Fight facts with fiction

how to tell the truth with fiction

Imagine standing in the middle of a battlefield. Your most beloved friend is on your right, laying on the ground screaming in pain. Sounds of bullets sob past your ear, and the commander remains right behind you, yelling orders, is this something you can imagine? Not many people can. Some situations must be experienced to recognize the feeling you acquire when you are in the action. You can read all you would desire, but not genuinely appreciate the importance of good leadership and what that is in various situations.

You see and hear about commanders in the media, ordering soldiers to kill on the spot. For many, the first reaction is to think that it must be foolish. This is completely normal because without knowing the complete story, there will always be something you cannot understand.

This is where journalism and fiction provide you with an adequate understanding of the numerous war. But what represents the primary difference between fact and fiction, and how can they both be used to tell a true story? Is there some relationship between journalism and fiction writing?

Journalism and fiction are separated by fact and fantasy. When writing a journalistic paper, you must consider the source you are utilizing. What did the person state, what was the intent of the decision, and how will this reflect on the story behind it? People reading a journalistic paper knows that it is based on an accurate story and believes it to be the reality.

On the other hand, when writing a fiction text, you possess the artistic freedom to tell the story as you like, based on your own experiences and thoughts. You can bring situations into another point of view, by making the reader believe in your story even if it did not happen. This is a valuable tool you can utilize to shed new light on a hot topic in the media.

In the short story “Prayer in the Furnace”, (Klay, 2014, s. 129) Phil Klay is telling a story about the ethical morals a man will meet during a deployment. The whole story is based on fiction. The story may be inaccurate, but the feelings you can provoke in such a situation as described in the chapter may be true.

This is where fiction meets journalism. What they both have in common, is that the feelings you get in a certain situation might be the same in both fiction and journalism. The difference is that the situations in fiction are imaginary, while in journalism everything is real.

Phil Klay says in an interview that “the story seemed an opportunity to ask a variety of moral questions, not just about war.” (Gallagher, 2014) He uses his own experience to compose a realistic text about true feelings that might occur in the situations he makes up.

We can agree that the situations in the chapter might be fiction, but we can argue about whether the influence the commander has is real or false. This is based on the feelings the soldiers must have to their command, and the actions of command because of this. Such feelings may be as real as if it was written in an article by a journalist.

The vital point is that by being able to write fiction, you can make up fake stories, but you can still tell a true story about how people behave. When Klay writes in prayer in the furnace “They’re led by an idiot. What are you gonna do?” (Klay, 2014, s. 143), he tells a story based on his own experience with how leaders in command can behave. And with this, he can provide the readers another point of view, that journalism might be unable to do because of the rules of sticking to the facts.

We do not know if the feelings told in the short story “Prayer in the furnace” (Klay, 2014, s. 129) is reflected in other military camps. But we know this is a plausible interpretation of it. In summary, facts and fiction are equally important in bringing forth truth. Nevertheless, it is important to be critical when reading something that may seem too good to be true. Always check who has written the text and consider the sources.

Do you think this was thrilling and want to read on? On that occasion I recommend you look at some of my other articles on leadership. Over here are some examples you might enjoy.

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References

Gallagher, M. (2014, March 4). The Paris Review. Retrieved from Transcending the Archetypes of War: An Interview with Phil Klay: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/03/04/transcending-the-archetypes-of-war-an-interview-with-phil-klay/

Klay, P. (2014). Redeployment. New York: Penguin Books.