I want this to be true, but I don’t think that it can be if we all agree that my concept of the world is filtered through the lens of my senses, experiences, history and biases and your view of the world is filtered through the same; my conception of what your world looks like is inevitably going to be filtered through the same lens. A book by Bill Smith that has a character based on his sister Cindy Smith is not going to show you how Cindy Smith sees the world. It will show you Bill Smith’s interpretation of CIndy Smith’s world, and that’s ok with me.

I do, however, love Strauss’s idea that a good novel is “one part research, three parts empathy.” Empathy is one thing that is absolutely necessary to all good writing. But no matter how much empathy I have and how well I’ve done my research, I can only tell you a story that is through my eyes. A writer can’t really tell you how the rest of the world sees their story, only how they see it and how they think other people might see it.

I want this to be true, but I don’t think that it can be if we all agree that my concept of the world is filtered through the lens of my senses, experiences, history and biases and your view of the world is filtered through the same; my conception of what your world looks like is inevitably going to be filtered through the same lens. A book by Bill Smith that has a character based on his sister Cindy Smith is not going to show you how Cindy Smith sees the world. It will show you Bill Smith’s interpretation of CIndy Smith’s world, and that’s ok with me.

I do, however, love Strauss’s idea that a good novel is “one part research, three parts empathy.” Empathy is one thing that is absolutely necessary to all good writing. But no matter how much empathy I have and how well I’ve done my research, I can only tell you a story that is through my eyes. A writer can’t really tell you how the rest of the world sees their story, only how they see it and how they think other people might see it.