When I was Puerto Rican post #2

                                                        Reflections on truth-telling

In When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago, there were definitely some details that had to be made up at least to some degree. For example, it would be almost impossible to remember the exact words used in a conversation 20 years ago. exaggeration and making stuff up can be very useful in memoirs to make sure that a story stays relevant and interesting even when the author forgets the exact details.I would have to be careful in my writing, especially when making up dialogue, not make people say or do  things that I may have wanted to happen but never actually did. It could be challenging to exaggerate or make up details and still keep the story nonfiction.

These techniques would be most useful to fill in small details in a conversation when you forget the exact wording. it could also be used to keep details vivid and build great imagery. Even when you might not have a picture of what happened in your head anymore, it would be a perfect time to make up a little detail. Exaggeration is probably the most useful for keeping the story interesting to readers, nobody wants to read about someone having an interesting dinner conversation with their family, but if they said "the meal that changed my life" all the sudden it seems a lot more exciting!

Despite how interesting or intriguing a made up conversation or exaggerated event can be in a memoir, it is important for us to remember that a memoir is a story about something that really happened, an actual event that we experienced. Its kinda like those movies that say "based on a true story". we can pretend that those kinds of things really happened but in reality we all know it was really a lot less dramatic.