a truth of the matter

I'm currently reading Shantaram, an Australian novel about an ex prisoner whom escapes to Bombay- a true story-and it's far more than the exotic travelogue that it could have been- it has a hard gritty truth about it- it shows the seedy horrible side of India as well as its captivating moments with some real personal reflection in it. I'm very impressed. I read an article by Zadie Smith which was mostly pretension but had two nuggets of worthwhile gold in it- about what makes good writing and (I paraphrase) she says that good writing shows a truth or perspective in it. She also says the self gets in the way- I think this only strikes second novels when you are suddenly aware of yourself as the author and have to put this external perspective created by media and press away. A truth (or reality) that I'm trying to portray in my short story work currently has the theme of coming to terms with or exorcising the past and coming to peace with it. It's hard to not write the same story again and again, I've found I've been doing that lately, but that's what all those other drafts are for.