I found this photo and decided to use it to illustrate that the partial lie happened a little before this picture was taken, so did the true story which most people thought was a lie.
Last week I played a game where I told four stories one of which was a lie. Fiction writers have to be pretty good liars, right? Otherwise they would be non-fiction writers. All writers even non-fiction ones tend to at least exaggerate the truth. I have four older brothers, and one of them is a fabulous storyteller--Brian. Everyone knows that all of his stories are true, but how much of the story is true is debatable, but they are funny and that's all that matters.
Okay, so here's the answers to last week's game. #1 still remains one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Only Josi chose this one and I think that's because she figured it was the most believable. It's interesting that embarrassing moments are so vivid in our minds that I remember the exact dress I was wearing at the time, the location on the fence at Sharon elementary and my best friend, saying, "I didn't see you hanging from the fence."
2. This is the LIE. One of the secrets to telling a good lie is to have at least some truth in it. In this story it's more what could have happened than what actually happened. I did walk down this street with my friend and was separated from her. Mainly because I was looking around and she was high-tailing it out of there. Anyway a man did grab my arm, but he didn't force me anywhere and my friend didn't have to tell the police. And we didn't eat pastries. And I wasn't lost. Katie Parker is the only person who got this.
3. Four people chose this one!!! This is the story where I stood behind a guy in an outhouse because I thought it was a building entrance. In other words half the people who played the game thought I was too stupid to do something so stupid, and that I was clever enough to come up with such an outrageous lie. Should I be flattered? Not really because the other half think I am as dumb as I am. Hmmmm.
Well anyway, this still remains my most embarrassing moment--well at least the one I can write about on a public blog. I would love to tell that guy wherever he is that I really am not a pervert. Sorry guy.
4. Two people thought this was the lie. My husband was a good sport on this one, because even though I was the one who told him to call the fire department because I'd seen the barn on fire, when the fire fighters asked, "who was the blankety blank idiot who called this fire in?" he took credit for it. He's that kind of a guy.
5 comments:
Dear Musings from Paradise,
What you say about adding some truth to a lie to make it more convincing reminded me of my dad. He's a story teller just like your Brother, Brian. He's always telling stories, but I never know if he's stretching them a bit. The weird thing is that I've heard some of his stories several times, but with every retelling, there doesn't seem to be any difference from the first telling. You think it would get bigger and better, like those fishing tales where the length of the fish reflects the age of the story. I wonder if Dad is really telling it just as it happened or if I just haven't noticed any changes. I like Dad's stories so I'm just going to go on believin' them. Do any of your writing ideas have a source from a stretched truth? I know that whenever I write a story, all the characters are based on real people especially my family. I can't help it, they're just too weird to leave out.
double bass, german bow, Thanks for you comments. Your dad reminds me of the father in Big Fish. If you haven't seen that movie you need to go right out and rent it. I love storytellers--we need more of them. You're lucky to have one for a father.
Great responses!
Congrats to Katie who is the knower of liars. hehe
Wow! What an honor! Especially since I'm such a horrible liar myself. Thanks, Carole!
I love the picture!!
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