Is there any place for the 'truth' in writing?

What is truth? There is the truth of the world i.e. what we acknowledge as facts, the truth of the writer in their work, or the truth that the writer has designated as true within the context of the fictional world they have created. Beyond these categories we approach the question of the existence of truth itself. What we as human beings can know of it when our truths are denoted by language we ourselves created to understand the world.

In writing the truth can be sacrificed for a stronger narrative, in the same way, the truth can be used to great effect to strengthen the narrative. The relative nature of the usefulness of truth depends entirely on the context of its inclusion. For example John Cheever’s stories seek to emulate life, to tell a story that may be fiction but is true insofar as it has realistic characters acting in realistic ways. To negate this truth in favour of, for example exaggerated emotion may damage the story creating an experience less realistic and therefore less powerful for the reader.

The truth even when included can be lost upon an audience who cannot find it buried beneath layers of subtly and metaphor. Thus truth can ultimately become subjective to the audiences’ interpretation of it, for as Nietzsche says: ‘There are no facts, only interpretations.’ This can be seen especially in the works of Emily Dickinson, being a poet she dresses up truths in metaphors that require interpretation on the part of the reader. Because she never defines what the truth of her poems are, the reader will never know with absolute certainty the truth behind her poems.

How is it I became a writer?

Unlike Cheever (at least so far) there is no necessity forcing me to write, it is something I simply slipped into, a little short story here, a poem there and before I knew it I was considering a creative writing course at university.

Still my writings meandered a lot, it is hard to say when you have become a writer, are you a writer when you are simply writing the openings to stories, which are immediately forgotten like a magpie in a jewellery shop? Or is it when you have realised that you are by definition a writer and you feel the inherent purpose that comes with it?

For example Margaret Atwood stated that; ‘most people secretly believe they themselves have a book in them, which they would write if they could only find the time.’ I prescribe to the first part of the statement, I am a writer because I have realised this is so and with due willpower have made the time, for I have stories within me and I fully intend to make them see the light of day. 

Thus I would say I became a writer simply through the enjoyment of writing, yet I define myself as a writer because I have given my writing purpose beyond the simple pleasure derived from it. That is the want to be published, because being able to share my work with an audience brings me greater pleasure still.