I have heard writers say that being a great storyteller helps make one a good liar. If so, am I in trouble.
I have been described as “too honest” by my mother. “Brutally honest” or “blunt” by friends and co-workers. My children laugh at me when I try to lie to hide things, like presents and surprises, from them. They know when I am lying. I have found it safer to just avoid a direct answer.
Friends ask me “Does this look good on me?” and I don’t want to hurt their feelings so I try to temper a negative response with a positive aspect but I can’t lie and say “Yes, it does” if I don’t think so.
I love to make up stories though. When I am in a medium where a lie is expected, I love it. On the stage and in stories, it is ok to make things up and I go crazy. I explore things that are darker than I ever want to see in real life. I pretend to like things that I am too scared of.
I am drawn to the fantasy genre for this very reason. Everyone knows or at least believes that magic and dragons and monsters don’t exist. I tell stories set in places where these things might exist and try to make it as real as possible but I know that everyone will know it is make-believe.
So what do you think? Do storytellers have to be good liars? Or to put it the other way around do good liars make good storytellers?
April 11th, 2010 at 8:15 am
I don’t think so. Lying is very different from “pretending” or “imagining.” I’m not a great liar either, but I love to write. I’m working on fantasy too, though it’s a genre I haven’t read a ton of. Maybe next time I visit Richland I can meet up with you and you can recommend some good fantasy books for me to read for inspiration?
April 11th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
I’d love to recommend some fantasy for you. I like urban through epic fantasy, occasionally even some of the softer science fiction.