reality

The problem with writing fiction that's based on fact is that sometimes, the fact just doesn't fit, or it would work better if it were a little different, switched around here and there, that kind of thing. Then you have to be very careful to keep straight in your head what is real and what you have made up, so that when you think about the people involved, you are not unjustly ascribing to them actions or words that were never theirs and thereby turning them into your characters instead of the real human beings they are. This can lead to problematic and undeserved character judgments.

I hope no one I know reads some of the things I write.