Do you agree with this quote by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa on Fiction Wr

Question: Do you agree with this quote by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa on Fiction Writing!?

"!.!.!.when you write a novel you must not shrink from the idea of distorting and manipulating REALITY!. Distortion and manipulation of fact are necessary in a novel!. You must lie without any scruples, but in a convincing way so that the reader accepts your lies as truths!. If you succeed in this deception, something true will come through the lies!."

From "A Writer's Reality," Syracuse University Press, 1991!.

What do you think the art of the novel is really about!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I agee entirely! I had not read the quote previously, but I have written two novels of Atlantis which, necessarily, are fantasies wherein fantastic events occur with great regularity; therefore, naturally, reality is definitely distorted and manipulated, and yet I still endeavored to write the stories in a believable and convincing context! Mario Vargas Llosa has expressed in the quote exactly what I was trying to do -- although, naturally, at the time without the benefit of that enlightenment!Www@QuestionHome@Com

definitely, if an author can take something that is clearly impossible and make you believe that it is possible- even for a fraction of a second- they've achieved their goal!. that's the best kind of writing there is! :) (in my opinion) I think mostly, it just allows us to escape from reality for a while!. if we didn't believe what the author was saying, well!.!.!.it wouldn't be much of an escape!. it's just fun, borrowing others' imaginations!.

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I agree with the answer before me, as well!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I think that's pretty accurate!. To me, fiction is telling the truth through a lie!. The people and situations that happen in fiction are not and never will be real, but they help the reader to see something true about humanity (or whoever the book is about)!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes, and this quote as well:

"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities!. Truth isn't!." Mark Twain
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