I was told that a piece of writing either needs to be entirely true or entirely false

[Guest]

Do you agree with this? Why or why not?

[Sarah]

I don’t think story telling about real events is even all true or all legend. How could every piece of writing be entirely true or false when nothing is?

[Jon]

What a bizarre statement. Historical fiction is almost always a blend of the two. Sci-fi works by placing truths about now in an untrue setting. Etc etc

[Steve]

I'd say run from whoever told you that.

[Auriel]

I'd almost be inclined to say that no piece of writing can ever be entirely true or entirely false.

And that's even before taking into account the difference between what is true and what is factual. (See Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" for an expansion of that concept.)

You can check also: I am writing a retelling of Little Women

[Jae]

That’s all subjective, really. The advice doesn’t sound useful for writing at all to me, unless I feel like getting into a philosophical debate about truth.

[Maria]

The truth for fiction (scifi, fantasy, romance, horror) is words that influence the soul & rouse the emotions.

You want people to recommend each other a book, to have a grubby well-loved copy (or two, or three!) You want someone to keep reading past their bedtime, to kick their legs in excitement, to throw the book across the room because Shenanigans!

The truth in non-fiction (textbooks, encyclopedias, self-help books, etc) is reality and knowledge as covenient bits of information. Arithmetic (math), scientific papers, brochures, diaries/journals, autiobiographies, video game manuals with walkthroughs and item statistics all go here.

[Erin]

I bet the argument comes from letting the reader know whether the book has misinformation in it. The concern is riding the truth/fiction line so well it becomes hard to know what is truth and lie but not letting the reader in on the idea that not everything is true. For instance, in "The things they carried" - O'Brien, the author clearly indicates that not everything in the book is reliable but doesn't tell you which ones are true and which ones are lies.

So, it let's you the reader know not to trust the whole kit and kaboodle but still lets you wallow in the muddy unknowing of the experience.

Personally, unless it's a math or science textbook, I'd be surprised if any book was purely one or the other.

Don't miss: I've been writing since high school and I am now 33 years old

[Julian]

Depends how you define what’s true or false. In speculative fiction, particularly the more philosophical science fiction and fantasy, it is often a central theme that’s explored and can even be both at the same time; i.e. usually ambiguous, sometimes interchangeable, and rarely absolute.

Phillip K Dick’s character in a Scanner Darkly said, “”Truth, she thought. As terrible as death. But harder to find””.

Then again, Phillip K Dick, a genius in my opinion, turns a concept such as what is truth into you questioning your own reality months after you’ve finished his story!! (those who read his stories will no doubt sympathise).