The truth is a sticky subject.  There’s the truth as you know it, the truth as someone else knows it, and then there is the indisputable truth as fact.  The mind has a funny way of remembering things and people in certain light.  I’m prepared to make the statement that there is not a single, solitary individual that remembers the “truth” of a situation as it factually happened.  That being said, do I think people are big, fat liars when they paint pictures of themselves and their lives in memoir that aren’t factually accurate?  Not necessarily.  Do I think people who aren’t completely honest in their autobiographies are big, fat liars?  That is more likely.  So what exactly is the difference between the two genres and why does that difference matter?

The difference is simply this, one deals with fact and facts that can be fact-checked, and the other deals with a person’s memories, and sometimes memory isn’t always a hard-lined account of situations and/or people.  Now, does that mean that the memoir author has a blank check when it comes to fact and truth?  For me, that’s an emphatic no.  As memoirists, we have a duty to tell our truth with as much fact and legitimate truth as humanly possible. Sometimes we can remember small things wrong. Or we get some things mixed up. It happens. But we should never intend to deceive our readers. If you plan to market deception, then fiction is for you.

This goes for the stories we not only write, but tell. You can withhold details of your life without being deceptive, because sometimes things are nobody’s business but your own until you decide to share; you can’t change your narrative to fit your mood or to sell a story. The people who know you and your previously told story shouldn’t have to decide which version you give them as being true. That puts your supportive readers in a difficult position, and as an author and even a friend, you should never do that. Your audience shouldn’t feel betrayed by the truth you tell versus the truth you write.

Your readers, who aren’t privy to your stories until they’ve read them, have nothing else invested in you as a person. To them, you are an author, and you might be a good one. Your story might be incredibly compelling, and as your audience, they will be super excited for more work from you. But that doesn’t mean they will be forgiving if it comes out later that you lied or embellished your truth to make a buck.

Bottom line–write with integrity as a memoirist.