Fiction or non-fiction? I had a difficult time deciding whether or not to fictionalize my story. The books “Black and Blue” by Anna Quindlan and “A Thousand Acres” by Jane Smiley are fictional accounts of some of the same topics I cover in my book, as was “We Were the Mulvaneys” all of which subsequently made movie of the week. I often wondered how much auto biography is incorporated into a work of fiction. For whatever reason, I have never been able to write fiction. Perhaps my memory is too intact: I recall conversations word-for-word and I can picture spatial scenes exactly as they were, even years later. Yet, reading and daydreaming were my favorite past times. With all that imagination flowing, I cannot conjure fiction. Even my early poems in 3rd grade were not fiction. Also, I was concerned about depicting the real members of my family as I perceive them to be: what would they think if they read of themselves in my book? Would they sue me? How can I be sued for telling my truth? The literary license I took was with making Karen a composite character. She is by no means fictional. And I changed names, but not places. How do you all reconcile fiction versus non-fiction? If you’ve written memoirs, what obstacles have you had to overcome to tell your truth?