this morning's musings

[annburlingham]

this morning's light is diffuse, not harsh, as the sun comes and goes behind clouds. fine snow in the air sparkles. as i drove to breakfast, i wondered how to capture it: with words? poetry? paint, camera? which made me think about fiction. (i'm in a thinky mood, occasioned by reading a couple people's "25 random things" on facebook) i struggle

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[ex_serenejo]

this morning's light is diffuse, not harsh, as the sun comes and goes behind clouds. fine snow in the air sparkles. as i drove to breakfast, i wondered how to capture it: with words? poetry? paint, camera? which made me think about fiction. (i'm in a thinky mood, occasioned by reading a couple people's "25 random things" on facebook) i struggle with the question, off and on, of "what is the point of fiction, anyway?" perhaps not a question a bookworm and bookstore owner should have to ask, but, although i read a lot of genre fiction, i am... uncomfortable with straight-up fiction fiction.

Hmm. I'm not sure I appreciated it much before going to college and learning a little about the writing and reading of it.

so, capturing the light: is fiction for capturing life? i want to show people the light because it struck me, it's beautiful, it's part of a moment in time that could look bleak, but is subtly lovely. trying to convey that is much harder than seeing it. for one thing, showing what one's seen has to either convey the experience to someone else, or convince them it matches their experience.

I'm not sure. That is, I'm not sure it has to convey the experience as you experienced it, or convince anyone of anything.

this is where i have difficulties with fiction: i shy away from reading books unless i trust that the author can either truthfully, luminously, report reality that looks real to me, or that their perception of reality matches mine. i give myself over to the author's point of view when i read. that's not safe, if theirs is skewed.

Hmm again. I think that being aware of the unreliable narrator, and allowing myself to get angry if I feel an author is manipulating me into a direction of thought I reject, helps me make those books into learning experiences, though they're certainly not as pleasant to read as those that reinforce my own ideas.

and then there are readers... their views may be skewed, too. or perhaps it's just that some of us have authors whose perceptions fit, and others who don't. in any case, fiction. i find it difficult to explain. let's not even get into my confusion about the hows and whys about poetry.

Oh, let's! I love it when you get all thinky.