F is for Fiction is a Lie

"Fiction is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie."

~Stephen King

[Ha! Doesn't The Truth Inside the Lie sounds like an episode title for the TV show Bones?]

Seriously, though-- the things that can make a completely fantastical story believable are the truths in it. From universal human truths about the characters right on down to the "rules" for a different world. If there are too many things that don't ring true, readers aren't willing to continue suspending disbelief. It's all about the truths!

Truth: I want to eat these cookies now.

Recipe and Photo Credit for Abby Sweets

Happy Friday!

A is for Authorly Abilities: Unfair Advantage on April First

Happy April Fool's Day, and happy first day of the A-Z Blogfest!

On this special day of fooling people, might I say that I'm SO VERY GLAD that I'm not good friends with a special effects make-up artist. I mean, can you even imagine how much of a freak-out factor they could create if they used their abilities on the unsuspecting that day? [Shivers at the thought of a "scary creature" hiding in my closet, one of my kids showing me a terrible "injury," or an awful "sickness."] I mean, seriously. Someone using those kinds of skillz to fool me could put me need of lifelong therapy.

As writers, we have just as powerful of a tool as their make-up kit: words. I mean what's our job description anyway? To make people believe something that isn't real. To create characters and convince people they are real. To create problems and situations and plots and convince people they really happened. Sometimes to even create a whole new world and convince people it is real.

We've had a lot of practice making people believe us.

Two years ago, I underestimated this power we wield, and wrote an April Fool's post on my personal blog about how my family and I were going to move 2,000 miles away. I put just the right amount of specific details mixed with fact to make it believable. I somehow managed to make my friends, neighbors, and family freak out, made my mom cry (although in all fairness, I told her it was a joke before she read it), and got 7 times the number of unique visitors to my blog that day than my previous record.

But it came with guilt. OH, THE GUILT! Apparently you shouldn't use the kinds of powers we have on the unsuspecting. (Although, incidentally, it did convince me that maybe I did actually have what it takes to write believably.) I don't know about you, but if my kid came home with a fake-but-looks-entirely-real bone sticking out of his/her arm from how he/she fell on the playground, I'd kinda sorta freak out.

So here is my warning to you. Practice responsible blogging, people. Lest the guilt consume you.

The secret reason behind why I didn't post yesterday.

You may or may not have noticed that I didn't post yesterday. Unannounced. For the first time ever. Rest assured, there was a good reason.

You see, early Sunday morning I got a call from a dear friend who had tickets to the Red Carpet at the Oscars. When an unfortunate incident happened involving a sick cat, a disgruntled doorman, and an angry mother-in-law, she could no longer use her ticket, so she gave it to me.

Which, of course, I gladly accepted! I hopped on the next plane to LA and headed straight for the Red Carpet. I didn't bother to change first, because there really wasn't much time. Plus, red: timeless. It's not like people are going to be looking at these pics years from now, thinking about how red is SO out.

I was TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY EXCITED to be at the Oscars! I couldn't help but let my excitement show!

(Except then they corralled me and stuck me in a seat, until they could figure out why some dude was sitting in the seat I was supposed to be in.) Oh, my gosh. You wouldn't believe how fascinating those Oscar statues are! They sparkle like a vampire in sunlight. No, more like someone spilled glitter on them.

Eventually, I started rubbing myself against the statue, so I could sparkle, too. And that's when they moved me closer to my seat. I was sure they'd figure out the seating thing soon. In the mean time, though, I had to admit: I had a great view of the red carpet. (I don't care what they say about your dress looking a tad matronly, Sarah Hyland. I think it looks fabulous.)

It was nice, and all, sitting right there. But not as much fun as I had when I was out in the mix of things. Plus, those actors can really strike a pose! I decided to try my hand at it.

I only got in one pose, though, before they worked out the seating thing. The seat was great and all, except for the wall between me and the actors, of course. But the person sitting next to me was FASCINATING! I chatted a lot.

And then you wouldn't believe who I saw! That one guy from Napoleon Dynamite! I swear, he's right over there. I am staring at him right now!

Man, I sure wish the cameraman would've gotten the two of us together in the same picture. That would've been awesome.

So, as you can see, between the jet lag and the flash photography sickness, there was really no way I could post yesterday.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.







And many thanks to Erin Summerill Photography for convincing me to into the variety of poses so conducive to photo bombing, in the same photo shoot that not only netted me my profile picture, but the spread of family pictures hanging on the wall in my home.

I've Got a Theory: Of real life and hand models

When I was in 5th grade, my parents realized I could paint, and signed me up for the only painting class around-- with an instructor who taught landscape painting. I began to look at the world through the eyes of a painter. Sometimes I'd look at a crazy tree or an incredibly strange sunset and think, If I ever painted that, it would look like I messed up. No one would ever believe that actually occurred in real life!

To illustrate my point, I've taken to hand modeling. Only instead of showing how soft my hands are after using a certain dish soap, I posed in the craziest ways possible.

(Clearly, I have led the life of a bona fide HAND MODEL.)

Crazy, right? But as you can see, also TOTALLY REAL. (Different length fingernails and all.) HOWEVER, if I were to sketch any of these poses, even if I got them completely right, you'd think I was a crap artist, right? Because really, it wouldn't look correct at all.

Which brings me to my theory.

Just like some landscapes (or crazy hands) wouldn't be believable in a painting, 

some things that happen in real life wouldn't be believable in a book.

We work REALLY HARD to make things believable in our books, right? We set things up like crazy, foreshadow, and bring out the parts of our characters' personalities that need to be brought out before certain scenes. That way, when we have larger-than-life scenes/issues/conflicts, they feel right. Like the book just wouldn't be perfect without it. We might want it to surprise our reader, but at the same time, we want it to have felt inevitable the whole time.

In real life, everything is set up, foreshadowed, and personalities are completely developed. And some things STILL don't seem believable! So I guess it's not surprising that real-life things a lot of times don't work when we transfer them to a book.

Have you ever tried to add a real-life crazy story in your manuscript (or read one in a novel), and found that it just really didn't work? I'm not talking about the normal, true-to-life things, but the crazy can-you-believe-that-just-happened things. Do you think there can be a place for them if you set it up right?

Quotes and Cookies: Fact vs. Fiction

Three quotes today! Only because they all come from giants, and they are so very similar.

"The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense."

~ Tom Clancy

"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't."

~ Mark Twain

"Rule one of reading other people's stories is that whenever you say 'well that's not convincing' the author tells you that's the bit that wasn't made up. This is because real life is under no obligation to be convincing."

~ Neil Gaiman

Hahaha! Great, isn't it? I TOTALLY AGREE. Also: SUCH A HARD LINE TO WALK. Write what you know, right? Yet, when you're reading a book, don't you hate when you come across a scene that feels like it probably happened in the author's life? Or when a character has a certain tic that kind of feels like it must be the authors tic? I guess it all comes down to including something because it feels right for THAT CHARACTER. Using what feels right for THAT STORY. Regardless of how awesome a story it was when it happened in real life.

Have you ever had something that happened in real life that you've wanted to include, but it just didn't seem convincing enough? Pretty funny how much real life can sometimes be unbelievable, isn't it?

While we're laughing about life, let's share a lace cookie! Because that's what you should do when you're laughing about life, right?

Photo credit and recipe: Secret Life of a Chef's Wife