tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post1740089087361725305..comments2024-03-26T10:18:38.318+01:00Comments on The Bookaholic Blog: Have your say...The Bookaholichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16403758109717848396noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-76170199054927675852009-04-01T08:30:00.000+01:002009-04-01T08:30:00.000+01:00Thank you all for your comments; it is really inte...Thank you all for your comments; it is really interesting that we may not have the same thoughts about an issue, but our thoughts are not wrong or right. Here is what I think: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/ArtsandCulture/Books/5395642-147/story.cspThe Bookaholichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16403758109717848396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-68172908332502366282009-03-26T20:30:00.000+01:002009-03-26T20:30:00.000+01:00I think this definition can help us understand thi...I think this definition can help us understand this:<BR/><BR/>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FictionOnyeka Nweluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13196379713739910290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-36551656899819138292009-03-26T20:19:00.000+01:002009-03-26T20:19:00.000+01:00"it should not be questioned for its 'realness'. I..."it should not be questioned for its 'realness'. It should be left that way." I don't think it's the author's place to decide what readers will question and how they will question it. You want your readers to identify a semblance of reality in your works for them to enjoy it. Art is representation or reality, but sometimes this representation is twice or thrice removed from the reality, but the core meaning of the human condition, even where the characters are animals, as in Animal Farm, should be present, or decipherable, since readers are also involved in the making of the meaning of a work of fiction. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps someone here needs to define fiction to help us contextualize this dialog. Can you help us out Bookaholic?Emmanuel Sigaukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04171063918198721862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-1977352213064605212009-03-26T20:04:00.000+01:002009-03-26T20:04:00.000+01:00Fiction should not represent any real event becaus...Fiction should not represent any real event because we've decided to tag it fiction. In my opinion, which I'm so much entitled to, I think that when a writer writes fiction, it should not be questioned for its 'realness'. It should be left that way.<BR/><BR/>Hallo, Lauri. Nice been on this together with you. I think that people make no meaning out of no meaning. Nonsense out of nonsense. Some people in Darjeeling had problems with Kiran Desai, for not 'doing justice to the setting of the town' in The Inheritance of Loss, but that should not be so, in my opinion.<BR/><BR/>Let's hear more from you.Onyeka Nweluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13196379713739910290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-67683772912745861602009-03-26T13:45:00.000+01:002009-03-26T13:45:00.000+01:00I believe fiction must reflect realness in terms o...I believe fiction must reflect realness in terms of the reality of the characters. You can put characters on a Mars where restaurants hover in the air and people keep chameleons on leashes but if the character is depressed she should not be laughing at alien stand-up. It must ring true. As for setting, research and knowledge is required. Many Batswanan hate McCall Smith books saying they don't reflect Botswana. <BR/><BR/>Fiction can live in real places and real events.Laurihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11112458658109887868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-38055078564242573432009-03-25T18:59:00.000+01:002009-03-25T18:59:00.000+01:00Your explanation has merit, but why can't fiction ...Your explanation has merit, but why can't fiction represent "real events, personal experiences..."? How are you categorizing fiction. I, for instance, would use categories like literary fiction, genre fiction (such as science fiction, romance, horror, etc)and they can all immitate some aspects of lived reality. Even where the reality is lived, they present them as livable, which is why readers can relate to the story. <BR/><BR/>Congrats for your novel; I have get my hands on it sometime soon. I have heard good things about it, and I also like the updates on your blog, which I am following now.Emmanuel Sigaukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04171063918198721862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-44880287481056149342009-03-25T18:39:00.000+01:002009-03-25T18:39:00.000+01:00Great to hear from you, too.You make your stories ...Great to hear from you, too.<BR/><BR/>You make your stories believable when they are steeped into real events, when you draw out of personal experiences, when you have to make sure that 'this character breathes'. But it doesn't work that way, in my opinion, when it is fiction you are writing.<BR/><BR/>How do you see that?Onyeka Nweluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13196379713739910290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-40862888118451871322009-03-25T13:55:00.000+01:002009-03-25T13:55:00.000+01:00Onyeka, great to hear from you. How do you make yo...Onyeka, great to hear from you. <BR/><BR/>How do you make your stories believable?Emmanuel Sigaukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04171063918198721862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-36805992354167666482009-03-25T12:01:00.000+01:002009-03-25T12:01:00.000+01:00"a setting in a world of fantasy has to be appropr..."a setting in a world of fantasy has to be appropriate for the world it orients the reader, and may also require research"<BR/><BR/>How on earth does this sound convincing? <BR/><BR/>JK Rowling only had to imagine! You don't need to 'research' for a work of fantasy. Write what you don't know. I can tell you that I have problem with the concept 'fiction'. When is fiction fiction? <BR/><BR/>During the process of editing my novel, one of my early readers said that a passage of my book was improbable and unbelievable, but I made him understand that I was writing fiction, not non-fiction. When it is fiction, it has to be fiction, no matter what justice you are trying to do to the environment.<BR/><BR/>Reality begins to seep into writing when you create believable stories, which is why I keep saying that I write to see a different world; a world that rarely exists.Onyeka Nweluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13196379713739910290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1817122899545365136.post-84422395106030299742009-03-25T08:48:00.000+01:002009-03-25T08:48:00.000+01:00These are great questions. The issue of setting is...These are great questions. The issue of setting is important in all works of art. The world you create in your story has to seem realistic on its own terms, yet readers must be able to recognize the place as credible, or become used to the world the story presents. A historical setting (Biafra for Adichie) requires research so that the writer is factually accurate; a setting in a world of fantasy has to be appropriate for the world it orients the reader, and may also require research. Let's create places, times and space as believably human, even where only animals or rocks inhabit such settings.Emmanuel Sigaukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04171063918198721862noreply@blogger.com