Strannger than fiction.

CarolinaPaddler
That's great advise. "Just the facts ma'am." That's what Dan Ackroyd said in the Dragnet movie.

Showing my age but I thought that was what Jack Webb, the original Sgt. Joe Friday, said way back nearly 50 years ago on the tv show. But it turns out what he actually said was "all we want are the facts ma'am." Your free trivia history for the day: Dragnet started as a radio drama back in 1949 and the "Just the facts" came from a Stan Freberg spoof of the show in 1953.

You can also find a YouTube of Johnny Carson and Jack Webb trying to keep straight faces while doing a takeoff of Dragnet on his show called the 'Copper Clapper Caper.'

mj2001Showing my age but I thought that was what Jack Webb, the original Sgt. Joe Friday, said way back nearly 50 years ago on the tv show. But it turns out what he actually said was "all we want are the facts ma'am." Your free trivia history for the day: Dragnet started as a radio drama back in 1949 and the "Just the facts" came from a Stan Freberg spoof of the show in 1953.

You can also find a YouTube of Johnny Carson and Jack Webb trying to keep straight faces while doing a takeoff of Dragnet on his show called the 'Copper Clapper Caper.'

Thank you for the walk down memory lane. I'm old enough to remember I think 3 different versions of "Dragnet."

The fictionalized account works for me, I mean, I've taken events of my youth, that either happened to me or to someone else, and written a very fictionalized version, often making it end the way I wished it would have in the first place. The names and places have been changed to protect the guilty and the innocent.

Speaking of the names being changed, "The Accidental Billionaire" story is one where the names have been changed. Those names are easy to decode because the people involved are famous, but if they weren't, who would know them?

Example: A true story about being spanked your aunt (who is your mother's sister-in-law) could become a fiction story about being spanked by your aunt (who is your father's sister). Change the names and maybe the location (spanking at a park becomes a spanking at a backyard BBQ) and no one will know who you're talking about.

I believe many of the contributions here are a mixture of real life experiences and fantasies.

I wouldn't mind though if a story came with the disclaimer attached: "Based on a true story". It would tickle slightly extra when reading it.

I agree, just change the names and ages to make it all appropriate for this site. I think many of us use at least some real life experience for their stories.
I've read one a few years ago, where the author had only changed the genders of all the characters involved