Too good to be true?

Someone who read the book, “Searching and Others Stories of Mary Worth” made a recent comment that the stories have “endings too good to be true.”  To that I say this.  Why do you read fiction?  When I read fiction, I like to be entertained and also shown some light and hope.  Otherwise, I read the news.  I like to read and write stories that have a premise based in real life, and have an outcome that is either ideal or that offers a glimmer of hope.  Sometimes the premise is bleak enough as it is, mirroring the darker side of real life.  Do people really want to read an equally bleak outcome?

Ayn Rand said that nothing points to the truth better than fiction.  What she means is that non-fiction is not as realistic as many might think.  The news is filtered and edited according to someone’s point of view, in many cases the news producer’s. History books are written from the perspective of the history book writer.  But can anyone really say that the news and history books portray the absolute truth?

When a person watches the news their guard is down and they think, “this is how it really is.”  But when they read fiction, they acknowledge from the start it is only one person’s viewpoint.  Therein lies the truth because the reader or viewer takes in fiction with a grain a salt.

Everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

Great fiction points to the truth in showing possibilities.  Why should a reader limit his or herself to only what is expected?  In fiction, as in life, the possibility for good is endless.