The truth is only as important as the value of the information. In other words, the significance of the truth is directly proportional to the intensity or importance of the subject. Telling the truth about spilt milk is relatively insignificant compared to telling the truth about a murder. The consequences of the answer are also a factor in how important it is to tell the truth. Telling the truth about how you accidentally killed someone has less of a consequence then if you admit to spilling milk on a bomb on purpose so that it exploded and killed many people.

When telling or writing a piece of fiction, the situation alters slightly. When a person is telling a story of fiction or fantasy they can lie about things that are important without consequence because of two reasons; firstly the reader or audience can already assume that there is little truth to the work and can look past it to a deeper meaning. Secondly, the writer can safely assume that nothing he has said will be taken as the truth and is able to convey his emotions or thoughts to the reader without fearing consequence. This is crucial in that many stories that hold ideas, can be told as lies and accepted as the truth. So one can safely say that while telling the truth is important, a writer's liberty from truth is equally important to the development of ideas that form truth.