Truth in Memoir

For a book to be non-fiction it has to completely 100% true.  There can’t be a single false statement, because nonfiction is true, and if there’s a lie than it is not true.  Half truth’s are still considered lies, so it is not oaky to put them in a story.  No, it is not okay Frey or Mortenson to bend the truth in their stories.  We do need lines in stories, I mean without lies we don’t know what we will be reading.  We need to label the line between fiction and non-fiction.  The reason is we would not now what we are reading or have read is fake or real.  It does matter; it would be helpful to a lot of people to have lines between genres. 

Non-fiction is a book, story etc. that is not fake.  By those writers who put in fake information about them doesn’t make it non-fiction.  It makes it a fiction, so fantasy, magic realism etc.  When readers, like myself and you, would want to read a book knowing if it is truly non-fiction.  That brings me to the next topic.

We need lines between what’s fiction (fantasy, dystopia, romance etc.) or fiction (memoirs etc.).  if there is no lines, the readers will have trouble knowing what they read. Certain people like fiction, or non-fiction, or something specific.  If there weren’t labels at books, we would know what we read or what we like to read.  But labels can ruin a person image such as Nicolas sparks.  He is classified as a romance novelist when that is not fully true. 

That is my thought to How true does a book have to be in your mind to be considered non-fiction?   Why?  Are half-truths okay if it’s still a good story? Does it matter if Frey or Mortenson bent the truth to tell their stories? Is David Shields right?  Do we need lines between genres—do we need to label something fiction or non-fiction?  Why does it matter?