When we talk about reality, we are usually referring to the
three-dimensional physical world that we live in. Anything not a part of that
world is declared to be not real, or in other words, fiction. People who like
to think they live out their lives only in the “real world” tend to dismiss
fiction as being for children and dreamers. I’ve even heard it said that
fiction is for people who can’t handle reality.






I submit that reality is for people who can’t handle
fiction. An adult who enjoys reading fiction is someone who hasn’t lost their
imagination. Too often we see children playing in rich imaginary worlds, and we
tell them to grow up. This teaches them to be ashamed of having an imagination,
and that imaginary things are only for children.



Adults who are able to hold on to their imagination are
people who enjoy reading fiction. For them, the words on the page paint
pictures in their mind, and the characters live out their lives in beautiful
color. They see the events in the book as though they were watching a movie.



Still, even many adults who enjoy reading fiction have only
managed to retain a part of their imagination. I make this statement based on
the sheer number of them who ask me where I get my ideas from. Many of them
don’t believe me when I tell them I just make stuff up out of my imagination.
They persist in wanting to know where my ideas come from.



Where my ideas come from is a story for a different post.



The point here is that the imaginary worlds in books and movies
are no less real in the minds of the consumers, the people who read the books
and watch the movies. They’re also real in the minds of the writers who make
them. It’s less a matter of not knowing the difference between fact and
fiction, but more an acknowledgement that reality is comprised of both fact and
fiction, and that there’s room enough for writers and readers to enjoy more
than one kind of reality.


~Marie