Fiction and nonfiction might be perceived as simply opposites. Fiction would be considered fantasy, while nonfiction depicts reality. Nevertheless, reality is subjective, and sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction. That is why readers must be careful when reading nonfiction because the truth might not even be real.
Some of the greatest stories ever written are completely fictional. Famous examples range from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen to the critically acclaimed (but also controversial) 1998 “Best Picture” winner Shakespeare in Love. That is because fictional stories help readers (and viewers of film and television) escape reality. People must keep in mind, though, that books and movies really are just books and movies.
Just because a submission is labeled as “nonfiction” does not necessarily mean that the written content is even true. For example, a memoir of a person’s life really could be the product of the author’s imagination. There is even the cliché of “fudging the truth” because what has been written down (and possibly published) could really be nothing more than a delectable story. A “true story” might sound “sweet,” but that does not necessarily mean that the events depicted in that work of nonfiction ever happened.
In both the literary and cinematic worlds, one of the driving forces for the production of such words is one thing—money. After all, entertainment news has become a part of daily life thanks to newspapers and websites like Yahoo. The more that people spend buying books and purchasing movie tickets drives the producers of such entertainment to get more bang for other people’s bucks. Sometimes a published work of nonfiction could really be purely fictional while labeled as “the truth” (whatever that may be).
Even history could not even have happened. People living in the twenty-first century were not alive during the times Caesar and Cleopatra and the the Fall of Rome. There is even the possibility that the love affairs that Cleopatra shared with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony might really be a sensational romance widely recognized thanks to the works of William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, and the 1963 epic starring Elizabeth Taylor. Truth really must be taken with a grain of salt.
Not only is fiction and nonfiction, but writers oftentimes defy social convention. However, being an outsider is a societal issue and not a personal matter. The simple fact that outcasts would even attempt to be noble reveals their virtuous nature even though society regards them as inferior. Such a contrast between personal behavior, and social judgment, suggests that society labels outsiders rather than have personal behavior determine such a status for a given person. There is evil in the world, but differences do not denote the true source of atrocity. Instead, the surrounding society would isolate them because some elitist people would regard them as inferior.
People regarded as different are still victims of social hatred nevertheless. These people can do much more than their own parts to behave properly in a society that mistreats them. One person might not be able to control the perceptions of others, but never underestimate the power of rhetoric. Words really can make the world more humane. That is how writing can provide hope and creativity, and is much more than simply forms of human expression!
Even with the doubts that people might have about what is true and what is false, it is undeniable that great stories delve deep in what it means to be human, and more importantly, what it means to be alive. Time on Earth really is very short, and sometimes people waste their whole lives indulging in fantasy rather than coping with reality. Then again, everything written in this blog post might not even be real in the first place because this blog post could even be the product of its author’s imagination. One of the greatest gifts of life is having the ability to think. Nevertheless, the mind is also capable of producing lies, and sometimes people do not even use their brains. Therefore, proceed with caution, be careful out there, and practice eternal vigilance.
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