My opinion of non-fiction cheaters

Personally, I don’t like non-fiction. Every time I try to read non-fiction, after the first few sentences of “when I was a young lad” or “I was at the store when my aunt bought a new car” it tends to limp onward at a horribly slow pace. There is nothing wrong with writing a true story about something boring, it’s how you write about the boring true stuff that makes or breaks it. A little bit of exaggeration is okay, but don’t over exaggerate to the point where you are lying. Fact falsification isn’t okay. David Shields wasn’t exactly wrong. But he wasn’t right either. He wrote a memoir and added fiction into it. In my mind that would then be deemed a fiction novel. But in his mind I guess it’s still labeled as non-fiction(?).  But hey, if it makes it more interesting to read, or should I say easier to read, go for it. But don’t say that all of it really happened if it didn’t. If I were to tell you that right now I am seriously sitting on the Eiffel Tower with a plate of waffles in front of me, you might believe me. Even though it’s not true (wish it was. I love waffles) I said that I was seriously there. Wish I was, heck you probably wish you were too, but I’m not. So if I were to write a memoir with that it in it, I would say that it’s LOOSELY based on real persons and events. Not that it IS based on real happenings. Come on people…there’s a difference between lying and stretching the truth.  Shesh…