Fiction versus Fiction

During our fiction unit, we not only analyzed  a work of fiction, but we also wrote our own pieces of fiction.  The opportunity to do both has been pretty compelling especially since we, as English Subject Matter majors, must be able to find inspiration, passion, and value in all aspects of this wonderful discipline in order to educate others.  Like with our poetry and myth units, there are certain things about creating a piece of fiction that differ and yet coincide with analyzing another's work of fiction.  

 

First, I believe writing fiction is a work of one's creative imagination.  However, writing fiction requires that one's imagination work collaboratively with one's understanding of literary elements and rhetorical strategies that are oftentimes utilized in analysis.  This awareness of literary principles is not necessarily inclusive, but rather extensive in influence so as to engage a deeper sense of meaning and impact onto one's readers.  It is not enough that one writes a story wholly reliant on a single foundation such as plot.  Rather, one must involve and apply a variety of other elements and strategies to not only engage readers, but sustain them throughout.  A story only becomes classic and timeless when it incorporates diversity and invention at the same time that it appreciates its readers' capacity to grasp meanings and complexity.  This is why analysis of works of fiction is vitally important to fiction writers.

Analyzing fiction demands the same attention and effort as with writing a piece of fiction.  However, fiction analysis is more expository and explicit than writing one's own fiction.  This requirement does not devalue analysis of the work, but in essence, it exposes the piece of work for all its significance and merits.  In other words, analyzing fiction appraises not only the author's abilities, but also the critic's adeptness at recognizing certain functions and strategies, and how their uses succeeds or fails in producing particular effects.  Analyzing fiction, in this sense, is valuable and redeeming to fiction writers because it becomes not only feedback, but knowledge that is applicable in their future endeavors.  

In my own experience, I definitely found myself recalling elements of fiction and applying them in my fiction pieces.  Ultimately, my utility of literary elements in my own fiction helped develop and enhance my story because I was able to establish my ideas through a variety of avenues.  I was not left on a single path from start to finish, but was able to diverge and explore and still be comprehensible.  Likewise, fiction writing strengthened my ability to analyze fiction because in many ways, it was an opportunity to solidify and model the many strategies others writers have used.  In a way, writing fiction allowed me to apply theory to practice and as a result, when it came to evaluating the practice, theory and assessment became almost second nature.  

 

In terms of using my experiences in the classroom, I think the idea of analyzing and creating fiction would be very helpful for my students in better understanding the fundamentals of literature.  I will also allow my students to workshop their fiction pieces with their classmates as a way of not only motivating them, but also giving them a chance at revising and improving their pieces.  Overall, I think fiction is an important element the English genre that holds potential in engaging students and developing their critical thinking skills.