Writers don't have to keep themselves honest. They have to keep themselves accurate.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Most writers flinch at the thought of being completely honest about themselves. So absolute honesty is what marks the true modern.
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.
I think one can be more honest in fiction than in a memoir.
If most writers are honest with themselves, this is the difference they want to make: before, they were not noticed; now they are.
Sometimes, in a fictional story, you can be more honest and truthful, actually. As a journalist, you're a prisoner of the data, in effect. You have to tell the story with evidence you can verify.
As I found again and again as a writer, when you're completely honest about something, people respond to that.
The best liars lie with their eyes rather than with their words. This might put writers at a disadvantage.
One of the questions writers bump up against in their work, whether they know it or not, is about lying. Because fiction is a form of deceit, and one's abilities are measured by how convincingly one can persuade readers that these events really happened.
Writers, all the good ones, are Natural Born Liars.
A writer's job is to tell the truth.