Break it down again

Here I sit, sweetie darlings, face-to-face with everything that is wrong with my writing. Luckily, if luck has anything to do with it, the story I was asked to revise had enough merit, promise and originality to it to buy me a Definitely-Maybe, which is always better than Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot-No-Way-No-How-No-Kidding.

But no story stands on creativity alone so here I am, strengthening here, simplifying there, and learning how to walk after hitting the ground running. Technique can be taught and learned, but without ideas and imagination... No, you can always feed those, too, can't you? We're optimists here at Casa Dita. Things can only get better, including you. But who was it that said that nothing will work unless you do? Maya Angelou? We know what to do then, don't we, dearest denizens? Get busy learning, improving, honing, researching... My favorite game.

All this taking apart and putting back together business got me thinking. There's no mystery to writing, just sit down and type, they say. But but but. How do you tell the fictional lies from the fabricated truth when dealing with characters and circumstances that are imaginary from first word to the last? How do we choose what we choose? Why do some details and grand schemes alike seem more true than others? No, I'm asking you because it's all a mystery to me. I make those choices with confidence, but how do I know I'm right, I have no idea...