Over at Book Riot, Hannah Engler discusses memoir, when the absolute truth is necessary, and why it is okay—even unavoidable—to fabricate facts:
Fabrication is inherent in memoir writing. Number one, it’s impossible to have an unbiased view of your own life, period; number two, it’s impossible to write about something in the past tense and not see it through the lens of the present. These factors, combined with the fact that real life hardly ever binds together in a coherent, readable narration, is what makes memoir such an interesting genre. It’s composed of people telling the stories of themselves. These stories are all true, in a way; they’re just not factual.
