Reality-Mirror Fiction?
By Anju Gattani
What is fiction?
Imagination? Creation? Or a mirror to reality?
After investing 24 years (and still counting) in the Winds of Fire Series, living with Sheetal, Rakesh and a cast of 25+ characters in my head and on the page, I’ve learned that a different dimension exists.
A universe like no other.
This world feels like an alternate universe—a parallel life—where the characters’ voices are loud in the silence of my mind. These people live, breathe and grow, sharing their story, worries, concerns almost like any another person. Talk to any writer and you’ll probably hear something similar. The silence grows louder and lasts longer when you’re working on a series because the characters change, grow, evolve over time and continue to live with you. Then they change, grow, evolve some more and sometimes you wonder if they’re the same people at all.
Some call it the subconscious surfacing to the conscious mind. Another might call this ‘characters talking to me’.
I call this magic.
Magic that fuels a passion.
Passion that feeds a fire.
Fire that burns brighter by day.
That same silence grows louder and lasts longer as you change, grow and evolve over time. Then you ask yourself the same question.
Are you the same person you used to be?
Have your characters changed you? Have you evolved with them?
Now what phrase do you use when the characters narrate a story and that story or elements of that story start happening to you?
Do you still phrase that ‘subconscious surfacing to the conscious?’ Premonitions? Dreams? Manifestations? Or magic?
What about when characters share their knowledge, or have you research the knowledge you need to equip yourself to tell the tale and in turn plan your escape before ‘The End?’
Ask me and perhaps one day I’ll share how I made it out alive and survived.
Another story for another day…
So, does fiction mirror fact or does fact mirror fiction? Or does fiction now predict the future? Manifestation…
Does that make you, the writer, a vehicle, a medium who simply holds the pen as the story writes itself? Perhaps you’re writing the story. Or a story waiting to happen?
To who?
You?
What about writer’s block?
What about mental fog?
Or brain fatigue?
That doesn’t happen, you explain, because you’re the story ‘teller’ and you’re simply telling the story the characters (in your head) want you to tell. The pen stops when you hit ‘The End’ and then you start all over again: revisions, more revisions, edits, fixes, tweaks and polish the story until it’s done (fun fact—the story’s never done).
So, where do the characters go? Where do you go?
What do the characters do after the story is over?
Do your characters keep talking to you? Do you keep talking to them?
Characters are the heart of a story and whether their story ends on the page or continues, they continue to live, breathe and grow. Sometimes they’ll share where they’re at in that moment of time. Other times they’ll hold up a mirror so you can see if you’ve grown, changed or evolved in your own story.
“So, what is fiction?” You ask again.
The answer is simple…
Fiction, according to International bestselling author, Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns) “is a series of lies woven to arrive at a greater truth.”
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ANJU GATTANI BIO:
Multi-Award winning fiction author, international freelance journalist, blogger and former newspaper reporter, Anju was born in India but grew up in Hong Kong. She has also lived and been published in Singapore, India, Australia, USA and finally dug her roots in USA.
Anju’s Winds of Fire Series was reviewed “Downton Abbey-style saga, but set in India!” and is the proud finalist and recipient of multiple awards. : NIEA Finalist, Bests Book Awards Finalist, Georgia Author Of The Year Nominee and International Book Of The Month pick by the International Pulpwood Queen & Timber Guys Book Club Reading Nation.
Anju hopes her books will Bridge Cultures and Break Barriers.
Social Media:
Website: www.anjugattani.com
Facebook: Anju Gattani Books
Instagram: Anju_Gattani27
Bookbub: @Anju_Gattani
DYNASTIES
DYNASTIES is an NIEA Finalist, Georgia 2023 Author Of The Year Award Nominee & 2023 International Book Of The Month Pick by the International Pulpwood Queen & Timber Guys Book Club Reading Nation
“Dynasties kept me captivated from the first sentence to the very end. An enticing Downton Abbey-style saga but set in India! I simply adored it and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. “—Barbara Bos, Managing Editor, www.booksbywomen.org
“With stories that take us into the culture and dynasties of India, Gattani introduces us to one powerful woman’s journey against all odds.”—Patti Callahan Henry, NYT Bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea
In Dynasties, Anju Gattani has created an utterly immersive reading experience. A bravura performance.”—David Corbett, award-winning author of The Art of Character
What would you do if family, the people you trusted most, betrayed you?
Sheetal Prasad, a glamorous, twenty-two-year-old oil painter, is the envy of Raigun, India. Her homeland, now modern and global, at last allows women to marry for love, and Sheetal is determined to wed her college sweetheart. Her parents, however, insist she fulfill her familial duty, preserve their honor, and marry millionaire Rakesh Dhanraj—or be cast out forever.
The alliance of the Prasad and Dhanraj families drowns Sheetal in a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal. In her plan to sever this marriage and escape, Sheetal uncovers numerous devastating secrets that threaten to bring down the two family dynasties. When the Dhanraj’s tyranny threatens her son, Sheetal has no choice but to protect the boy at all costs, burning down the façade of her abusive marriage and empowering herself to break free of all bondages.
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Category: On Writing
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