Fairy Tales?

Someone once told me that they did not read fiction. Ever. They prefer true stories, biographies, and factual books rather than wasting their time reading fairy tales. This person even went so far as to imply that fiction is a form of lying, so they wanted no part of such nonsense. These comments bothered me a little.

Okay, a lot.

It took me a while to come to terms with the condemnation I felt was being directed toward me not only because I love to read fiction, but because I love to write fiction as well. And to my knowledge, the person who gave me their rather strong opinion has never read a single thing I’ve ever written. They have never asked me about my writing, never encouraged me in that area, never shown any interest whatsoever. I figure it’s their loss, right?

Here’s my take.

We are here on this earth because of God, the ultimate Creator. Look around and you will see His magnificent imagination in operation everywhere. He made it all out of nothing – nothing except the words He spoke from the thoughts and images He had in His mind. He planned everything out. The setting, the plot, the characters, all of it. He created a Story of love and redemption.

We fiction writers do the very same thing.

We take that incredible imagination, given to us by God, and we create from the thoughts and images that form in our minds. We have the ability to write stories that make a difference and to be the difference in a world so full of hurt and hate and hardship. We can write stories that actually have the potential to change someone’s life.

I pray that the stories I create will find the people who need them, and that in some small way, their own life stories will be changed because of what they’ve read.