Have you ever known anyone personally that writes life stories & gets things wrong about every other paragraph?

I have a sister that posts long stories on Facebook. She reposted something she wrote a couple years ago about young life on the farm. She made 6 major errors including attributing some things that happened to me or my sister to herself. Claims she was in 1st grade when JFK died, I remember sitting in 1st grade myself & having our teacher tell us & the whole classroom crying. She wasn’t even in school yet. This same sister has been writing a book about life & the family and has said she will publish it.

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alan20 · M

I have a sister who is a bit like that. A few years ago a guy wrote a local newspaper article about our family which was largely fiction. When I tackled him about it he disclosed that he'd got most of his info from my sister. She was adamant that she was right. Trivial things like how our parents first met. I eventually came across a letter which proved her version was entirely in her imagination. When I showed her the letter she at least admitted she'd got that bit completely wrong. I don't think it was deliberate; just an inability to distinguish real memories from imaginary. Makes one wonder how accurate many of these biographies are.

cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

@alan20 You know a lot of books have been analyzed by family members or others who knew the authors really well and have been said to be mostly fiction. The one that really got to me was a book & movie that fascinated me from the time I read & saw it. It was the movie/book Sybil. Family members have come out and said that “Sybil” didn’t have an abusive mother, if anything she was over-protective of her. The psychiatrist that wrote the book wrote a mostly fictional account using Sybil’s identity in order to make it a best-seller.

alan20 · M

@cherokeepatti To do it deliberately is wicked. I think most of it is the imagination taking over. If you brood over something for long enough you can end up convinced its true.

cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

@alan20 Partly imagination, but mostly narcissism. She twists a lot of stuff in real life and she does convince people who know her well of things. Unless she’s done it to them personally they will believe it. I didn’t even realize how much trouble she had caused till a family member enlightened me with the fact that she would go behind my back and start stuff with her mouth.

cherokeepatti · 61-69, F

@alan20 Alan, She used to write a column for a small-town newspaper and I still have some of the things she wrote about me without naming me. She won a state journalism award based on things that weren’t always true or embellished to make it seem different than what really happened. She considers herself to be a gifted journalist now. And a few years later the owner of the newspaper had to take out protective orders on her

alan20 · M

@cherokeepatti She obviously has problems. My own sister definitely suffers from some form of jealousy. Best to keep some distance.

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