Posted by Sam Bramlett
Is a man with no senses alive? He is in the same way that people know what’s going on in each other’s heads. Fiction isn’t limited to books or anything else in the sphere of entertainment. “I think, therefore I am,” does not mean “you think, therefore you are,” but what I think can exist between us, whatever we may be.
Humans are physical things, their emotions created by the chemicals and electricity whirring through little grey wrinkles. Within the mass of gray wrinkles in our skulls however is a seemingly infinite capacity to generate the nonexistent.
Why do you think a God would create a world? Entertainment. Drama, like opening the pages of a conscious novel and watching the people inside collide with each other. As Vonnegut said in Breakfast of Champions, “I had come to the conclusion that there was nothing sacred about myself or about any human being, that we were all machines, doomed to collide and collide and collide. For want of nothing better to do, we became fans of collisions.”
This may seem a bit much for a simple explanation as to why Fiction is valuable to me, but the world itself is a remarkable work of fiction. My own life is the greatest story I’ve ever known, all other stories are simple distractions from the main body of work that exists inside my head. Perhaps my parents should have kept me from playing so many videogames, since now I so vividly understand that someone else could very well be playing the game as me. I have to hope my life would be a good videogame. Would there be enough backstory and characterization? enough drama and struggle to form the basis of a compelling plot? I would like to think so, but who can be sure. There’s no answer to something like that. My life could be as simple and fictitious as the book I’m going to read before I go to bed. It doesn’t matter; what does matter is that I see the story through. That’s how I rationalize it anyway.
Fiction has depth. It has emotional impact. Through the careful setup of characters and events it creates enough friction between relations that new actions or developments create a sense of wonder or despair. Revelations become biblical or humorous, somber or jubilant. It hinges on what’s already been said, allowing the connection to have an impact on whatever audience.
Fiction is a tease. Nothing is more unenticing than a book that always gives you what you want. The good stuff isn’t what’s easy, and the expected is never the answer. This is a spoiler if you’ve never read Game of Thrones, but a prime example is the beheading of Ned Stark. George R. R. Martin has since made such a habit of brutally murdering main characters that it’s become expected, but the thrill of not knowing whether your favorite character will die or not is what keeps you reading. Situations need weight. It must be possible for the hero to fail. Should the hero always win, I will eventually cease to read.
Fiction must not act as a mirror. If whatever is read does nothing but confirm the preconceived notions one has, it is worth next to nothing. Unless of course you enjoy talking to yourself, and only yourself. Fiction opens minds to new experiences and possibilities; it challenges your view of the world and forces you to see yourself in a new light. An example of this is Dr.Manhattan’s monologue from Alan Moore’s The Watchmen, “But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget… I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another’s vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away.”
These elements I find valuable in fiction, though not always. There are always exceptions when it comes to fiction. Rules can never contain the infinity of what does or does not exist in the mind.
