly. It's part of our everyday lives. We sugarcoat the truth. We embellish it a little here and withdraw a few facts from it there. In the end we all live a lie.
It was Chesterton who said, "Truth is stranger than fiction because we create fiction to suit ourselves." Though, as strange as it may be, it is still held in high regard. People still respect those who speak the truth. Naturally one enjoys a good story or some light fiction. There's nothing wrong with that. Jesus applied fiction to some of His stories. He "invented" many of His parables (or whatever they were). He was a genius craftsman in the art of fiction. He employed it artfully in the expansion of our own horizons. So, no, there is nothing wrong with fiction. As long as it is, of course, kept within the proper bounds.
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