Pursue

Lesson 1: Some Fiction about Facts

FACTS & FICTION

In fiction, your imaginative drive is completely a product of your literary mind. In

creative nonfiction, the real life engages with your literary mind. What aspect of reality
you want to write about depends entirely upon your decision.
People may share the same reality, but they do not necessarily have the same feeling
about or interpretation of that reality. For instance, some parents would like their children
to get a college degree because they believe it holds the key to a better future. Some
children may disagree because they think that hard work and determination are enough to
give them a better future. You became interested in these two different points of view.
After all, you are also about to enter college; well it really bring you a better future?
In fiction, you can easily invent an entirely different point of view and entirely different
ways of gaining a better future that has nothing to do with education or hard work. In
creative nonfiction, you could do the same, but such a story needs facts. From the Latin
factum, fact refers to something that actually occurred or happened. Because it actually
happened, we consider it as a thing known to be true.
We know it is true because our senses have seen it, tasted it, smelled it, heard it, or
touched it. Facts, however, can also be invented.
Consider the story of Janet Cooke.

The Cooke who Cooked ‘Jimmy’s World’

Janet Cooke, a Washington Post Reporter, collected the Pulitzer prize for feature writing in
1981 for her captivating story entitled “Jimmy's world”. It profile Jimmy, an 8 year old
drug user who aspired to become a drug dealer. Jimmy's world is one of despair and
violence in a poor area in Washington, DC, which has a thriving illegal drug business.
Jimmy captured the attention of the public. They asked Cooke for Jimmy's address in order
to help the boy. Cook refused, citing danger to her life at the hands of drug dealers if she
exposed their business. Officials, nonetheless, thoroughly searched the city for Jimmy.
They could not find Jimmy. Rumors started spreading that Jimmy did not really exist.
Editors of the post, who also learned that Cooke lied about her educational background,
demanded that she produced proof of Jimmy's existence. Cooke could not; she eventually
admitted that “Jimmy's World” was fictitious. She invented the story due to the paper's
demand for a scoop. She resigned from the post and returned the Pulitzer prize.

Cooke’s concocting a story about Jimmy is not unusual. There are many cases where
stories passing off as nonfiction have been publicly exposed as fictitious. Remember that
the truth is out there. Members of the reading public will find a way to verify your story.
Because we are human, we can be mistaken in our facts. We may be given inaccurate
information or we may interpret it wrongly. One's background and beliefs can also be
influenced how one interprets facts.
A fact, a belief, and a story are sometimes treated as one and the same. Consider the
following statement:
Our company's earning last year was P50 million. This is very unsatisfactory. The
marketing department is really inept.
Can you tell the story, the fact, and the belief in this statement?
There is the fact of P50 million. This can be verified by checking with the finance of
officer, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) or the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). For now, let's accept that last year, the company actually earned P 50
million. The story is that for the chief executive officer (CEO), it is unsatisfactory. It
sounds like the CEO is exaggerating; after all, P15 million is a lot of money. The CEO
believes that the company could have earned more if the marketing department was
competent. But you cannot charge that CEO with lying, even if the earning proved
satisfactory in the marketing department are very competent.
This sentence is factual as far as conveying the CEO's feelings or belief about the
company's financial performance. How would you report it in a more accurate way? One
way to do it is to write it this way: “The CEO felt that the company's P50 million earning
was unacceptable. She believed that if the marketing department worked harder, that
amount could be doubled.” You can fully quote the CEO's words. It makes your writing
factual because you are simply reporting what the CEO said.
Facts Check and Accuracy Exercise
In the statement, the CEO spoke the language of emotional or subjective truth. They
stated something that seemed “true” to them, but in a way that suggested that it was true
for all. As a creative nonfiction writer, you must be careful not to give this impression to
the readers.
A Native American saying captures the essence of a good creative nonfiction: “Tell me
the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will
live in my heart forever.” This saying is also the FIVE of creative nonfiction.
Let's verify if the FIVE or the saying is true for you. Read and compare the following
short biographical excerpts about Malala, the phenomenal Pakistani girl who was shot in
the face but survived and continued her campaign for girls’ education.
 Malala A
Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12,
1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. As a child, she
became an advocate for girl’s education,
which resulted in the Taliban issuing a
death threat against her.
On Oct. 9, 2012, a gunman shot Malala
when she was traveling home from school.
She survived, and has continued to speak
out on the importance of education.
She was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace
Malala B
Who is Malala? I am Malala and this is my
story. I come from a country which was
created at midnight. I was named after
Malalai of Maiwand, the greatest heroine of
Afghanistan.
My valley, the Swat Valley, is a heavenly
kingdom of mountains, gushing waterfalls,
and crystal-clear lakes.
In olden times Swat was called Uddyana,
which means ‘garden’. We have fields of

Both passages are factual, but one will probably appeal to you more. Between Malala A
and Malala be, which one appeals to you the most? Why?
Malala A factually provides basic information about Malala. It lacks the imaginative part
brought about by one's emotional truth about the girl. The writer does not provide traces
of subjective feelings or opinion about Malala. Her words sounded as if she was
addressing a noisy crowd that promptly fell into suspended silence upon announcing her
name. Malala B is an excerpt of her from her memoir, a type of creative nonfiction.
Can you imagine Malala's birthplace, that “heavenly kingdom with gushing waterfalls
and crystal-clear lakes”? in real life, you don't say, “I was born in a heavenly Kingdom.”
You simply say the name of the of the place of your birth. Malala's birthplace is a fact
because it is found in the Swat Valley, but became creative nonfiction through her
imaginative words.

REMEMBER:
Memory, too, can falter. An actual event recounted through writing or speaking can alter
what actually happened. Be as factual and accurate as you can to the best of your ability.
Check and cross check your facts until you are absolutely sure about them. In the event
that you cannot, you must also be honest about it. Provide a disclaimer. For instance, you
may write that this or with that fact cannot be verified due to missing documents or
persons involved.
If events from memory cannot be fully recalled , you can write, “if my memory serves me
right,” “to think to the best of my knowledge,” or “I think she said.” using “perhaps,” “it
seems,” and “apparently” signals the readers that you are not sure about it, but you are
also being honest. in creative nonfiction you reflect your own subjective POV it serves as
the means by which your imaginative or creative skill emerges. But you are also expected
to tell the truth.
Campbell provides readers with the benefit of doubting—the true or untrue as they weigh
them beside each other. In the book's opening chapter, “the Horrid Doubt,” he argues that
no one can hide from lying. The brain imprints the lie, which the polygraph, the lie
detecting machine, can detect. You've seen this machine in films or television shows. The
examiner observes changes in the rate of the suspects breathing, pulse, blood pressure,
and sweating. When these vital bodily functions register an increase in the polygraph
machine, the examiner takes it as signs of lying.
In other words, lie and your body or brain will show it. In 1883, The Italian writer Carlo
Collodi wrote the fictional boy called Pinocchio. Carved as a wooden puppet, Pinocchio
dreams of becoming a real boy. He has a short nose which grows longer when he tells a
lie. The nose returns to its normal size when he is telling the truth.
Indeed, some fictions tell the truth about our real life. The term Pinocchio effect is used
by some scientists to describe the sweating around the nose of a person who is lying.