Names of corporations have been changed.The interviewer’s abrasiveness is exaggerated through dressed-up dialogue.So instead I’ll preface what follows by itemizing what is truly fictional, so you can appreciate that everything else is true. I could go fix those problems in this archival tale, but a) that’s too much work, and b) the hyperbole is kind of fun.

By exaggerating like this, I inadvertently pushed the whole episode into the realm of fantasy, where it didn’t belong. That said, there’s some hyperbole too for example, the parking meter’s neck didn’t break. I faithfully documented what he really said, and he really did seem to attempt to wring the neck of a parking meter. And, on my way to take the test, a homeless person really did pick a fight with me. For example, I describe a pre-employment aptitude test, which was real. Except where clearly noted (e.g., “Okay, I didn’t really say that”), almost everything happened exactly as I tell it. So it is with the following story, which is essentially nonfictional. Besides, it deprives him or her of a sense of wonder when something unbelievable is actually true. I thought this was playful and fun, but I’ve come to realize it probably just confuses the reader.

One problem with my earlier writing is that I didn’t bother separating fact from fiction. Amazing things that actually happened to me were dismissed by the instructor as “totally unrealistic.” I’ve found that if you try to dress up a true story as fiction, you’ll crash and burn.

Is there a story arc? Is some kind of Truth revealed? Does the main character grow? After all, with all the freedom in the world to contrive characters and actions to make your point, you’d better say something. Formal fiction, though, gets subjected to all kinds of critical evaluation. If a story is true, it can be spun as a simple yarn, and no more is expected of it.

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