The story that Patricia Hampl wrote got me thinking about how we tell our own personal stories to others. After she was done telling her story about her first piano lesson she admitted to the audience that the truth was a little stretched. Who can blame her, it was during her childhood. Also the more details a writer has the more interesting the story can be. At first I wasn't a fan of this kind of writing because I thought she was giving her readers a false impression of what her first piano lesson was like. Then I realized that all of us have done this.
When we tell a story to our friends we exaggerate the truth as much as possible. It makes what was once a boring story a much more interesting and exciting one. I've noticed this when my friends tell stories about what we did over the weekend to my other friends. Since I was with them I actually knew what really happened. The story that they tell says otherwise. Instead of chiming in and saying that's not exactly how it happened I let them tell their story anyway. We aren't lying to our other friends, only stretching the truth to make our weekend sound a little bit better. Like Hampl, we have all stretched the truth at least one point in our lives to make it sound more interesting.
I know I am definitely an exaggerator. I always find myself stretching the truth on stories to my friends. It makes the story so much more exciting. If authors were to tell everything exactly as it is, the story would lose its sparkle. Stretching the truth makes stories stand out more. Even though not all parts may not be true, it is your story. If you are the one telling the story then you can dictate it to be as you want.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time trying to "exaggerate" because I always tell the truth. I am trying to do so now because I want liven up my stories with little white lies. I still find it difficult, but I think Fati is trying to help me do more of that and even encouraging all of us to do so. P.S. I am glad you were able to post the blog Alexis.
ReplyDeleteI really didn't enjoy her story as she made it seem like she A) had no recollection of what actually happened for the most part and B) she "stretched the truth" on way to many things in my opinion. I have stretched the truth before while telling a story a time or two, but i try to do it as little as possible. I've learned that there is no percentage in stretching the in a story that you are telling someone when you are talking to them, because it just makes you come off as a liar. When writing an essay or a story on paper, well then i don't have a problem to fill in those extra details that really didn't happen because you actually need those extra little bits to meet the requirements of the paper most of the time.
ReplyDeleteI know we all stretch the truth here and there but i agree with Parker, some times people take it too far and come off as liars. I guess its alright to make a story more interesting by adding a few extra little exaggerated details once in a while but definitively not all the time. I didn't like Hampl's story because i felt like it was just too fake. It made me realize that authors can and do lie about how certain events happened. I personally like hearing the truth in everything i hear or read, its probably due to the fact that I have had a lot of bad experiences with "liars".
ReplyDeleteI can definitely understand why Hampl exaggerated the truth. She was a young girl, and her reflection on that experience was not exactly what she was thinking at the time. When talking about my experiences as a kid, I often stretch the truth just because I realize something now that I did not exactly pick up on then. While it is not exactly the truth, it is far more interesting. Like Juan said, I do think that she exaggerated on too many details and it came off as being very unrealistic, especially for a young girl. We are all guilty of stretching the truth, but we have to know how far to take it before it just seems fake.
ReplyDeleteI think that exaggerating is not wrong, but I also don't believe it's completely necessary to tell a good story. There are times to exaggerate and there are times to be serious. The main reason why exaggerating is such a popular choice is because it's purely fun. Who doesn't like turning a story into what they wish it was like? I know I do all the time. Nobody wants to tell a story about losing a fight, but if you exaggerate about how brave you were to get into the fight, it seems much more intense. Exaggeration is not harmful, just fun.
