I’ve been thinking a lot about how often I color my world with details that are not based on fact. It’s like my head is filled up with bee pollen, and if you aren’t already thickly coated with the stuff, I’ll be happy to sprinkle some all over you. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so do I.
If someone isn’t an open book like I am, I’ll create an entire narrative about them. I’ll imagine they’re like me. Liberal. Intelligent. Curious about life. And then I buy into that to the extent that if I find out they’re conservative, stupid, and completely apathetic, I’m actually shocked and disappointed.
I also draw conclusions based on my own past experiences, completely overlooking the fact that their experiences, and therefore their actions, are bound to be different than my own. I like to cross all my T’s and dot all my I’s, and I have a tendency to try to do that for others as well. But how can I be sure that T wasn’t supposed to be an L?
I need to work on keeping my fantasy world separate from the facts. I need to stop barging in and trying to complete everyone else’s story. I need to learn to embrace the blanks. Maybe then they’ll fill themselves.
Or maybe not. That’s okay, too.
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The View from a Drawbridge 
Creating narratives and filling in blanks is what writers do…even journalists. We are all writers. Some just better than others. Your fantasy narratives are reflective of your desperation to find kindred spirits after living in Florida. Who could blame you? 🙂
I’d like to hear how you’d complete my story. Have you ever done a Mad-Lib?
What’s a Mad-Lib?
A book of one page stories that are missing key words. You fill in the blanks with random nouns, verbs and adjectives that you collect from people who haven’t seen the story. Then you read it out loud. It usually generates laughter and/or debates. Some results are worthy of Night Vale.
Sounds fascinating. 🙂
uh… I do this too…
That doesn’t surprise me. 🙂 We just have to remember to separate fact from fiction.
not me… I write and live fiction… way better than real life.
Believe me, I get it. But then reality will turn around and bite you now and then.
I like that too… ha