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Scott Lax Blog

Fiction's Possibilities

As the literary world and many others celebrate or acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the death of Mark Twain, here's one of my favorite of his quotes: "Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't."

What this means to me: For right now, I'm wondering how many people I actually reach through op/ed pieces or personal essays. People have their opinions and rarely give thought to other, conflicting opinions.

Yet fiction can go through, into, around a subject. It can go deep, using the sensibility -- another word for soul -- of the author to gain insight into the world.

Maybe that's why I'm writing almost nothing but fiction these days. What I have to say for now I can say best with fiction. I believe in essays and memoirs; it's just that to every writer there is a season. This is mine for fiction.

I've have a new short story published online within a couple of weeks. You can check back here for a link to it.