Truth vs. Embellishment

All of us are suckers for stories too good to be true, be it Washington confessing to chopping down the cherry tree or Bernie Madoff promising investment returns no one else could match.

But in memoir-writing in particular, there seems to be a determination that accuracy shouldn't stand in the way of a good story.

I come at this from a newspaper journalist perspective. If a reporter made stuff up, to make the story better, he or she got fired. The publication depended on its credibility. That's what it sold. And that's what I tell my journalism students at Western Washington University.