“I feel sorry for you being a writer. That’s so boring,” a friend told me. (About my novels here.)
His statement wasn’t a joke, but it was so absurd that I just chuckled. Inwardly, I decided to “consider the source.” He hated his own job and thought the only book worth reading was the bible.
A lot of people I know consider fiction in any medium to be frivolous or worse. Still, to me fiction is so essential that every time they tell me that, it catches me off guard. I splutter, keep quiet, or over-argue my point. Between you and me, I feel sorry for them, those non-writers and non-fiction lovers.
So why do I care enough to tell you about it? Really, I don’t know. Maybe it rankles me at the moment because my current occupation of querying for a Literary Agent can make me question my entire existence — but only if I let it. That’s why I want your input.
Stories are everything to me. When I was a journalist, it was clearer than ever that so-called non-fiction comes with its own special shading and lighting, point of view, let alone the author’s distinct vantage point. Ditto for the mass of first-person stories (like this one) that are the internet’s lifeblood.
It’s all good, all of value! Rather than pick one over the other, let’s bring it all to the party! Go ahead and bring your fave “educational,” “constructive,“ and blessed as “money making“ fare. Stories, painting, photography, sculpture, dance, music, video…
