Prompt #4

I can understand when an author wants to write about an event that they were not actually a part of, but I do expect them to label it as fictional. It is awful that so many ‘fake memoirs’ are out there posing as nonfiction and hurting the credibility of memoirs in general. I am also aware that people tend to embellish their stories when they tell them. Again, I expect that if they are going to list their work as nonfiction that they keep their embellishment to a minimum. We may remember one funny family story a little differently than how it happened, but I would like to think we could keep the important aspects straight. When authors write books like A Million Little Pieces and make up a whole different life for themselves, I expect it to be labeled as fictional. When I take the time to read a memoir or any piece of nonfiction, I want to be able to trust that it is cemented in the truth.

Works that are incorrectly labeled as nonfiction about historic events like the Holocaust or internment camps are particularly despicable to me. They hurt real survivor’s credibility, and they add fuel to the flame for people denying these historical events. I do not expect every detail to be perfect, and in a traumatic situations our brains may not accurately record what happened. It is irresponsible though to knowingly publish fabrications of these events as the truth when authors are aware they are writing fiction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_memoirs

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/million-little-lies?page=0,0