Where Fact Stops and Fiction Begins

Whenever I read a work of fiction, I analyze what it is commenting on about society, people or culture. Strangely enough, fiction is not supposed to have anything to do with reality. But, while in English classes, I read in between the fictitious lines struggling to connect to the world. So, does that mean that fiction is commentary on fact? Virginia Woolf brings up a strong point when identifying that "fiction must stick to facts, and the truer the facts the better the fiction" (16). Perhaps, the title of "a work of fiction" is a cover that allows the author to write their beliefs and views on facts or reality while escaping any condemnation on their theories. I know, when I write, I take my experiences and twist them into my characters, commenting on social norms and folkways. I suppose the purpose of fiction is to give us that protection--allowing us the freedom to critique the world we live in without having to worry about any penalties or judgment on our viewpoints of the world.

Writing, for me, has always been like coming up for air. Whenever I am upset or even perfectly happy with a person or situation the one thing that allows me to express those feelings is being able to write them down. I have always authored letters, some I never even send, to people in which I tell them how I really feel. I remember the first day I started writing for myself rather than for a school assignment. We were moving from Kansas to Tennessee and I cried so hard I couldn't breathe. My mother told me to write my friends back in Kansas a letter telling them how much I would miss them, so I wrote on the back of a colored picture to my closest friend. I never did send that letter, but I never stopped writing after that.