Fiction and hindsight

by Claire Bell

I often think about whether spending time writing imaginatively is time well-spent. Is it worth doing? Is it likely to be fruitful?  And to be honest, it’s probably not the writing time that I struggle with so much as the time spent trying to get the book into the hands of readers. I visit this question often: is this what I should be doing with my life? What does it contribute to the kingdom of God?

A tablecloth?!

I was remembering recently the last gift my mother chose for me. No longer able to shop independently, she pored over direct buy catalogues in the lead-up to Christmas. On the day, she was obviously pleased with what she was giving me – a brightly flowered, square vinyl tablecloth with plastic lace edging.

It was impersonal, garish and something I didn’t have a use for as our outdoor table was oblong and we had plenty of covers for it. I think I tried to be appreciative but I recall feeling disappointed. Mum loved giving and was pretty good at choosing apt gifts. This gift seemed pointless.

My outlook has changed. Since that Christmas we learned that Mum has frontotemporal dementia (FTD). If I had known the not-so-distant future that Christmas Day, I would have valued the gift more highly as I understood the challenge Mum experienced in choosing a gift. Hindsight makes us wise after the fact. Fiction can lead to wisdom too, rather more usefully than hindsight and without regret.

Equipping readers for life

It seems ironic that ‘pretend stories’ can equip a person for life in the real world, and, of course, it depends on the kind of stories and the skill of the telling. But it seems to me that unlikely things often turn out to be useful. I like the title of a book by John Dufresne that teaches fiction writing: The lie that tells a truth. Good fiction tells a truth – something honest and valid in the way of human experience. We can only write out of our experience (with some research, perhaps, to ensure accuracy of detail) and, if we are being ourselves as we write, truth will emerge. It might not be factual truth (the talking animals of Narnia aren’t ‘true’ in a way that can be verified by science), or biblical truth (if by that we mean ‘as appearing in the Bible text’), but it will be a truth. When truth meets an open heart, something good happens. Who wouldn't want to be part of that?

Storysight

Not only does the hindsight of understanding Mum’s mental health change the way I see the gift of the tablecloth, but now that we have a square outdoor table, the gift has proven useful; that was something I hadn’t anticipated. Fiction, too, can make an unexpected contribution to a reader’s life. We write, send our stories out and trust that the truth God has invested in us will become wisdom to readers, proving useful to them. Perhaps we could call it 'storysight' - wisdom gained through story. So I encourage myself to value the output of time spent in imagination, wrestling with words and investing in promotion, so that storysight might prove fruitful to a reader.

There are many other reasons to value fiction. In your experience as a reader and a writer, what encourages you the most? Why not jot it in a comment?

Author bio

Claire Bell writes as Claire Belberg, and has published two short YA novels in a genre she calls ‘speculative realism’. She also writes poetry and is currently finalising a collection of poems about the impact of her parents’ dementia (Unravelling: A story of dementia). She has had poems and short stories published in various anthologies, including inScribe, and in the independent Adelaide news service inDaily. She writes an occasional blog called The Character Forge loosely exploring the development of personal character through the act of writing. Claire lives in the Adelaide Hills and loves to watch birds wherever she can find them.