Blog 5: Truth in Writing

In order to be considered “non-fiction”, a book would need to be, as a number, about 98 or 99% accurate. I don’t see any problem with embellishing minor details that don’t effect the overall plot or results throughout the story. However, when the embellishments begin to alter the truth and accuracy of the story as a whole, it is a problem. I think that we need to loosely label books as non-fiction or fiction. I think that, for purposes of bookstores and categorizing, there should be genres and labels for books but I don’t think it is necessary to critique a book vigorously simply because they embellished a few details in a non-fiction piece. I understand the idea that if a book isn’t going to get published if it is labelled as fiction, it could be published as a non-fiction work, as long as it meets the 98% accuracy requirement. The 98% does not include any alterations to the ending or result of an event but rather only minor details such as character names, cities, timings, etc.

 On the other hand, I think memoirs have to be treated differently than the standard fiction vs. non-fiction battle. Memoirs are supposed to be true accounts and real stories that happened to somebody. Memoirs make terrific stories, but I think memoirs need to be entirely correct other than altering a name or a time. I think the importance of accuracy and precision is much more important in a memoir than it is in a standard non-fiction piece. If a memoir is changed too much, it should simply be published as a fiction work and then the author can change whatever details they choose. Memoirs need to be entirely accurate other than very miniscule details, while non-fiction can alter more as long as it doesn’t distract or effect the overall storyline or change the way the event occurred.