Writers always hide truth among fictional narratives. It’s what makes their stories so entertaining and readable. But news sources have been known to hide lies in their articles, and it makes those stories strangely compelling, too. We live in a bizzar age when fantastical dissembling is presented as truth. It is left up to us as people to figure out what is real and what is not. And it is a very hard skill to master.

We live with a three-year-old little girl, and she questions reality often. Our discussions go something like this: “Is she a real princess? Or a doll? Or is it imaginary?” Above is an illustration of princesses: one from a movie, a doll, an actress, and an illustration. But are any of those real? Sorting out real from make belief or toys is not as self-evident as it would seem. It’s a learned skill, and our grand daughter is working hard on mastering it. And when she is not sure, she always asks for clarification. It’s important to understand such distinctions.

As a writer of fiction, I totally get it. There is fantastical fiction, and then there is magical realism. They are very different things, and readers who love one genre might not appreciate the other or, at the very least, require a clarification. But at least librarians and book shops sort books by genre. Fake news is never classified as fake. Worse, there are battles fought over what is true and what is fake. This makes reality difficult to navigate for most people who might not be willing to invest enormous amounts of their time and energy on tracking down false narratives.

With everyone espousing their own reality, nothing becomes real. It’s all fiction. And that makes it difficult for all of us. It’s impossible to be an expert in everything. We have to trust some authority to tell us what is really true. I don’t want another doctorate! I have enough degrees, thank you! I don’t want to have to become a medical expert, or a meteorologist, or an air traffic controller, or a food inspector just to navigate my way through an illness, or a hurricane, or a vacation, or a supermarket trip. I have enough on my plate as it is — life takes up a lot of time. There is just not enough of it do all these other things, too. That’s why we collectively outsourced those sort of things to experts. And we did so back in the early dawn of our civilization — not everyone was good at hunting or gathering or weaving or healing or building shelter. Thank goodness we figured it out…or have we? Why did questioning expertise of others become a fashionable thing? Do some people really have so much leisure time in their lives? Are they that bored? Read a book! I mean that literary — bored? Read something! Books are great! I wish I had more time to consume all the books I’ve been acquiring lately.

My grand daughter is working hard on sorting out reality. The books we read together and the stories I tell her will hopefully help with that. Life is a very nuanced affair. It is sometimes very difficult to figure out who are the bad actors and who are the good guys. More importantly, life comes in uncountable shades of gray. Is it better to believe that if something is good for me personally then it must be the “truth”? It is certainly one way of solving the problem…just not a good way. As a scientist, I believe in objective truth. Truth is not in the eye of the observer. And sometimes, something might not be the whole truth. And the whole truth might not even be knowable. But striving to acquire the skills necessary to identify a lie should not be just the pursuit of a three-year-old. We should all try. And again, fiction helps teach that skill by pointing out truths and lies in an easily absorbable way.

Happy reading!