The Fiction Enthusiast: Author Guest Post: Susan Niz

Please welcome author Susan Niz to the blog today.

TRUTH AND FICTION

The motto that I have been living by is: “Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures,” written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Knowing that Kara, Lost is based on my experiences of running away as a teenager, many people have been asking me which elements of the story are true. It’s great that people are interested and I was given good advice to not give away what is true and what is fiction. But sometimes I struggle with the idea of truth and honesty as I discover my voice as an author.

Am I still hiding behind fiction to protect myself or others from the past? Or have I cleverly used fiction to explore an otherwise painful story? Jim Rohn said, “The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.” I guess with fiction, I don’t have to answer to how impulsive and reckless I really was as a teenager. But when people talk about Kara, I do tend to take it kind of personally.

At the opening of Kara, Lost, Kara prepares to run away from home. Her state of mind, her emotional reaction to flee her home, is very true to life. Diana Ossana said: “Emotional truths can sometimes be conveyed more effectively, more compellingly, through fiction.” While some of the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" are fictionalized, I wanted the internal struggle, the emotional journey, to be real and as true as possible.

As I share my story with others, my own sense of personal truth is revealed, which I know will influence me as I continue writing.

Susan’s debut novel, Kara, Lost, is available now!