Lying versus Fiction and Make-Believe

There is an on-going discussion among many Muslims regarding whether fiction is okay to read and write, whether fiction is considered lying, and whether we should expose our children to it.

Here is another fatwa from IslamToday.com indicating that fiction is not a form of lying as many believe:

Question: Every day when my school-age sisters speak together about what happened to them in school that day, their little brother always comes over and contributes to the conversation. His is not even in preschool yet, but he tells all kinds of tales about what happened that day at his sisters' school. These tales are fantastic and have no truth in them whatsoever. What should I do about my little brother's habit of telling lies?

Read the answer by Sheikh Nidâl Muhammad al-Qusayyir.

Notice the last line, where he says:

Who knows, your little bother might grow up to be a great writer!