I think that a book has to be at least 50% true. This is because if you know at least half of what you are writing about and you can relate half of your story to your fictional story, then there is credibility to your made-up story. This is because you can make-up half of your story and have half of the story be real while you are putting your own experiences into both of them. You still have reliability and credibility to yourself and your readers. If you believe in your story, then so will your readers. If the readers feel that you know what you are talking about and can believe the story, then you still have trustworthiness. As long as you put something into your acknowledgments or prologue saying that this story is based on a true story but does have fiction related into it, then the readers will be able trust your writing. I think that half-truths are okay because you still have your own experiences into the believable fictional story. But when Frey and Mortenson bent the truth and didn’t come out or admitting that they did this right away, I think they lost their readers’ trust and nobody felt like they could believe any of their stories anymore. I think we do need lines between genres like fiction and nonfiction, because if we didn’t then no one would know what to believe or think that it is just made up. It does matter, but as long as you state what is real and what isn’t to the readers, they will trust your writing.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, my book needs to be closer to 100% true, because how can it be considered non-fiction if only 1/2 of it is true? But, I do think if writers are going to lie, they should tell us what is true. But they shouldn't be making it up in the first place!
ReplyDeleteI disagree, if half of the book is made up, it's not a real story. It's made up. Fake. Fiction.
ReplyDeleteA story can be half true and half made up, but then why would you call it a memior? It's not a memior so you shouldn't go around telling people that it is. Yuo should tell them that it is a story, because it is.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. In my opinion a book has to be 100% true, if half of the book is a lie and made up then it is fiction not non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteI disagree a book has to be at least 95% true to be non fiction but 100% as a textbook becuase thats used for learning.
ReplyDeletei disagree a non fiction book should be 100% true. non fiction means true so it has to be all true
ReplyDeleteMost of the fictional short stories I right are more than 50% true. I think a non-fiction book needs to be, gasp, non-fiction. It needs to be true. I agree we need lines in between non-fiction and fiction.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete