Is one better than the other - writing from the real or pure fantasy

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   poetvixposted 13 years ago

   Which do you feel produces a better piece, writes resulting from real experiences and events from the author’s life though they may be hidden in a cloak of fiction or writes that are purely fiction having no associations to the authors real life or experiences and why?

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      ofmelancholyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      fiction, you have more options when you write fiction

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      Kimberly Bunchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I like nonfiction and not cloaked in fiction because I learn so much more, but it really depends on what your preference is.
      
      I think that fiction would probably suit you. Is that what you are looking for ... an answer to your own situation?
      
      I get that impression and if you want to write fiction with truth added to it that sounds great. People do it all the time and write it off as just fiction.
      
      I wouldn't want to read something that somebody said was truth and it was tainted in lies. Movies are one thing but to embellish truth is distasteful to me. I guess I am just an honest person and expect the same. Which is hard to get in this day and age.
      
      Anyhow, the best writers write from their heart's. The answer(s) to your own decisions should come from within you.
      
      Everyone else will differ in opinion. Write from your heart anyway you want to, everyone else does, or tries to do.
      

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   Website Examinerposted 13 years ago

   I like the purely fictional, the reason being that I feel more liberated to write whatever I want. Personally, I have a rather high level of respect for other people's privacy and the integrity of human relationships; I prefer not to mix reality with fiction for that reason. I'm aware that many people are much more relaxed about it, but that was my decision and I'm going to stick to it.

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      sofsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Fantasy is more colorful and vivid than fiction at times.  When i was younger it was always fantasy now it is always true to life!

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   I'll only say one thing....
   
   
   Truth is stranger than fiction.

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      poetvixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I have to agree with you there Cagsil.

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   Rafiniposted 13 years ago

   So far, most of what I've written has been truth.  I've also written a couple pieces from a stem of truth, and then opinion pieces based on the truth before my eyes.  Not much in the way of fantasy...my mind tends to linger on experiences, and daydreams based on a sentence or two spoken to me.
   
   I'd say writing from truth is better - where I'm concerned, anyway.

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   Richard Craigposted 13 years ago

   I like a mixture of both.  I like a sense of reality sprinkled on plenty of fiction.  I have an imagination so I just tend to go with it.

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      poetvixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I like this.  It's like the best of both worlds coming together to make something new that should contain the ring of truth.

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   Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

   I think it's very hard to escape ourselves.  Fiction is what we call truth with its name changed. Whatever we write, it must come through us, through our mind and our bodies, before it hits the page.  We can try to tell another's story in our fiction, but in telling it, we reveal ourselves.
   
   Fiction gives freedom to be more honest, to explore deeper parts of the self, parts that are truly there despite having no chance of really manifesting.  Just because we would never do something doesn't mean the capicity for it is not a truth within us.  Perhaps the only thing that prevents us from any given behavior is the triggering event.
   
   In contrast, "truth" as in, say, memoir, is fiction in the guise of truth.  We tell the story with as much candor as we can muster, but when it's done, inevitably, those around us will read and say, "Hmmm, that's not how I remember it."  Our life stories are the stories we tell ourselves, and quite often that has little to do with "truth" or "reality."  If there even are such things.

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      getitriteposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      BEST ANSWER

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   bsscorpio8posted 13 years ago

   Embellish. If you wish to write fiction, use a bit of the truth as a stepping stone.There is nothing new under the sun; there are only but a few story types. If you are going to write about the"truth", stick to the facts.

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   Storytellersrusposted 13 years ago

   This is a great discussion.  I have thought about this a lot, because I cannot escape myself as you say.  I went deep into writing my stuff while working the Artist's Way for the past 42 days.  I am not sure anyone else cares, but for the past month I have been writing for me, seeking balance.  I believe in privacy and stay away from intimate details, but I have grown more writing what is true than what is fantasy.  Although there is always that question of what is truth?  Just because I experience and define it for myself, this is not always another's experience, is it.  I have found that figuring out what I have concluded opens me to listening.  Thanks for raising a very important issue... I think, in the end, fantasy cloaks truth.

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      poetvixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I, too, am loving the discussion going on here.   A few points to bring up...
      I like fantasy best as I can leave small or sometimes even large pieces of myself in it without care of discovery.  I find it is hard to write anything that does not contain some small portion of myself.  With that said, I further find that when I write something that some people find too dark or disturbing, no matter that it is fiction, people tend to think for some reason that it must be real.  I wonder why that is?  I wonder at times if people can even tell the difference.  Perhaps at times fiction reads more real that a true account?  I don't know.

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   mega1posted 13 years ago

   I write fiction.  I write non-fiction.  Some of my hubs are better (from my point of view) than others but it has nothing to do with fiction or non-fiction - more to do with the style and quality of the writing and the design of the hubs and how well I researched and edited them.  Some days people will be in the mood to read fiction, other days they may be shopping, or wanting information . . . there's room in your mind and everybody else's minds for all this and more - poetry, music and movie reviews, culture comments!  Political satire!  Plays!  just do it and they will come read!  I leave even my not-so-good hubs on the list because who knows? some day maybe they'll grab somebody's attention.

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      Druid Dudeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Which one is more inspired? My money is on fiction. All you are with reality is a reporter.

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         mega1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         well, actually my non-fiction hubs I would consider more "inspired"  - the one I just finished about "stuff" and minimalism was really inspired - I was even dreaming about it last night - by an urge to really change my life and my lifestyle.  I wrote it from a personal angle, there's a lot of "me" in it - it is not just straight reporting.   Traditional journalism is not my style. I have more of a poetic soul so I almost always share about my own experiences even when I am informing about some trend or product or anything.  I know not many people do this, but it is my personal style to be personal!

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         poetvixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Well stated Druid.  If fiction is better, and I like it better myself, is there such as thing as pure fiction?  Do not we all, at some point, to some degree, draw upon our own history and experience?  If that is the case, then how can anything be pure fiction but rather mostly fiction with bits of the author contained in its lines?  Just a thought that has been lurking around in my head for a while.

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