Really Fiction

Whatever it is, writing must first tell the truth. To draw out the passion of truly fiery storytelling, one's first strike should always be honesty. Even in fiction, if you do not believe something, as a writer, how can we expect it will affect the reader? If the wording of a particular passage seems too light, cliched, exaggerated (in other words, untrue) then one has to reach deeper into the self. Ask ourselves, at the core, how do we TRULY FEEL about any particular moment in the work. If we were somehow present in the text, what words would we use to describe it? The simple, short, cutting-to-the-quick exclamations and slang of outrage? The lingering, pensive descriptions of a poet? The vulnerable, childlike, or openly ecstatic absolutes of a lover? The repelled and blatantly cold first impression towards a new co-worker? Feelings may not always be factual, but they are true, and readers identify with this truth.