The truth. Certainly, it is a hot topic today and I’m going to deviate from my usual writing topics to discuss…the truth. Sort of.
About two years ago, I had a student I’ll call Gabby. She was a senior taking my US Government and Civics class. She was smart. Straight A student, scored in the mid-20s on her ACT.
As part of my government course, I do a short unit on conspiracy theories. It’s a fun unit and one of the two most popular units I do (the other is about protest songs).
During the course of the unit she made a comment that we did not actually go to the moon. I scoffed. We discussed, and when the bell rang, I was sitting there thinking, “Maybe we didn’t go to the moon.”
The truth and the writer
I hold open possibilities but at the end of the day don’t believe in a lot of legendary stuff.
Aliens? Maybe – it is a vast universe. Lock Ness monster? Not likely. The Lock Ness is not that big and has been searched thoroughly. I don’t believe in vampires, werewolves, elves, dragons, and sea creatures, but I write about these things. And I enjoy reading about them.
While they and other cryptids, are not, in my world, truth, they are fun. And maybe for just a few hours while I’m writing, they are a bit of truth. Maybe for a few little while, they are real?
It’s a vast world
I live in Rutherford County, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. There have been three Bigfoot sightings over the last couple of decades. Three.
The listings don’t mention how much alcohol was involved, and I seriously doubt Bigfoot is running around Smyrna or Murfreesboro. However, what if?
That’s the fun stuff.
I’m working on a story right now. Rough draft is done and edits are nearly completion. It started with legends of Native American shape/skin changers (werewolves – and no, Stefanie Meyer did not create them) and has evolved deeper into some Native American legendary creatures.
Clearly, I don’t believe werewolves, or darker more sinister creatures exist, but I have written a story that is scary and possibly also one of the more poignant stories I’ve written. And it is, briefly and for that moment, truth.
And here’s the thing. At one point in time, there were people who believed these things exist. Even now, there are people who believe the Loch Ness Monster is very real. So are Big Foot, Aliens, and the New Jersey Devil.
For them, it is a truth. They believe it intimately.
As writer’s that is the truth we can grab, embrace, and ultimately share. And for just a little bit, we can slip away from the real world.
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