Accuracy v. Substance - When to use Which

I was 37. Sweat rolled from under my helmet and onto the rim of my glasses before it fell to the concrete. The intense heat didn't help, as the sun reflected off the bowl. My breath, slow and labored. My red helmet was covered with stickers, and it helped people spot me from afar. Honestly, I thought my larger body did enough of that, but as a part of this contest, I just looked like some kid's dad. I was a competitor, and I just had the run of my life.

"The winner of the Best Trick Competition," the announcer called out over the PA system.

I put my hands on the top of my helmet in anticipation. It had nothing to do with how out of breath I was from the last trick I did -- a ficklity twistybob down the steps. It had nothing to do with getting more air in my lungs and making me stand up to open up my airways because I was totally NOT out of breath.

"Geoffrey Breedwell!" He said.

My mouth dropped. My arms shot up; hands in fists. I had won. For the first time in my life, I won. I dropped to my knees, overwhelmed by the pressure of joy and elation. Dozens of people surrounded me, landing on me, eventually causing us all to collapse in a big blob of body odor and skate pads.

---

Did you believe that?

Why wouldn't you? There's no reason NOT to believe it, unless you look closely.

The story is false, and let me show you where the lies are.

I took advantage of not being known very well, and I placed this scenario a few years ago. I've never won a skateboarding contest. I've never even ENTERED a skateboarding contest. In all honesty, I'm terrible at skateboarding, but that's another issue entirely. So the idea of me winning a skateboarding contest a few years ago? False.

Another thing that was false was the trick name, "ficklity twistybob." There is no such thing as that trick in skateboarding, as of right now. Granted, in a few years, it might be the one trick every kid is trying, but I doubt it. The trick, "ficklity twistybob?" False.

The story above had plenty of substance. Someone not necessarily well-versed in skateboard culture would believe that it actually happened. If it were placed in a book, it could be a fine beginning, ending, or even a plot point before everything went horribly wrong. There was SUBSTANCE in the story, but the ACCURACY was off.

"Will the reader on the beach get sunburned because they can't put the book down?"

This brings us to the topic of today's post. When does it matter to be more accurate than it does to have more substance? If you go too far onto one side or the other, than you can lose the plot of your project. Too far to the accuracy side, and you're writing a biography or a piece for Reuters. Too far to the substance side, and you're writing fantasy (or if you're a journalist, you're writing fake news). Let's not have your project, whether it's a blog, screenplay, novel, or news article, lose the plot and lose the reader. Here are three questions to ask yourself as you prepare to write.

[Please Note: This is BEFORE writing]

1) Who is the intended audience?

This is the key question that needs to be answered before any writing takes place. It shapes the format, the plot, the dialogue, and the behavior of the characters in whatever project you're considering. If your audience is children, then using big words, mature themes, and intense situations aren't going to be ideal for your work to see the light of day.

The book - JUST PUT THE VHS IN THE BAG, BRO - is not for children. I didn't intend it for children. However, because of the age of the phrase, "Just put the fries in the bag, bro," Generation Alpha is drawn to the book. While it is based on two high school seniors, the graphic nature of some of the content in the book can be cause for an 18+ crowd. But if a high school library wants to stock it because it's from a local author (or it heavily features their town), then who am I to say no? The INTENDED audience began as Young Adult (YA) but borders on NA (New Adult), which share titles in their genre from time-to-time.

Your intended audience is someone who can identify with or care for your main character. If your main character (MC) is a mother whose marriage is on the rocks but she solves crimes, go for it. You've got some book club mystery right there. Conversely, if your MC is an eight-year-old with magical powers she uses to control the life she had no control over, then basing it as an adult book would only work if things go dark. If that latter book is happy, it's young readers to middle-grade at best. If the latter book is tense and horrifying, then you've got a YA horror to Adult horror, depending on the content.

Either way, having accuracy as a part of your main character's behavior, dialogue, thoughts, and reactions is essential when writing younger characters. You can cheat a little bit with adult characters, when set in the modern day. This level of accuracy would be key to your intended audience. If they find a character to identify with, they find a permission slip to connect to your story.

Knowing your intended audience is key. How else will you know who to market the book to?

2) Where is there more value: accuracy or substance?

Sean Astin in Rudy (1993). Tri-Star Pictures.

When it comes to your project, the story is the most valuable thing. But do you expel accuracy and truth at the expense of the substance of the story? Biography films are notorious for this. They will change moments that happened in the story to add more substance, to make something more dramatic than it actually was.

Take the movie Rudy, for example. A bio-drama about a young Hoosier boy who loves Notre Dame football so much he dreams of playing for the team, doing whatever he can to play for them. He had all heart and no skill. It was a motivating movie, that's often considered a must watch for football season.

Unfortunately, the movie's key scene isn't remotely true, while other moments of the film were taken out of order or its details were glazed over. This 2019 article by ESPN writer Ryan McGee, tells how Rudy's teammates never gave up their jerseys. It even quotes Joe Montana (the quarterback for Notre Dame in the game) as saying that Rudy was carried off the field by three of the most notorious pranksters in team history. They carried him off as a joke, that Rudy didn't seem to understand. Even worse, the biggest person who wanted Rudy's story to be made was Rudy himself.

This is just one example of facts being glazed, flubbed, and fibbed for dramatic effect, i.e. substance. Reality can be boring and long. It won't often fit into a 90 minute film, but it will fit into a novel. With novels, writers have all the free space. Details make the substance of the story, and a single line can serve to gloss over the fact if pacing becomes an issue.

Was there more value to add more substance to Rudy's story than what actually happened? Considering the movie cost approximately $12 million USD to make, and it made $22.8 million USD (Making $50.25 Million, if adjusted for inflation), I'd say so.

3) What Does The Story More Justice?

The story comes before everything else. It comes before the writer's ego, the director's experience, and even the cover artist's design. In fiction, having a captivating story is paramount. Drama, conflict, humor, sex, all of these things add to the plot and captivation, but do they assist the reader in immersing themselves in the book. Will the reader on the beach get sunburned because they can't put the book down?

That's the question that ought to be asked when thinking of doing a story justice. When the reader is captivated enough to lose themselves, to cast away their cares, inhibitions, and nerve endings, that is when the story has been done justly. What balance between accuracy and substance would give the story in your heart justice? The balance is in the level of detail. That is where accuracy matters the most.

Accuracy within the details can make or break a story entirely, regardless of how much planning was done for a plot. If you've gone through all the plot holes and connections, but a detail is off, a new plot hole develops. Then your story ends up with loose ends when it wasn't supposed to. It can completely remove the reader from your work. This is where research comes into play. You cannot "write what you know" if you don't know it well enough to explain it to a five-year-old.

That's what research is for. Many authors, me included, research their novels to an incredible degree. Aimed to put the reader directly in the character's shoes. There's only so much detail that can be gained from imagination alone versus living through something like it. This is where accuracy shines, but a story overloaded with accuracy turns into a biography at best and a poorly formatted research paper at its worst.

The balance of substance and accuracy is a key portion of any project. You need the details to provide a substance of material so engaging people forget where they are, but not so bogged down with material that it would do better gathering digital dust. Metaphors, similes, and other comparisons paired with accurate descriptions paint the bones of a picture your reader automatically colors.

It's your job to take this balance and turn it into something worth while. You can do it.

With All My Heart,

Geoffrey Breedwell