So, I’m trying to write fiction again after… many years, and it feels scary, new, and interesting all at once. Even though I’ve been writing continuously since I can remember, that’s meant articles/essays, a book on web development, and a lot of website copy for most of my adulthood. I’ve been drawn back to fiction, though, because I’ve been feeling like I want to talk about things that are bigger than what I can easily talk about in an article or another book on programming. I was inspired by Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass to try it out again because he talked about the big truths you can make easier to demonstrate in fiction than you can in an essay. I can read great essays about bravery, sacrifice, and doing hard things, but it will never have the same impact that The Lord of the Rings had on me when I read it for the first time. Gene Roddenberry famously used Star Trek to address the most complex philosophical thoughts, and he made it consumable by teenagers. Some truths are easier to see in a made-up world, and I think that I want to talk about some of those truths in the future.
Of course, my current goals are nothing like Lord of the Rings or Star Trek, right now, but I’m trying. I’m writing, and I’m editing, and I’m letting my friends tear it down, so I can make it better. I’m doing that because I think that I could one day address truths better than I ever will in an article like this. Of course, I’m also committed to still writing articles like this to talk about my journey, so there you go.