In an SSU extended education class by Daniel Coshnear called Fiction From Life, a primary question was: Why write fiction?
Coshnear illuminated the distinguishing characteristics of fiction as follows:
- Fictional stories create distance from the personal that nonfiction stories can't.
- Though "untrue", fiction can reflect a broader truth.
- Fiction frees the writer from telling what 'really' happened, and protects the innocence of others (including oneself).
- Fiction offers more creative license. You can embellish a story where memory fails. You can create your fantasy dialogue or change endings you wish existed.
- You have access to fictional characters & the imagination that you often can't get with real people or places.
