Reality vs. Fiction

I sat down one afternoon and began thinking about the power of a story. The power of fiction—guess that could also be the title of this post.

I sat on this day and thought to myself, If it’s impossible in real life, it’s possible in a story. If it’s impossible in a story, it’s impossible in real life.

To put it in a simpler form, fiction makes the impossible possible. I’m one of those folks that believe in the supernatural and the paranormal, you can’t convince me otherwise. I seen, and heard, of some pretty bizarre stuff because of my background. But even with the existence of the supernatural, some things are without a doubt farfetched. For example, a man not being able to distinguish the real world from a dream world (Ted Dekker’s Circle Series), or a writer’s pseudonym—who might have as well been a potential twin he gobbled up in his mother’s womb—coming to life to haunt him (Stephen King’s The Dark Half). These are all impossible scenarios in the real world.

Even though I did mention that what is impossible in fiction is definitely impossible in real life, I’m yet to find a scenario that is totally impossible to tell in a story. In a story I can single handedly amass a great following and become the president of Africa, yes, the entire continent. Nothing’s impossible in a story.

I dare say that even Jesus knew the power of a good story which is why he spoke in parables, an archaic word for fiction if you ask me.

No one wants to see reality being mimicked event-for-event in a story. It is why I say “The world is not enough, so I create an alternate.”

All in My Head

“Hi, Mich!” Mich said as he entered the room, closing the door behind him.

“Oh! Hi, Mich!” Mich responded as Mich ambled across the room, taking a seat at the far corner.

“How’s the story coming?” Mich asked, sinking into the chair.

“Great!” Mich quipped. “Bob just realized he’s been living in an alternate world!”

 

Yep! That’s how it often is in my head. Okay, it isn’t quite that vivid. But since I was little I can remember having conversations in my head. I dared not tell anyone, for multitudes might have considered me crazed. Heck, I told myself, and myself considered me weird.

I feel that most people do converse with themselves in their heads, they just don’t let us know. While some others might not have a well played out dialog going on in their head, some of us do.

This is a concept I never really understood about myself while growing up. Not until I started writing. A concept I once thought crazy suddenly became a powerful tool for bringing my characters to life on paper—be it physical or electronic. I find it easier to put down my characters’ thoughts, and also to construct dialog between them since I’m constantly chatting with myself.

Drop a comment. Do you ever chat with yourself?

One Small Step

Shocked by the news of the death of one of my childhood heroes, Neil Armstrong, I write this post in honor of his tremendous work to humanity. As a little kid, I don’t think there was any profession I didn’t consider going into, but on the top of my list at a point was being an astronaut. What can I say, every child dreams. Today, however, I’m freaked by the concept of airplanes, not to talk of space shuttles.

So how does Neil Armstrong, Man On the Moon, link with writing? Actually, I’m linking him with reading in my own small way. Neil Armstrong to me is the human representation of the word “Discovery.” 

“That’s one small step for man, and a giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong said, having taken his first steps on the moon.

Alright. Enough jabbering. What’s my point? Apart from a means of escape, I feel reading is also a means of discovery. One small step, for the reader, might be walking into a bookstore and picking up a book by their favorite author. But your giant leap comes when you leap into the pages of that book and discover a whole new world. Books have the capability to make you discover more about everything, even yourself. It unearths secrets you never knew about you, and about your world.

 Our job is to take you to the moon and back.

@chosenmich

Psychic Chemo

I was waiting in a vestibule on this morning, face stabbed in the pages of my current read, Dean Koontz Odd Thomas, when I stumbled against the words of a character in the story who’s a writer.

His words were, “Writing isn’t a source of pain. It’s psychic chemotherapy. It reduces your psychological tumors and relieves your pain.”

This was a “Selah”—pause-and-think—moment for me.

I’ve heard writing being referred to as thinking through fingers, that’s Isaac Asimov. To me it’s creating an alternate world of escape. But never have I seen it as “Psychic Chemo.”

But in a sense that is what writing is to the writer. Writing can be seen as an activity of healing for the writer. The activity of writing brings us healing. So, writing is to the writer first, before the reader, a source of escape. And completing a piece brings the biggest healing. It is our treatment.

Mich

The Truth About The Lie

 

I once asked my friends on Facebook a question: Does being a fiction writer make one an exceptional liar?

When you look at what we do, it seems we have the skills to fabricate outrageous tales that never happened—lies—and make you believe they did. The best of writers can even make you believe it was a personal experience; happened to me with Ted Dekker’s Circle series.

While I think that being a fiction writer can hone your lying skills, I believe that through those lies, we interpret “The Truth.”

Mich

The World is Not Enough…

If I were asked what I thought my duty as a writer was, or why I write, I’d say: “The world is not enough, so I provide an alternate.” Among a myriad of other reasons, this sticks out.

Let’s face it. Why do we read? Most of us read to create a world of escape. We throw ourselves into a world conjured up by another human and momentarily forget about the world we were born in. We immerse in fables and tales, giving ourselves whole to the outcome of potent words. But we don’t even see words when we read, we see another world.

So here is the crux of it all; while you escape the real world and plunge into the alternate, you get acquainted with these characters and live your life with them, albeit for a very short time. By the time you’re done with the story and reawake in this world, you find that your experience in the alternate world helps you live a better life in this one. We need an alternate world. There we are free to make mistakes. That way we don’t mess up so bad in this world.

The world is not enough, so I provide an alternate…

Mich

don’t you worry ’bout a thing

As an individual, I found out that it’s very easy to worry. In fact, worry might be second—no, first—nature to mankind. It’s easy to worry about rent, school fees, the next meal, whether that dream you have in your head will ever come true and so on. I could go on mentioning stuff we almost have to worry about every day. But you see the truth, “Worry don’t work,” as one of my greatest mentors put it.

Recently I sat back and began imagining what life would be like if I didn’t have anything to worry about. Nothing at all. Try it. Just imagine that for once, there really was nothing to worry or be anxious about. That’s total bliss, man. I’m not saying imagine how life would be if you had become the tenth richest person on forbes and have properties spread all over the world. I’m saying what if absolutely nothing bothered you. You didn’t care what people said about you. You didn’t care if there was a delay on your next pay check—or whether it even came at all. That is going to be one heck of a stress-free life. Here’s what Jesus said about that:

Matt 6 v 25 – 27 [NKJV] 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

Man, those are some powerful words. But after listening to Jesus, I told myself this week that I’m not gonna worry about anything again. If he wants me to stay clear of the worry zone I’d do it. Life doesn’t move at my pace when I worry. I need to realize that my life moves at God’s pace. He is in charge of me, and if he’ll feed some birds…he’ll definitely take care of me. And he’ll take care of YOU, too.

New Story on the Blog!

Yep! It’s been a while. Finally there’s another story on my blog. It’s called the Skull, and it’s available for download in the Free Books section.

The Skull is an eleven-page short story that took me upwards of six months to write…or conclude, rather. The story is divided into three sections. In a matter of weeks, I was able to finish the first two parts. The third part was the issue. Not until last month did the idea drop into my head from I don’t know where. So, really, I do not say I wrote this book. I’m not skilled enough to write that conclusion on my own. I was just the pen.

Click the “Free Books” button and download it now; the thought-provoking, life-changing, spine-chilling new short story from the Dungeon of MiCH OLORUNFEMi. The Skull.