That was really good. It just goes to show though how the police or someone can start to take an incident out of context and try and turn it into something it's not.
Matthew, this is brilliant -- and annoying: I've been working on a police procedural version of the story myself, but now everyone will think I copied yours!
It's interesting what you said about turning my non-fiction story into a fictional one, because if you think about it, most of my attempts to rewrite the story in a particular style have necessarily involved introducing fictional elements in order to make it work. I think this raises a broader, and perhaps very interesting set of questions:
When does nonfiction cease to be nonfiction? Is it permissible to introduce fictional elements into a nonfiction narrative, and still call it nonfiction?
Thanks for taking my story and reworking it, and thanks for the link to mine.
🤣 Thanks Terry! Sorry to steal your thunder. Who knew you were working on something too. You wouldn't believe how hard I laughed when I read that first paragraph.
You've brought up some interesting questions. I think nonfiction ceases to be nonfiction when the fictional elements are placed in there. Personally, I wouldn't still call it nonfiction with the fake details in there.
This brings up another thing. When we read a nonfiction tale, how do we know what is real and what is made up? I'm saying if we read something online. Unless the author has told us, we don't know.
It was fun to try to come up with something to make it funny. Because I know it wasn't funny when it happened to you.
My view is that it's ok to put in fictional bits, as long as they don't radically change the story. For example, when I write about conversations that happened a few decades ago, I probably haven't remembered them word perfectly, but if the general gist is accurate, does it matter do you think? (I guess it would in as court of law of course)
I really enjoyed how you’ve explored this, Matt! Nice work! 😊
Haha! Love it! Yeah, that would give anyone a headache. A really cool take. Well done.
That was really good. It just goes to show though how the police or someone can start to take an incident out of context and try and turn it into something it's not.
Matthew, this is brilliant -- and annoying: I've been working on a police procedural version of the story myself, but now everyone will think I copied yours!
It's interesting what you said about turning my non-fiction story into a fictional one, because if you think about it, most of my attempts to rewrite the story in a particular style have necessarily involved introducing fictional elements in order to make it work. I think this raises a broader, and perhaps very interesting set of questions:
When does nonfiction cease to be nonfiction? Is it permissible to introduce fictional elements into a nonfiction narrative, and still call it nonfiction?
Thanks for taking my story and reworking it, and thanks for the link to mine.
🤣 Thanks Terry! Sorry to steal your thunder. Who knew you were working on something too. You wouldn't believe how hard I laughed when I read that first paragraph.
You've brought up some interesting questions. I think nonfiction ceases to be nonfiction when the fictional elements are placed in there. Personally, I wouldn't still call it nonfiction with the fake details in there.
This brings up another thing. When we read a nonfiction tale, how do we know what is real and what is made up? I'm saying if we read something online. Unless the author has told us, we don't know.
It was fun to try to come up with something to make it funny. Because I know it wasn't funny when it happened to you.
My view is that it's ok to put in fictional bits, as long as they don't radically change the story. For example, when I write about conversations that happened a few decades ago, I probably haven't remembered them word perfectly, but if the general gist is accurate, does it matter do you think? (I guess it would in as court of law of course)
Like that I think it is perfectly okay. No one is going to remember something that happened and what they said that long ago.
That's funny! Nothing like getting hit with light when you're trying to sleep.