My non-fiction take on fiction. :p

I have loved reading since I was a kid. I was almost always in the Best Borrower’s list in elementary. But as I got busier in school, I had less time to enjoy fiction. Whenever I had time to read novels, I enjoyed it. But something was lacking. I felt like I never really got anything new. I’ve read so many books. Even if the events were new, the style and the way in which I could absorb the lessons were more or less, the same.

But Lit 13 class totally changed that. I was exposed to stories I’ve never read before. And since the sem is about to end, I guess it’s time I actually wrote something in my blog about what has been happening in my academic life.

Lit 13 came as a pleasant surprise. I knew from the first meeting that I would be challenged. But I knew from that first day that there was never going to be a dull moment in this subject.

We started by discussing the History of Story. Though many people think story is dead and nothing else could be done with it, this isn’t true. How could story be dead when humans have the natural tendency to share? I could totally relate. I go to school in the morning to talk about the new things I’ve learned about the Blue Eagles and Chris Tiu. I come home and tell my family about my day. I, then go to my computer and blog about the things that would take too long to tell each of my high school friends about and my joys or disappointments after a UAAP game. After that, I go and watch television to see the wide variety of TV series that I could watch. I didn’t need much convincing that the story was not dead.

But is written fiction not dead? Could I still read something and be totally surprised? Could I read a book and not correctly guess what was going to happen next?

All the stories in Lit class answered me with a resounding “yes.” A dog crying. A lady ready to die but finds love at the end. A kid dying while playing hide-and-seek. A spooky retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. A family full of incestuous affairs. A lady buying more than 60 pots for girls to use when they have to go. Indeed, there were a lot of things that could still surprise me.

There were also those stories that didn’t make sense. A man wanting to gather a bouquet of blue eyes for his girlfriend. Going through all the memories of a man before he died. But then Lit class taught me that there’s always something deeper in every story. Though I knew this before, I never had to go that deep with the stories I read or maybe I just never chose to. Now, I learned that every event and every detail means a great deal because they wouldn’t be in the story if they meant nothing.

Fiction is truly an art form. It will never run out of possibilities just as there is no end to the possibilities in our life. Fiction shows us that we don’t have only two roads to choose from, there is an infinity of choices. Fiction shows that there are a lot of details in our life that can be closely read so that we could find meaning in it. My questions about whether I could still enjoy reading was answered.

And now, there are only two questions about fiction left unanswered. (1)Do the authors really aim to give a “meaning” when they write or do we just aim to find a meaning? J (2)Will I ever be able to write fiction? J I am only probably a few inspiring short stories and novels from finding out.