Feed the Soul

"There is an essential ... distinction between stories, on the one hand, which have,

as their goal, an end, completeness, closure, and on the other hand, information, which 

is always, by definition, partial, incomplete, fragmentary."

Susan Sontag

Fiction brings us stories that have partial truths or altered perceptions.  Characters can be reshaped and renamed switching personalities with hidden secrets.  Non-fiction delivers information based on factual evidence.  It may be in fragments and not have a sense of origin nor completion.

Life tends to be a little of both, fiction and non-fiction.  As the storyteller or reporter, we provide facts and frequently share truths as we know them.  What is truth to the author is not necessarily truth to others as we all experience life and events through our own perceptions.

An author could write about his or her perfect childhood growing up with nurturing parents, and we would happily absorb the information as truth.  An author could write about living in a cave for five days or walking on fire, and we would immediately become skeptical.  The importance perhaps, is whatever feeds our soul.