When readers read my novels, I want them to feel that they are having a wonderful conversation with a good friend. I want them to consider that which they had not previously considered. I want them to look at the world in a new way. I want them to feel challenged to do more and be better. I want them to begin to notice all that is good and right in the world around them. I want them to desire to be a better person or to learn more about a given subject because something I wrote inspired them to be more and to learn more.
To me, novels are a way to convey truths and spark interest in learning more about the world around us. I like science fiction novels for the way that they stretch our imaginations about the way things could be in the future. I like fantasy novels for their iconic representation of the battle between good and evil and the need to be valiant in our lives. I like historical and political novels for the way they bring those subjects to life.
Although a novel is, by definition, not a recounting of actual events or characters, it can speak plainly to the truth of actual types of events and characters. By so doing, novels help us put the pieces of our own lives together. We can explore the possibilities and philosophies and ideals even as we live in a world encumbered with limitations and practicalities and mistakes. We get to explore the "what ifs" and options present before us. Novels can give us ideas, insights and understanding about other people in that we cannot get by simply talking to others. Novels aid us in the task of walking in another's shoes for a while.
I believe that our lives are what we make of them. And much of what we make of them is captured in the stories we tell about ourselves. The stories we tell reveal the way we look out at this life from our insides. We each narrate our own life's stories. Some of this narration is true. Some of it is false. Some of it is both true and false at the same time. It is what we make of it.
Reading novels can help us put our own life's stories into perspective. In particular, reading novels that speak to universal truths can give us insights and inspiration about how to handle our own real problems. They can give us a fresh way to view our own stories and can help us create our own stories that are both true and beautiful.
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