When a Good Story Isn't the True Story
- Anat Eshed
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
What The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz can teach us about assumption-checking
One of the quickest ways to get yourself into trouble—at work, at home, anywhere—is to confuse a good story with the true story.
We do it constantly. Something odd happens. Someone says less than expected. A detail does not fit. And almost immediately, the mind gets to work building a narrative that makes the situation feel coherent enough to understand.
That is useful—until it is wrong.
That is one of the sharpest things The Word Is Murder puts under a bright light: the gap between the story that satisfies us and the truth we have not yet earned.
Anthony Horowitz writes himself into the novel as narrator, paired with detective Daniel Hawthorne to document a murder case. The mystery begins with an irresistible detail: a woman arranges and pays for her own funeral, and is murdered soon after. It is exactly the kind of fact that invites interpretation. It begs for a theory. It makes you want to solve the puzzle before the puzzle is ready to be solved.
And that is where the book becomes useful beyond entertainment.
Horowitz, the narrator, wants what many of us want when facts are incomplete: a coherent explanation, a readable pattern, a story that hangs together. Hawthorne resists that urge. He notices more than he explains. He withholds judgment longer than is comfortable. He does not rush to closure simply because closure feels good.
Beneath the mystery is a very familiar tension:
The desire for speed, clarity, and narrative coherence versus the discipline of inquiry, patience, and “not yet.”
That tension shows up everywhere! In teams, when people fill in missing context with improvised explanations. At home, when we assign motive before asking a question. In relationships, when silence becomes rejection, brevity becomes anger, and confusion becomes certainty.
The problem is not that we make meaning. The problem is that we often treat interpretation as fact too early.
The Skill
Assumption-checking: separating what happened from the story you are telling about what happened.
This is not about becoming cold, suspicious, or endlessly indecisive. It is about learning to notice when your mind has moved from observation into explanation—and slowing down long enough to test whether that explanation deserves your confidence.
A plausible story is not the same thing as a true one. A satisfying explanation is not the same thing as an accurate one. The more emotionally neat the story feels, the more careful we may need to be.
Framing Questions
When you feel yourself locking onto an explanation quickly, pause and ask:
What do I actually know for certain?
What am I adding, assuming, or inferring?
What else could explain this?
Who may have context I do not have?
Am I attached to this interpretation because it is true, because it is tidy, or because I want to move on to the next thing?
What evidence would make me revise my view?
These questions do not eliminate uncertainty. They help you handle it better.
A Small Practice to Try
Try this three-step pause in any situation that feels confusing, irritating, or emotionally loaded. This is hard because most of us do not struggle to interpret. We struggle to notice when interpretation has become overconfidence.
Step 1: Write the facts only. Describe what happened WITHOUT interpretation.
Example: “She replied in one sentence and did not answer the second question.”
Step 2: Write the story your mind created.
Example: “He is annoyed with me and does not want to help.”
Step 3: Write two other possible explanations.
Example: “He was in a rush”
Then ask yourself: What do I need to check before I act as if my story is true?
Closing Takeaway
A great deal of avoidable friction comes from reacting not to reality, but to the story we created under pressure. We misread tone. We assign motives too quickly. We reward coherence over truth. We let premature certainty do damage. Better judgment often starts with a quieter move: resisting the first story long enough to see whether it has earned the right to guide you. Not every good story is false. But before you trust the story, make sure you have not mistaken narrative satisfaction for understanding. |
When are you MOST likely to mistake your story for the truth?
When I need a quick explanation
When something unusual happens
When someone's tone feels off
When I do not have the full context
Comments