Let us resume our journey in search of simple tips for writers. In this issue, we shall focus on a writer’s perception of truth.
The ultimate purpose of every short story writer is to communicate an aspect of the truth of life.
Personal truth rarely has a ‘beginning, middle or an end’. Writers trying to communicate an aspect of the truth of life driven by creative urges, break the basic rules of stories regarding sequence of happenings, with a beginning, a middle and an end. They work the plot to suit their understanding of the truth. Their aim is primarily interpretative.
This objective is best served by recounting of the factual details of their experiences, their thought processes, at times even the unraveling of complexities and complications to which life had exposed them.
Through the interpretative story, the writer tries to give the readers a greater understanding of human life. He does not worry what the readers think. He has a truth to communicate and he does that, even if the readers find it difficult to go along with him. He is not there to ride the tide of public opinion.
When well executed, interpretative stories appeal to mature and serious readers who seek in literature not mere pleasure, but a widening of perceptions.
