Abby Paul: "Dear Michi Trota: How Fiction is Real"

Dear Michi Trota: How Fiction is real

By Abby Paul

               

Readers like me look for themes that inspire. Sure, sometimes it’s refreshing when a story ends in complete loss like in the Engine at Heartspring’s Center, but I don’t seek out murder suicide endings in what I read. I appreciate themes like good vs. evil or knowledge vs. ignorance, because asserts that positive change is possible. So much of the world we live in is a gray area, full of worries. Genre fiction has a tendency of making things black and white, discerning right from wrong. The X-Men fight radicals and genocidists, saving lives and putting away villains. Genre fiction is often optimistic about the existence of light and love among darkness and hate. Every problem has some solution and the world can be kept in balance. I enjoy themes of optimism, overcoming, and resilience for their relevance to issues in my life. I may not have journeyed across dangerous lands to fight a treasure hoarding dragon, but like Bilbo I can feel exasperated working toward a nearly impossible goal. Genre fiction can sweep you away from reality and give you a fast adventure, but drawing connections between two worlds with a message relates with readers.

Relevance is like medicine you hide in yogurt to trick your cat. When I pick up a book I am looking for another world, not an anecdote that will tell me how to live my life. “Oh boy the character in my book has a math test too! Will his studying pay off? Oh the suspense!” said no one ever. But medicine stays with you, it makes you feel better, and it pays off in the long run. At a first glance the best fiction is far removed from reality, filled with superpowers, space travel and antique police boxes that few teenagers have ever seen in real life. Then you see real lives: relatable people with relatable trials among aliens and robots. And it makes you think.  You grow attached to the characters, take interest in their lives, and empathize with their struggles. I look for stories that engage readers without straightforward relevance to my life. Indeed, the best characters have their white whales and backstories. In written genre fiction we often have the advantage of getting inside the protagonist’s head. For example, in Neverwhere, we see Richard’s transition more clearly from missing home to embracing London below, because we know some of his thoughts. Little ironies and jokes bring a sense of genuineness to their person. Similarly I appreciate worlds built similar to the real world, not in that they have the same rules as reality, but in that they merely have rules. In genre fiction like Doctor Who, the rules of the world are stretched and bent, but never broken. Paradoxes are always a limiting factor in that world. There is a necessity to be able to make sense of the fictional world to understand the plight of the characters within.

In conclusion my preferred genre fiction doesn’t have to be sugar coated, without loss or labor, because from fiction I learned light does not exist without darkness and character does not exist without trials. When authors interweave relevant themes into fantastic stories, they interest and engage the reader. The heart of the story should speak to the hearts of the readers.