The Reality of Fiction

It’s great to be back in Provincetown at The Fine Arts WorkCenter, where I was a fiction fellow some years ago. The experience has lived on for me, and the places--both town and colony--have continued to inspire me. To be back here teaching is a gift. The students are deeply engaged, creative, and ripe for exploration.

The whole experience has reminded me of the primal power of fiction—which first brought me here. The art of fiction is a demanding one, requiring many hours given to sink into worlds of the imagination, allowing the world of necessity to fade enough to hear other voices--deeper voices.

Provincetown and FAWC remind me that it's worth it. For me, fiction is the repository of a deep wisdom, of a kind of primal magic. The art of fiction contains multitudes. Someone once told me that the trajectory goes: data, information, wisdom. The act of  imagining deeply is transformative--through a fictional lens, our world is refracted and made deeper, wiser. More real.