Fiction and Truth

“You know, I fight with my journalist friends, who scorn the idea that fiction writing is about following the characters’ words, and we argue about truth – I challenge them to tell me the truth about whether they are honestly recording their interviewees, or whether they edit quotes to suit their story. Everyone manipulates and tries to control – but what I’ve found about fiction is that if you manipulate too much, the characters do not sound like them.”

David Bradley

from Interview with David Bradley, winner of the NHE Essay Prize 2015

By ingrid Wassenaar

read the whole interview here:

http://shinynewbooks.co.uk/shiny-new-books-archive/issue-7-archive/bookbuzz-issue-7/interview-with-david-bradley-winner-of-the-nhe-essay-prize-2015/?fbclid=IwAR0S--oUMXQGR_t6bROMLE8fwPoJBmGHpww9H9Dd-dXZFPhq6mU33iACuqs