And not only history-writing

Mortimer Chambers, in the Introduction to The Fall of Rome: Can It Be Explained?

History-writing is explanation. That alone distinguishes it from the mere collecting of facts, accurately dated and lucidly described, in the form of chronicles. The difference between a "historian" and a "chronicler" -- between, let us say, Thucydides and Livy in ancient historiography -- is commonly attributed to the historian's deeper inquiry into causation, into the progress and change of events, and into the question Why?

I like that. But in Making them up as I go I say: "Don't explain. Just tell a story." It seems a contradiction.

By "Don't explain" I mean "Don't get bogged down in explanation". I could go on...