Episode 2: A Questionable Truth

submitted by Sharon Redgrave

Neil Gaimen has mentioned that writers of fiction use lies to tell “a human truth.” That it will tell something about how we as humans love or react to stress. How we will, under extraordinary circumstances, risk our own lives for love, revenge, or power. Or perhaps simply to try and have a normal, happy life. Fiction writers showcase human nature by creating people that never existed, doing things that never happened. Things, people, and places that are lies.
But wait! From childhood, weren’t we told not to lie? That it was a very naughty thing to do, and we would get punished if found out.
Ah. “If.”
Some obeyed. Some hedged their bets. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. And then there were some who realized it could be a tool with which you could manipulate people, so they practiced lying, and became skilled at it. They perhaps were able to garner love, exact revenge, or accumulate power. And when they were discovered, in a perfect world, they would be vilified, brought down, left in the dust of our fury at them for having fooled us for so long.
Yet novelists are expected to create stories using the exact same skill. Not only expected but encouraged. Lauded when it’s a particularly good set of lies. However, they also are expected to know where that line is that must not be crossed; they need to hone The Art of Lying to create stories that excite, puzzle, and compel us, but never to use that skill as they themselves go about their real lives. 
So where does that line lie? At what point as a child, did they figure out that “lying” was naughty, but playing “make-believe” was okay? When realization of that contradiction dawns, like the sun suddenly catching the edge of a mirror with a light so hard it hurts your eyes; is that the point, that single fraction of a second, when we become adults?
Once upon a time…

About the Author: The author lives in the mountains of far North California with a British husband, some cats and a great deal of wildlife. She writes, cooks food, and likes a bit of travel and a good glass of wine.