Home of author Eric Penz; seeker of lost history,
creepy cryptids, and all that lies beyond the horizon.
|
|
Home of author Eric Penz; seeker of lost history, |
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why We Read Fiction Literature holds a special place in our hearts, fiction in particular. The art of fiction has been a part of civilization nearly as long as writing itself. But in this day of text messaging, Internet surfing, satellite television, and in-home theaters the act of reading fiction has much competition. And yet, in spite of technology’s pleasures, we continue to read with no foreseeable end in sight. Why? How can it be that reading a book can hold a candle to blowing an evening playing Halo or letting the hundreds of satellite and cable TV channels wash over us? It is because stories told with the written word offer the consumer what technology and no other media can—an intimate and uniquely personal emotional experience. An experience that is a cooperative creative effort between both author and reader. And this experience has four distinct and foundational elements. One of the four cornerstones of this foundation is the ideas that such literature introduces to us. We can’t resist, it seems, the lure of a new, fresh and imaginative idea—or better yet, the combination of multiple ideas in a way we have never seen before. A second cornerstone is the anxiety we feel for characters we care about who have been placed in harms way due to the action of the story’s plot. In other words, we are drawn into a story by way of its high stakes for our hero or heroin—or even our villain. And the higher the stakes the better. A story’s ability to evoke emotion in the reader, in ourselves, is the third cornerstone. Sadness, joy, lust, fear, humor—take your pick. As humans, we are addicted to feeling emotions. Such an addiction is a defining trait of humanity. And fiction can evoke emotions in us like no other medium can. This is because the emotion is generated from within. The reader absorbs the author’s written words, internalizing them, letting them become a part of her. She then adds to the words with her own experience, beliefs, and fantasies, creating an experience wholly and uniquely hers. Thus the rich emotions she inevitably feels as a result are her own, not falsely stimulated sensations by the hand of an external influence. And lastly, the keystone to fiction is theme. Theme is the heart of a story, because it strikes to the heart of the reader. Theme is the message communicated to the reader by the author via the craft of fiction. Storytelling at its best is a form of communication. And we humans thrive on communication. Therefore we instinctively recognize a story’s ability to communicate to us. Like a friend calling out to us with exciting news, so a story calls out to us with news we can’t help but to stop and hear. So don’t worry about technology replacing good old-fashioned literature. As long as we remain human, ruled by our emotions, there will always be fiction to read. |
News Archive
July 26, 2006 Articles on the Craft
Crafting a Novel Articles on Cryptofiction
Conspiracy within Our Own Minds Articles on Lewis and Clark
A Violent and Untimely End for Meriwether Lewis A proud papa holds his first born. |
Claim your copy of Cryptid today!
