Illusion and Reality [microform] / Virginia Hamilton

The fiction writer uses language to create the illusion of reality. A work of fiction is an illusion of life in which characters attempt to transform basic reality by casting their desires and views upon it, thus creating internal conflict between elements of the real and the unreal. Characters must sort out through experiences that enable them to discover what truths finally exist. Every fiction has its own basic reality, through which the life of characters and their illusions are revealed, and from which past meaning often creeps into the setting. The task for any writer is to discover the "reality tone" of each work--the basis of truth upon which all variations on the whole language system are set. Tracking down the source of an idea and discovering the true components of a fiction are intriguing work, but they are work that is, in a sense, a sideline and after the fact, for it is not necessary to know the source of an idea in order to expand upon it. To get an idea and from it create a system of illusion that readers accept as reality is the most exciting prospect of all. (HTH)