Why Your Reality Is Greater Than Fictional Worlds

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And What That Means for Fiction Writers

I love immersing myself in vivid fictional worlds. Books, movies, tv shows—give me a great story in any form and I will live there for hours at a time.

If it’s an especially great world, I might throw a couple of my own characters into the mix and see what plot and conflicts spark. Or if I’m feeling especially adventurous, I’ll imagine a scenario where I’m transported into the fictional world…what an adventure!

But that’s what it is, a fictional adventure in my mind. Life doesn’t work like a fiction story. It isn’t an epic adventure with grand challenges to conquer and incredibly inspiring people to live life with. Real life is calmer and, dare I say, at times mundane. Or is it?

What Is So Alluring About Fictional Worlds?

Fictional worlds can appear more intriguing to me than our world. There is adventure, great passion, supernatural animals, and dire situations. I love how the characters deal with high stakes in their lives: War, revolution, life vs. death, tempestuous and deep relationships, etc.

That’s not to say I want to live in a time of war—I value peace in my country and pray it will last—but when we humans are distanced from the most dire of situations in the human experience we can become passive in our daily lives. Don’t read me wrong, life is hard. We have jobs, families, and a million other responsibilities to juggle. Days are far from boring and lazy.

Likewise, there are communities to join and close friends to be made, but at the end of the day it just isn’t like an epic fantasy or cozy murder mystery set in a historic hotel in the Alps.

When I’m within a story a silent corner of my soul awakes. It’s as if my mind, heart, and body have found a better way to live and gets excited. Energy returns to my mind and I want to get off the couch and live boldly.

But when the book is shut and resting on the end table, real life sinks in. The dirty dishes are waiting, the clean laundry begs to be folded, and the long list of to-do’s roll past my mind’s eye and the adventure is done.

Worse still is when you’re riding that story high and someone torpedos you to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with a pessimistic comment. Like when you’re talking about a character as if they were a real person and someone states the obvious, “It’s just a story.”

Well, I think, if it’s ‘just a story,’ why does it feel so real to me? Why does my soul yearn for an important adventure to live?

So, is this just it? Is real life just what it is and stories are simply a coping mechanism, or is there something deeper reaching out to us from stories—a vital reason why we love fictional worlds and want to live in them?

What Are We Missing?

We take life in through sight, sound, smell, taste, and feel (or whichever senses we have been blessed to posses) and then we process that information through thoughts and emotions. What we perceive we take as the reality of our world, and when you’re a Creative it is in some way reflected in your art.

We create from what we know then add a dash of spectacular, a pinch of our personality, and voila—fictional characters, plots, and worlds take wing.

But this is where I begin to see a disconnect: How can every incredible story ever written be drawn from real life if real life is rather unadventurous for the average human?

Are our imaginations just that AMAZING? Possibly. Personally, I have another theory which I believe is even more staggering and still a credit to the creative mind.

Try this. . .

What if we can only imagine stories as big as we know subconsciously exist in our world? In other words, maybe the reason we can imagine greatness is because greater things surround us?

I feel like it scientifically makes sense: We can only know what we know to be in existence. Then the intricate and creative human brain takes over and twists and shapes this knowledge into an interwoven, exciting, and even supernatural story. (I know we are delving into some abstract concepts, but I ask you to bear with me for a moment longer.)

If this is true, that means there is a basis in life for superheroes, magic, dragons, and anything else we could imagine in our world to exist.

“But Sarah, there are no Griffins or Manticores ruling the sky.” I know, I know, but do you recall the splendid creativity of the human brain and some of the strange creatures in this world? Seems to me the perfect ingredients to make up something like a Manticore.

What about magic then? Or the supernatural realms depicted in stories? Am I saying the greatest fictional story ever written is to an extent real and relevant to our everyday lives?

Yes, I am. And here’s why. . .

Related Reading: 4 Valid Cases to Prove Fictional Stories Teach Readers

A Story Across Time

Check out this story outline:

• Two thousand years ago the King of our world descended from his throne in Heaven to Earth to save his people from trouble.
• But his subjects hated him so they tortured and killed him. What many did not know, was that this King LET himself be killed and ridiculed because that was the only way he could save the people he loved—the people killing him—from their trouble.
• Three days later the dead King breathed life again. Some still denounced him, but others sought his forgiveness and received it.
• A short while later the King returned to his throne in Heaven with a command for his story to be told to the ends of the Earth, and with the promise that he would return one day to rescue those who believed in him from their hardship and judge the people who still denounced him.

This is the true story of Jesus Christ. Actually, it is only a small part of our history and if you want to learn more find a Bible (I prefer the ESV translation).

Not everyone believes this story, but to me it is the perfect explanation for why we hold this longing for something greater in our souls: The desire to live for something greater and experience a fulfilling life is carved into the fabric of our bodies, minds, and souls. No wonder we ache for a life beyond socially acceptable, readily tangible, and so-called logical realities.

It is why we love being a part of a community, making a difference in the world, or reading + writing fantastical stories. Our subconscious knows our bodies were created with this need, and it is seeking for ways to satisfy the desire with any half-way promising solution.

So what is ‘realistic?’

I’d like to draw your attention to that third bullet point: Three days later the DEAD King BREATHED LIFE again. Seems pretty unrealistic right? But if that’s true—and it is—what else is true and real in our everyday lives that we don’t see?

We can imagine these otherworldly things because our life truly is a supernatural one and our subconscious knows there is a power in the world beyond our imagining. We are living in the greatest story ever told—a character in the grandest adventure ever. THAT is our real life.

When We Write Fictional Worlds

So that is why we love fictional worlds, because it speaks to that subconscious truth of life and urges us to step outside ourselves and to truly live. That’s the takeaway when we read stories, but how does this reality affect our writing?

It is an absolute honor to be a fiction writer. We get to play with what is true and recreate it into a piece of art. We get to give readers the same experience we love when we read about fictional worlds.

I say have fun with storytelling. Experiment. Don’t worry about peer pressure or compare yourself to others. Write the stories dancing around in your mind because that King who died and came back to life three days later gave YOU that story to pen so another could read it.

Now that’s an incredible purpose for anyone’s life😊

Related Reading: 5 Traits You Need to Be a Powerful Writer