Messing With Minds

During one of the sessions at the Willamette Writers Conference, the presenter said "Writers mess with people's minds." I believe it was Eric Witchey, but regardless -- I loved the concept!

Those of us writing fiction strive to create a world populated by characters that absorb the reader. We want her or him to "fall" into the universe of our creation and live there for awhile.

Pretty heady stuff.

James N. Frey (the author of How to Write a Damn Good Novel -- not the other James Frey) made some interesting points in his guest blog at Storyfix. In "Who You Are and Who You Ain't," Frey addresses writers and says "Words to ancient people had power." He explains that "People in ancient times understood the power of words. They were in awe of the power of words."

Frey contends that "...writers are the most persecuted minority in the history of the world." People fear writers because they can "bewitch" them. "We can take them out of their everyday reality and make them, even against their will, dream the fictive dream."

Frey believes fiction is a tool that teaches the reader about life. "Romance novels teach us how to love. Mysteries teach us about justice. Adventure stories take us to new places; sci fi, to other worlds and other dimensions. It is by our stories that we truly live."

Frey tells writers "By mastering your craft...you are gaining a sort of supernatural power, the power to create stories that cause people to enter into a kind of trance, to be in the story world that you have created, to think and feel things they never would have thought or felt in their ordinary life."

No matter the commercial success, aspiring authors "...experience what all creative people -- writers, artists, musicians -- experience: the ecstasy of being a co-creator of the world."

Wow!

I love messing with people's minds!!