As fiction writers, we often find ourselves caught between two competing forces: adhering to factual accuracy versus following the energy of our creative impulse. I was reminded of this tension during a recent coaching session with a talented writer struggling to move forward with her detective novel.
My client was getting bogged down researching whether the real town of Tukwila had a jail inside its police station. She needed one for her story, but couldn’t find evidence that one existed. This research rabbit hole was draining her creative momentum.
This is when I shared Richard Hugo’s brilliant insight from his book “The Triggering Town.” Hugo presents writers with a fundamental choice: “When you start to write, you carry to the page one of two attitudes. One is that all music must conform to truth. The other that all truth must conform to music.”
What Does This Mean for Fiction Writers?
Hugo suggests that if you believe factual accuracy must dictate your creative choices, you’re making your job unnecessarily difficult. But if you allow your creative energy—the “music” of your story—to lead the way, everything flows more naturally.
In fiction, being too concerned with factual accuracy can:
- Stall your forward momentum
- Pull you into endless research rabbit holes
- Force your story into unnatural directions
- Squeeze the life and energy out of your narrative
Liberating Your Creative Process
When I suggested to my client that she simply create a fictional town based on Tukwila—one where she could include whatever elements her story needed—I could almost see the weight lift from her shoulders.
“You can just make it story,” she realized. She didn’t need to worry about adhering to geographical truth. By freeing herself from this constraint, she could focus on what really matters: creating an engaging narrative that follows its own internal logic.
The Music of Storytelling
What exactly is this “music” Hugo references? It’s the underlying energy and momentum of your story—the rhythm of your sentences, the emotional arc of your characters, the tension that pulls readers forward. It’s what makes fiction feel alive.
When we prioritize this energy over factual accuracy, we often discover our most authentic and compelling writing. We follow the path that excites us rather than the one that merely checks boxes of accuracy.
Finding Your Balance
This doesn’t mean throwing all research out the window. Good fiction often feels authentic because it’s grounded in a world with consistent rules and recognizable elements. But research should serve your story, not constrain it.
Ask yourself:
- Is this fact essential to my story’s integrity?
- Is my concern with accuracy enhancing or inhibiting my creative flow?
- What would happen if I allowed myself to invent what I need?
Moving Forward
If you find yourself stuck in a research loop or paralyzed by concerns about accuracy, try this approach:
- Identify what your story needs to move forward
- Give yourself permission to create it, even if it bends reality
- Remember that in fiction, emotional truth often matters more than factual truth
- Track your progress in terms of creative output rather than research completed
As my client put it, following the energy of the story “gets you a better story because you’re not bogged down in details that don’t fit your story and don’t have anything to do with it.”
The truth, in fiction, should always serve the music—not the other way around.
