Consider the following theme: “writing is an outlet for the human desire to make things sound better than they actually are.” is this theme universal? why or why not?

No. According to logic, if an absolute statement has one thing that defies it, that statement is considered to be false. Back in the day, courts still needed exact wording for the entire dialogue of the case. So, there was shorthand that was created, which permitted the writer to reach speeds past the average human speech. So, the writers would write down everything that was said. This is making things EXACTLY as they are, making that absolute statement void. Of course, this is one example. With ~180,000 years of human existence across a massive amount of space, there are, probably, countless examples that defy that statement. I mean, look at the Baroque style of painting. There is, without a doubt, a writing style akin to that. Plus, what about non-fiction? Informational text books? I think, pardon the pun, I rest my case.