Truth in Memoir

In my opinion a book needs to be about 78-80% truthful. This allows for the author to embellish slightly, thus providing the reader a more enjoyable and entertaining experience. I also believe that the most important part of a story is the way that it ends, it doesn't matter what road you take as long as you get to the same place. However, in the beginning of the book there should be a disclaimer informing the reader of the made up parts of the story. Half truths are okay. If a person goes to jail for several hours in real life, but makes it 3 months in the book it shouldn't matter. In the end they were in jail, that's the only important detail. If an author makes up some details or interactions they shouldn't be shunned for it. They are doing this in order to make a more entertaining, more compelling story for the readers. There should be a line between genres. If there wasn't people could read a story about some supernatural creature and some how come to the conclusion that it is actually real. A reader should be notified of what genre of book they are going to read to allow them to prepare themselves for what's to come. If the genre is not clear than the reader could make inferences that are not true and confuse the reader. In the end, I think adding details and events to stories is necessary for authors to do. People do it every day when they tell stories to others, what's the difference if an author does it?

To end this post here is a picture of Matthew McConaughey: