Ten Years of Writing about Fiction Has Taught Me This

Fiction is the wildest form of writing. It attracts explorers, artists, and fighters. Their goals might be to punch a hole in the wall between the writer and the reader (Knausgaard), or tell us how the idea of  equality fell short (Whitehead), or show us how to experience events from long ago for the first time (See). How do they do this? They ask provocative questions (Kingsolver), or express truth and humanity in metaphors (Tyler), or capture a complex condition precisely (Adichie), or make us laugh harder and wince longer (Moore). They can compel us to reread our soul (Flanagan).