So, I’ve decided to shift gears with my writing and make fiction writing my main focus. In the past, I’ve written very little fiction, other than a few pages here and there on a whim. For the next month, I’m going to write fiction every day. Hopefully I’ll stick to a single story, but I’m not going to force myself to. The goal is to see if fiction could be more enjoyable for me than it has in the past, and I don’t think forcing myself to work on something I’m not feeling would be helpful.
The important thing for me is that this is a hobby. As much as I would love to make money from writing, what I need more is something creative to do that isn’t tied to my livelihood. Plus, you could imagine how poorly I write fiction, since I rarely do it.
Usually, there’s no passion for me with fiction because it’s not real, but I thought of some neat benefits to writing fiction over nonfiction.
With fiction, I don’t have to know what I’m talking about. Sure, it helps with certain aspects to research things to make fiction more believable, but that sort of research can come well after the first draft. If I’m writing nonfiction, it’s necessary to know what I’m talking about before starting, at least in part. There have been several times when I’d write based on my opinion and end up quitting because I changed my mind after checking facts. When that happens, I try to rewrite it with the new information I’ve learned, but most of the time, I may as well start over.
Nonfiction that I don’t have to research before starting is usually just me talking about myself. That’s good fun at times, but if I want to be more private, fiction is a great option. No doubt, much of my personality and world views will bleed through in any writing, although it’s not nearly as revealing in a story veiled in a narrative unrelated to me.
In the past, I haven’t given fiction a chance. I believe I was wrong to think fiction isn’t real. It may not contain historical facts, but it captures some of the most important aspects of humanity. It can teach us moral lessons and show us views that we may not be able to connect to as easily from just reading facts. Fiction can act as a bridge for connecting us emotionally to perspectives that we can’t understand fully by hearing about it. A good story is often the closest we can get to understanding others.
Now you know why I’m going to be writing fiction for at least the next month—and thanks to writing this, so do I. It helps me know what my reasons are for trying new things when I post about them.