tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11838465.post3388678853907546652..comments2024-02-24T18:30:26.749-07:00Comments on prairiemary: KEEP THEM DOGIES MOVIN' !Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11838465.post-28328327248052772302009-06-07T13:50:32.757-06:002009-06-07T13:50:32.757-06:00You know, the debate about "truth" and &...You know, the debate about "truth" and "fact" in writing has been going on a long time, mostly without a lot of change.<br /><br />I've seen a lot of artistically wonderful books get eviscerated because they weren't factually accurate. In some cases the author was the one who did the eviscerating, but not realizing that fiction does not equal fact, and even more importantly fiction can tell emotional truth without necessarily sticking to the "facts" of the case. Lots of cops will testify how inaccurate eyewitnesses tend to be, anyway, so in many ways even straight reporting is not really factual.<br /><br />I don't think it helps an author to get hung up on factual accuracy. Not every Johnson has a Boswell, but then, not every one NEEDS a Boswell, nor should they. I don't think it helps writing to get obsessed about The Truth. A lot of young activist types get overly obsessed about The Truth precisely because they have a soapbox for the first time, and a story to tell, and dammit they're going to tell their version of the truth even if it kills them. I was a young activist once, so I know. Now I'm older and less militant, but I find my activism goes further precisely because it's more subtle, more open to nuance. The point is to get people to think outside their usual boxes. Sometimes wielding a sledgehammer is antithetic to that purpose.<br /><br />What HAS changed in writing, though, is what some now call creative non-fiction (John McPhee is probably one of the most practitioners). It's not factual reporting, and it doesn't need to be. It gets as many of the facts right, but it can also be poetic in interpreting what facts mean. Facts just lie there, if that's all there is; they require meaning to be invested into them by the writer and the reader. It doesn't help the quality of the writing to put the facts inside a fence and allow no-one to jump the fence.<br /><br />Rawhide!Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.com