Avoiding the Seduction of a Good Story Over an Accurate One
Launch library · evergreen read
Some true events simply resist becoming a satisfying narrative, and the pull toward reshaping them into something more dramatic, more coherent, or more emotionally resonant is one of the most persistent temptations any writer working seriously with genuine evidence will ever have to genuinely face.
Recognising this pull requires real honesty about motive, asking directly whether a particular structural choice serves the evidence or simply serves the story's dramatic shape, since the two questions can produce very different answers about that one exact same specific decision made a little earlier.
The discipline of evidence first writing means accepting that some stories will end up less satisfying than a writer might privately wish, and choosing accuracy over drama whenever the two genuinely pull in different directions from one another. This is rarely a single dramatic choice made once, it is a series of small decisions made throughout drafting, each one a fresh opportunity to favour the story's momentum over what the evidence actually supports.