Fact vs. Fiction

The first time I herd someone mention researching their memoir I thought, "huh? Why would anyone have to research their own story?" It took me back to the ruckus surrounding 'A Million Little Pieces.' Again, I was like "...but wait... wasn't that a memoir?" And then there was the time I overheard chit-chatters swearing up and down a memoirist (who had grown up in the same neighborhood) had fabricated much of their story (‘their perception) surrounding historical events. According to them, 'that never happened,' despite hundreds of other books disclaiming otherwise.

And there's more. Here and there I've come across readers describing individuals in memoirs as characters, about as puzzling as reading praise for novels I assumed were non-fiction, based on all the research that went into the project.

The overlapping of biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, and fiction need not be so paradoxical.

Biographies, written about individuals (usually a notable person who has achieved or done something notable worth chronicling), absolutely should be researched, verified, fact-checked, and so forth and so on. And that's whether authorized, and especially if not.

Autobiographies, written by the subject about the subject, one would suggest the text to be, in the very least, corroborated as well.  

Memoirs (on the other hand) is a whole 'nother bird. This little gem does straddle the line between what’s what. Even so, not only can I NOT I think of a single reason an individual would have to research their own story, but I cannot figure out why anyone would want to write a story they cannot remember.

Same goes for fiction...well...sort of. I used to wonder why writers went through the trouble to research real life events and call it fiction...instead of non-fiction? Today, I think I get it. After reading Cicely Tyson's autobiography 'Just As I Am', and coming across a novel that was mentioned—'The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman'—which I never read but initially assumed was true, I now marvel the creative process of turning serious events into art.

Still, these writing genres need not be such a complicated affair, despite perceptions' blurry line between fact and fiction. 

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