sorry if this reads like discourse im trying to delete it - by which i mean im just genuinely interested in poking at the boundary between "reality" and "fiction" because of my various Disorders but
i'm always genuinely curious how the kind of person who says "fiction does not affect reality" deals with writing something that affects people in a way they're compelled to express, like. i've had a fair few people tell me "jane in burning down the house caused a lesbian awakening in me" directly and thats cool! i like hearing that! i like hearing people are invested in my work and are picking up what im putting down
but i can only imagine how weird that kind of thing must hit if your first line of defense against critique is "fiction doesnt affect reality" (obviously false and everyone knows it) and then your second line once that inevitably crumbles is "fictions effect on reality is complex and multilayered" (which is true enough in the vaguest possible terms, but the actual navigation of that complexity is overwhelming in scope enough to act as a thought-terminating cliche, hopefully quelling all that cognitive dissonance as it is intended to)
