When I think about fiction and why it speaks to me, one statement blankets my mind: fiction is a lie that tells the truth. I know people who prefer non-fiction. They claim it’s because it actually happened, or that they’re learning about reality. Non-fiction claims to stick to facts or to the real experiences of the writer. My buddy says, “Why should I watch or read some made up story when I can get the real deal in a documentary or autobiography?” He has a point.

There is something about the words: “based on a true story” or “these events are depicted as they really happened.” Also, the famous one, “Truth is stranger than fiction,” resonates with a lot of non-fiction and true crime lovers.

Recently I went to see a documentary that fit the bill. Three Identical Strangers (TIS) tells the story of triplets who were separated at birth and adopted by three different families. The boys were never told that they were part of a set. At the age of nineteen two of them discovery each other in a happy accident and through a newspaper story, the third one locates the others. They are reunited. There’s more, but I don’t wish to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it and despite my praise of fiction, I recommend this non-fiction story. That said, there’s fiction in everything. Although TIS is a good tale, how do we know what the people being interviewed say is true? People telling a story about what really happened tend to do a myriad of things to protect themselves and the ones they love from ridicule, legal ramifications, and shame. They are highly motivated to lie in any situation that makes them look bad. Furthermore, in non-fiction settings, you must have sources to back up anything you put in the story otherwise it must be omitted for lack of foundation. In TIS this happened repeatedly as source documents could not be located or would not be released by the adoption agency. In other cases, those involved in the story refused to come forward and tell their story. One guy who was interviewed came off as highly unreliable, maybe even crazy. Is that the truth? Much of TIS left me feeling unsatisfied. In the end I had more questions than answers, particularly on the profound level of interior thought.

In fiction all of these limits disappear. There is no “real” person to protect from the harsh light of shame or fear of becoming a social pariah. The author is free to portray characters exactly as they are in his mind, with blemishes and harsh tendencies in plain sight. The author can genuinely explore all aspects of a character’s behavior and even accurately portray the inner workings of a character’s mind.

We get to watch people have sex who would never agree to that in reality. We are literally a camera in every room of the main character’s life, able to witness it all. We are able to read his mind as the author takes us inside his brain and shows what he’s thinking. We get it all! By seeing and hearing everything first-hand, we get an emotional reality that rarely presents itself in any kind of non-fiction setting, and we get it in real time, as it’s happening. This emotional reality ultimately makes fiction the greatest setting for exploration of the human animal as each author can candidly explore the inner workings with no repercussions (well, some repercussions from anyone who figures it’s based on them, but relatively minor).

Ultimately, fiction attains an emotional reality that news stories, documentaries, and memoirs rarely achieve. The sense that “this isn’t real” allows full disclosure. Sure, it didn’t really happen, but then again, after I read any history book, the first thing I hear from someone is, “That isn’t how it really happened, but it’s a good story.” Exactly.