Fact or Fiction? Does It Matter?
By Anne White

Reprinted From Mystery Scene Magazine, April 2006, No. 94

Oprah Winfrey smashed James Frey’s reputation as a memoirist into a million little pieces in January when she withdrew her support for his book and admitted to feeling duped by the author she sent rocketing to the top of the best seller lists. Articulate as always, though visibly shaken, Oprah told Frey he’d “betrayed millions of readers” by fabricating key parts of his book.

“Why did you feel the need to lie?” she asked him.

But, I asked as I listened to their exchange, isn’t that what writers do—embellish, restructure, exaggerate, even distort their real life experiences in an effort to keep readers’ eyes glued to the page?

With apologies to Oprah, as well as to David Letterman, newly restored as her friend, here are the 10 top reasons why, after a lifetime of espousing honesty, I understand the need to lie—or to put a better spin on it—take up existence in an imaginary universe
The rationale:

10. With the publication of my Lake George Mystery Series, I cease being a retired librarian suffering serious book withdrawal, and become the dynamic, 30-something mayor of a lovely, little upstate New York town.

9. No longer the harried mother of six with sufficient job and family responsibilities to send a normal person over the edge, I now spend my days with a friendly, Hal-like computer dedicated to serving my every whim.

8. As I write, I am transported to the charming Lake George home I’ve inherited from my fictional grandfather. And even though the house was once sadly rundown, restoration has been accomplished so quickly and inexpensively I now find myself in fabulous surroundings.

7. In my first foray into mystery writing, An Affinity For Murder, my protagonist discovers a cache of long-lost paintings which may have been left behind at the lake by Georgia O’Keeffe, a discovery which sends the real-life me to libraries, art galleries and museums for the kind of research every librarian delights in.

6. With the Lake George Region kicking off its 10-year observance of the 250th anniversary of the French and Indian War, my second book, Beneath The Surface, gives me and my alter ego, Mayor Loren Graham, the opportunity to delve into other fascinating topics, including long-ago battles and underwater archeological sites. (Mystery Scene #90, p.59)

5. In Best Laid Plans, the third book in the series, to be published in April by Hilliard and Harris, my hard-working mayor is knocking herself out to put the finishing touches on a community center she hopes will attract new waves of tourists to her town, only to be literally knocked out in an unexpected turn of events. (And haven’t we all had days like that?)

4. Even though I’m usually taken for granted in the real world, as mayor of fictional Emerald Point, I arouse strong feelings in my constituents, so much so that in every book somebody tries to kill me.

3. People I scarcely know—okay, a small number so far, but it’s growing—have begun asking me, “Aren’t you the Anne White who writes the mysteries about Lake George?” Heady stuff for a woman whose bank consistently misspells her name.

2. Although life in my own world can best be described as soporific, I’m revved up by the adventures I create for my characters. (But I don’t pretend they happen to me.)

And finally, on a more serious note.

1. As any librarian will attest, especially those of us who struggled to catalog books in the days before publishers included Dewey and Library of Congress classification numbers, one important determination must be made first and foremost about every book. Has the author told us what actually happened, given us unvarnished facts about real people and events?

Since the answer to that question determines whether a book is fiction or non-fiction, this standard must be applied to all books. James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces can’t be an exception.

Best Laid Plans is the third book in Anne White's Lake George Mystery Series