ReplyDeleteExaggeration is sometimes a big part in writing. Like you said it adds a little more spunk and excitement to the story, rather than just boring the audience with the full truth. For the essay we just had to write I know I definitely exaggerated many points to make my story seem much more serious and dramatic than it really was. I had a story to tell, but I didn't want to tell it the boring way and make my audience uninterested. Fraying the truth is sometimes the art of being an author. They can use their imaginations to make something boring, very exciting and thrilling.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true! It’s always awkward for me when someone is telling a story but they are clearly stretching the truth. I hate just standing there but I don't want to be "that guy" that corrects the person. It’s funny to see how people exaggerate stuff. We all do it, including me. You can't really tell if an author is exaggerating stuff because you were there with them. They could be making the entire scene up and you will never know. Writing is easy in the sense that you can say almost whatever you want and people don't know if its true or not. I would say that some people don’t do it on purpose. Sometimes its hard for us to recall specific details so our brain fills the blank spaces for us without us even noticing.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. I personally try not to stretch the truth too much because it kind of bothers me when I hear other people do it. It's one thing to add in a little detail but my mom takes it to another level. She makes getting a paper cut sound like a life threatening injury. Don't get me wrong she always has really good stories, but I always wonder how dramatic they actually were. In writing I personally love to exaggerate. To me wriiting is the time you should be exaggerating not in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on stretching the truth. But sometimes it can be a little bit too much and become quite ridiculous. One of my good friends back home did this, but she did it ALL of the time. It was like she wanted her life to sound funnier and better than it actually was, so she would sometimes pull things out of thin air and say that's what happened, when it wasn't the case at all. Stretching the truth and just plain lying are two completely different things and I think people she recognize them so they don't get caught looking like a fool lol.
ReplyDeleteTrue, I do think we all do this at some point. It’s funny how often I’ve caught myself doing this without realizing I was trying to. I start telling a story and halfway through I realize the fish I caught was ten feet long, or the goal I scored wasn’t a fifty yard bicycle kick. Realistically I don’t actually get that carried away, I guess I was just exaggerating. ;D
ReplyDeleteThe majority of what is writen in a story is an exageration of what really occured. Yes there are some people that have overly exciting lives, but most of us aren't that lucky. I am one of those unlucky people. Only a few things have happened to me are worth telling truthfully because they are really interesting and exciting. I do not believe that stretching the truth is a bad thing. Sometimes it is needed. For example in boring stories. We all want to impress others and make our lives seem more interesting. That is why we add a few not so true statements into our stories. We arent lying, we are just trying to express our story a little differently. Sometimes when an event happens to you it seems amazing and you cant wait to tell your friends. But later as you are telling your story you realize that they arent as excited as you were. So you make your audience understand how you felt by stretching the truth. We all do it.
ReplyDeleteThat always happens! We all have that friend that will tell you one story but then fabricates and embellishes them as they are told to different people. Part of it like Hampl said, may be that we start to forget details and fill them in with what we think happened. The mind plays tricks on us sometimes, and can make you believe that something that never happened took place. I also did not like the story at first because I thought I was just being lied to and it made me question a lot of other writings. But as I read the rest of the story I changed my mind about it because she did and excellent job explaining the process of a memoir.
ReplyDeleteI think that we all do stretch the truth at times, but sometimes people take it too far. Sometimes you can just tell when a person is just making things up and they just look like liars. Its probably not the intention they had, but the truth cannot be stretched into a complete lie. Adding excitement is definitely a good thing in writing. But flat out lying is somewhat ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThis is true for everyone. Every time I go out and have a story to tell I always try and stretch the truth to make my night sound that much cooler. It is human nature to try and impress others, no one wants to listen to how boring of a night you had the night before. They wanna hear the vivid details and funny moments even if the truth is stretched a little bit it makes the story that much more interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. Everyone stretches out the truth sometimes. We all want to seem to be living interesting lives. I think slightly stretching out the truth occasionally is completely different from lying or completely exaggerating. We can also apply this to writing about ourselves. A lot of times I can not remember every single detail about whatever I did years ago. So I must use my imagination to help create a picture for the reader. It is not lying but just more inventive story writing.
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of my telling of the Fight Club story. I admit, I exaggerated. Although I did get hit in the face as often as i said, my face did not look nearly as bad as( or too much worse than normal :P) as I said. It just sounds like a better story if my face puffed up and turned red. Its funnier and makes it seem like I got hit harder. Trust me, I got hit hard. It just didnt look like it... It just sounds better when I lie :P
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