What is reality for a writer

Last night I had dinner with the Obamas. It was in a dream, and Barrack and Michelle were whisked away by Secret Service Men when the monsters showed up. Dreams aren’t always an accurate reflection of reality because I think our First Lady is up to tackling a couple of monsters.  But the dream brings me to reflecting on a question today. It’s a question that was asked in a class I’m taking—

What is reality to you?

Now the class can be considered a theology class with people from various backgrounds, from jewelry makers to nurses. Okay, we’re all witches, so it’s not a class where you have to give an expected answer. But we were all considering the question – does perception create reality.

And that’s where being a writer comes in.  My answer was that my reality really is shaped by my writing because when I write a story, those characters are real. They have to become real for the story to be worth writing. They have to take on their own characteristics and help shape the story as I write it. And every time someone reads one of my stories, the characters become a little more real.

Being an author means creating reality and then sharing your reality with anyone who would like to join you. It also means sharing the inner part of yourself, the part that can create worlds filled with characters who are flawed, greedy, snarky, loveable, hateful…  Characters who have to reveal parts of themselves that most of us want to keep hidden from the world.  Fiction can show us that which is hidden. Which is why it may actually be more real than what we think of as reality.