The God illusion

I’m not going to preach to you about faith, ancient texts or how you should live your life. To be perfectly honest I see that as your choice and responsibility. Besides, coming from a writer of fiction why would you believe me anyway?!

What I would like to discuss in this post is that I do feel a certain affinity with the gods in that I create worlds (fictional environments), beings (characters) and destinies (plots)! But that’s about as far as the similarities go I’m afraid. I may currently have a trimmed but greying beard but the closest I have come to throwing lightning was when I touched a live wire on my car battery charger! Tip from the top: always check your switches as those things can give you a hefty shove!

One of the aspects of being a fiction writer I enjoy most is the freedom. My imagination can run riot, stretch boundaries and break the rules. Writers can create, play out, manipulate and destroy anything and anyone. Writers can enjoy the power of the gods, wield fate recklessly and tinker with life as though sitting over a game of chess (or perhaps Snakes & Ladders would be a better example!) Sounds great, right? But there too lies the nub of the issue. You may have become addicted to the power of divinity but the question is this: have your readers?

Some of the very best characters of all time are intriguing because they are different, because we do not fully understand them, because they keep us guessing. How, then, do we empathise? How do we relate to them? Even though us writers do our utmost to make characters different and unique there still needs to be something readers can identify with and this usually gains momentum as the story unfolds. By the point of climax readers should therefore feel a personal relationship, love or hate, with the main characters in any given story. We have an opinion of each character and this is usually reinforced through their actions, thus we feel rewarded in that relationship. Clever, huh?!

The fate, destiny, twists and turns of plot fling the characters around, tie them in knots and generally complicate their existence to the delight and shock of you, the reader. While you are turning the pages you are exploring their world, experiencing deepening relationships and living through the trials and tribulations of your new found friends and/or enemies.

My chosen role in all this is to push the boundaries of how far a reader is willing to stretch in terms of imaginative freedom versus the anchor of reality. Obviously I want people to enjoy my stories and therefore they must be immersive, but by the same token I like introducing new and interesting ideas into my writing, taking my readers on an unpredictable and sometimes shocking journey with the characters. The skill is in finding the balance to tickle the tipping point without actually crossing the line by taking things too far and alienating readers.

The analogy between the gods and writing is very much around creating the environment, characters and interactive plots for a successful story that readers will enjoy. I feel it is about finding the balance of all elements in the ecosystem that compliment each other and keep those pages turning from start to finish.