Category: Historical Fiction

 

 

 

If stories were never told — history would not exist — change would not occur.

 

So much that is fictional is drawn from reality.

 

The horrors that have occurred historically and afresh each day (as the daily news never fails to report) become the fictional realities writers create in imagined worlds. The fiction writer’s world is in tune with current and past societal occurrences. The subconscious mind sifts and imprints that which has emotive associations. From this collaboration of mind and emotions, the writer begins with a particular premise — then something magical happens — the pen takes on a life of its own.

 

Plotter or panster merge when that magic happens. Hey, presto! Fiction and reality commingle!

 

For this reason, mindful writing is imperative. It helps guide your book to a niche or a wider audience with a message melded to the entertainment a good book affords.

 

Every good story has a lesson to teach, an angst or joy to share

 

 

Where does the act of creative mindfulness emanate from?

 

The soul of the writer, his or her angst and joy sensitize the writer to the struggles people undergo — be it a socio-economic matter such as Charles Dickens’ novels that exposed England’s elitism, and Jane Austen’s portraits of gender and social class. These are two writers selected from a host of others of the day.

 

Today fictional writers create worlds around ‘me too,’ racism and power struggles. Power struggles and injustice are timeless from Fritz Lang’s 1927 German expressionist film Metropolis based on the 1925 novel by Thea von Harbouto, Orwell’s dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four and my current reading of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins referred to as a ‘high-octane’ story, are a few in the countless number of books that connect readers through discomfit to what it means to struggle and survive.

 

Political thrillers expose mismanagement, and immorality while entertaining readers with suspense, the drama of high stakes, etc.

 

If fiction mirrors reality it becomes a record for posterity like all good books. A ‘good book’ depends on which end of the moral spectrum both reader and writer share. If a book angers and soothes, keeps the reader on the edge of their seat by creating desired expectations for the protagonist — it’s a great story penned.

 

Fiction should make us uncomfortable enough to question where we went wrong, and how can we rectify it

 

Nothing is political in writing if it showcases reality. The word ‘political’ from my apartheid history conjures thoughts of being labelled as being on the wrong side of the law. Yet a political thriller exposes heinous human behaviour in organizations that we trust to uphold justice.

 

Fiction is reality dressed up as the world on the pages of a good book, one that dares expose the foibles of troubled societies

 

 

 

Discomfit, guilt and thought

 

Let’s continue to create fictional realities by rocking the boat of complacency in assuring that the history of the past and history in the making generate discomfort — discomfit elicits thought and one can only hope that positive action will follow to change catastrophes that are within the human scope and rectify atrocious human behaviour.

 

My stories cut to the bone on forgotten voices who deserve to be heard.

 

 

 

Here’s to more fictional stories for all our better tomorrows.

 

Happy Australian long weekend. Happy pleasurable reading hours.