Truth And Experience

“Your writing cannot be good”, he said. He noticed the glint of surprise mixed with disappointment in her eyes. “And why is that? ” she asked. “Because the key to good writing is personal experience”, he said. “Nothing can substitute for the truth expressed through creative writing. Truth and authenticity are intertwined and they can come only from your direct contact, exposure and understanding of life, the things and events you write about.” “ I disagree”, she said. “How so? “ he asked. “Well, a great deal of excellent writing, including historical themes and science fiction are not based on personal experience. And as for truthfulness, well, personal experience doesn’t pledge that the writer’s work necessarily expresses universal truths. If you describe, for example, watching a sunrise or a sunset, it would be possible to argue that you are not telling the truth, that you are actually lying.” “This is quite absurd”, he said. “You are talking nonsense.” “Oh, not at all”, she said. “A personal experience can be an illusion. In reality the sun doesn’t rise and doesn’t set. Relatively speaking, the sun stays in its position at the center of the solar system while the earth rotates on its axis and makes a complete turn in every 24 hours. The rotation of the earth toward the east creates the illusion that the sun is moving westward.”