“Val, why do you write fiction stories?” This is a question that has been presented to me quite a few times, and usually from the same type of people. My colleagues in professional settings seem to wonder why I choose to write fiction over a compilation of insights and experiences I’ve garnered working in the Marketing and Advertising industry. The assumption is that practical industry-specific books, much like the self-help genre, are cash cows. Everyone is starting a business and in the world of social media, they need Digital Marketing knowledge.
I will admit that is a clever idea and my choice in writing fiction is no indicator that I have rejected this idea at all. It wouldn’t even be so difficult to do, after all, the information exists in the public domain already just waiting to be compiled in my unique way with my unique industry experience. Yes, in my humble opinion, a lot of the content we consume in self-help and educational books is already available for free. We just pay for the convenience of having it compiled for us and unpacked with the unique language of an industry practitioner.
Fiction forces one to create a new universe with its own population, experiences, and ideas, and then convince the story consumer to relate enough to pay attention to it.
This may be the underlying reason why I choose to write fiction exclusively… for now at least. There are no 2 similar stories (yup, even the Hunger Games and Divergent are different… kind of). Fiction forces one to create a new universe with its own population, experiences, and ideas, and then convince the story consumer to relate enough to pay attention to it. It both challenges the storyteller to break out of the mold of their reality while providing them the freedom to do exactly that. One must then decide if this is a tough order or an opportunity.
It is a free, productive use of time, and, as long as I’m a living human capable of observing the world around me, there’s no shortage of content.
For me, one of the many millennials going through the multitudes of struggles in life (many of which have debatable validity in common discourse), fiction is a great escape. It is a free, productive use of time, and, as long as I’m a living human capable of observing the world around me, there’s no shortage of content. A short story I wrote that won the Tourism For Africa 2019 Short Story competition was entirely inspired by a conversation I overheard between my mother and aunt. In the story, my cousin and I explore the tourist town of Maun in search of a famous local dish, meeting strange and interesting people on the way. An award-winning short story, borne from a conversation where my aunt mentioned her desire to eat traditional food, and my mother responded that it would be difficult to find good traditional food in the city.
So long story short, the best answer is: Fiction is enjoyable. Hopefully one day it will also be a viable full-time career for me, but until then, the act of writing fiction is a great remedy for me that I hardly ever get bored of.