No Escape

I had a student recently who describe how her love of fiction began when she was young and very shy and frequently bullied. Stories, particularly fantasy and science fiction stories, were her escape from a world where she felt lonely and scared much of the time. She is not alone in this relationship to stories. I interviewed a very successful suspense writer who expressed how he knew perfectly well that good did not always conquer evil as it did in his novels. “My books are escape,” he told me. “Look: I’m a divorce lawyer. I get enough reality in my day job.”

I fully understand wanting to escape. I have certainly looked out at the world and not known what to make of it. Sometimes that world is the small one I occupy, my family and work and daily routine; and sometimes it’s the larger world, the one shared by us all, reports of which trickle to me in news and Twitter posts and anecdotes from friends. The reports are almost always gloomy: the end, it would seem, is forever nearly upon us. What can I do? So much happens without my say so. Why not go somewhere else, go to a story of my choosing, and feel for a time free from powerlessness and uncertainty and worry?

It's a backward view for a writer to hold, frankly. The stories I tell on the page all come from somewhere, a place not so very different than where I go when I read. Yes, to see it I must look inward, must turn my attention away from the reality I can touch and hear. But this is not escape. This is the first and most important and practical step in creation. The world of form is made of things that already exist. I can’t look to them if I want to make something new, something I wish to see and share.

How else is that which we call reality born? Humans forget they are forever creating, seeing their cities and roads and businesses as having grown from the ground rather than our minds and imaginations. Whenever I’m feeling trapped or lost, my best plan of action is to look to the source of everything I fear and love. There’s no escaping it, as it lives entirely within me, every bit as real as the sun and moon.

If you like the ideas and perspectives expressed here, feel free to contact me about individual coaching and group workshops.

Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt
You can find William at: williamkenower.com