In stories, the subconscious mind gives voice to some of its most deeply cherished longings. In myths and legends, men and women make desperate attempts to tell one another who they are, why they are here, where they are going, and what they are meant to do. —Jim Ware, God of the Fairy Tale: Finding Truth in the Land of Make-Believe.

I was frightened, and I tried to heal my fear with stories, stories which gave me courage, stories which affirmed that utlimately love is stronger than hate. If love is stronger than hate, then war is not all there is. I wrote, and I illustrated my stories. At bedtime, my mother told me more stories. And so story helped me to learn to live. Story was in no way an evasion of life, but a way of living life creatively instead of fearfully. —Madeline L’Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art.

Stories have always been important to me, to who I am. I have read stories since I learned to read, and before that my mother told me stories. One of the first stories I remember writing was in the second grade. The only thing I remember is that it was set on Venus–we were studying the solar system in science.

I think the reason I prefer fiction to nonfiction is you can say things in a story that is harder to say in an article. You can challenge the status quo and confront issues from the side instead of head on. I think story carries more power and truth than an article based on fact. We have confused fact and truth—they are not the same thing, and they cannot always be equated. Facts and datum are just one part of truth—one facet. Not everything can be quantified and qualified by scientific method. I think that is the main reason that literalist Christians who have to prove the Bible as fact irritate me. God and his acts in this world cannot be reduced to mere facts and datum. And that does not make him or his action any less true.

Story has the power to make you admit you are not the person you want to be. In story we can admit to what we really want and what we’re really looking for. It’s a safe haven—sancturary. There we can admit what our wildest longings and passions are, and it’s okay. I have learned more about God and life through story than I ever have through facts thrown at me about how God exists, and here’s the timeline (or insert another chart) to prove it. I have learned more about who I am and who I want to be through story than through any 40 day program that claims to make you more “spiritual.” There is a reason why 60% of the Bible is narrative—story. That is where we live—in our stories. Life does not happen in one set of equations to another or from one set of facts to another set of definitions. Life happens in living with each other, our stories overlapping, and growing into new and different stories.

I will write nonfiction, but that is not where my heart lies. My heart lies in story, and when I can combine story with nonfiction as Margaret Becker has done in Coming Up for Air, wonderful. But I have a feeling that I will always be home in fiction, and fiction will always be my first choice when it comes to writing. Nothing beats a good story…except for writing a good story.

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