Authors Are 5th Dimensional (Or More)

If you think of three-dimensional space as where we live in, and the fourth dimension as the flow of time from beginning to end, then we can think of the fifth dimension as every alternate path we could have taken in life. What if we went left I stead of right? Neve talked to that guy? Left for school two minutes later? Well, there are alternate dimensions where you made those choices. And a fifth dimensional being would be able to see all of them at once.

And in a sense, that is what authors are. You create a story, and your characters go from beginning to end, and they make decisions that affect their outcomes. And as the audience, we don't know what's going to happen. We guess at things that might happen, but to us, there only is one path, the one that happens, and it is set in stone.

As the author, though, you are the creator of the universe. And more than that, you are the creator of the multiverse. The path that characters choose is one of nearly infinite possibilities. And at every single junction where they made a decision (or abstained from making one), you know of every other choice they could have made, and what the results would have been.

Some authors find this situation paralyzing, because they really think there is a right path. But others find it heartening because they see that there is no wrong choice, just one path that happened to be traveled.