And the “untruth” shall set you free

My friend Mac, from The Triangle Area Freelancers, posted a link, on our google group, to a blog written by Dean Wesley Smith entitled: When Does Researching Your Fiction Do More Harm Than Good? Mr. Smith has authored over 90 novels, so he must know a little bit about the subject of fiction.

My first novel, Deadly Letters, is a suspense romance and I’ve been seriously hung up on a lot of the nit-picky little details about the “truth” in some of the scenarios I’ve created.  Would a Sheriff travel to another town to check out a murder he thinks might be linked to one he’s trying to solve?  Would a body lying on the floor of a house for a bit over a week, still be recognizable?  Would a trash can be on a street curb and would throwing such trash can at a plate glass window actually break it?  Blah, blah, blah.  Details, details.

Mr. Smith referred his readers to a word I’d never heard before: Verisimilitude: An appearance of being true. He goes on to say that “in fiction we make stuff up.  But what we make up needs to have the appearance of being true.”

“Write for the majority of us who just like a good story told well”, Mr. Smith says.  “Make it up and move on. 99% of your readers won’t notice and those that do notice aren’t YOUR readers.”

Thank you Mr. Smith.  Thank you for setting me free to tell my tales my way and to spin a good yarn.  Although every single little detail may not be perfect, the characters in my stories don’t notice and neither should my loyal readers.