Would You Rather: A True Story or a Great One?

[CrisN]

Do you prefer a story that’s grounded in reality, even if it’s not extraordinary, or an outstanding story that’s entirely fictional?

[randomlygenerated]

Definitely a good story. I assume 90% of "real" stories are fake anyway. Adds nothing for me in any case.

[Freesub]

Honestly depends entirely on my mood. But in general I really like the honesty of authors telling the readers when they're embellishing certain parts of a real incident to make it better .

[Jonjon2]

I prefer a great story and I agree that I think its likely that some of the 'true' stories have a little bit of author's licence to embellish - I am equally happy with that.

[Debbifan]

Prefer a good story. Virtually all the stories in this genre require some level of suspension of disbelief. We could always argue why did the character do this and not that and why didn't they say the other?

Having said that, I do prefer stories set in a realistic 'universe'. No magic or elves or aliens or shapeshifters. No alternate universe where all women have to permanently remain naked! But that's just my preference and taste; different strokes for different folks.

[jllash]

I prefer real stories, knowing that it actually happened makes it so much more interesting to me.
Fantasy can be fun too, but it just doesn't have the same appeal to me when I know it's all completely made up.

[Executionus]

Most true stories fall into one of three categories: A brief awkward flash/malfunction, someone being seen naked who doesn't know it for some reason, or something that'll get a person arrested. That's about it. Due to the nature of the situation true stories are almost-always short and simple.

I greatly prefer well-written fictional stories. That said, character believability is important and a story fails if the characters don't act realistic.

[NickTwisp]

I prefer stories that have some degree of plausibility.

Stories I've posted are in part based on real events.

[PantsDownFun]

I always prefer true stories. Especially when the story teller is able to go into great detail on the emotions they experienced. The embarrassment and humiliation is the main thrill, and for that, nothing beats the real thing.

[RaccoonBatteryStaple]

Most true stories fall into one of three categories: A brief awkward flash/malfunction, someone being seen naked who doesn't know it for some reason, or something that'll get a person arrested. That's about it. Due to the nature of the situation true stories are almost-always short and simple.

I greatly prefer well-written fictional stories. That said, character believability is important and a story fails if the characters don't act realistic.

That's a great point about true stories, and to me that makes them hit differently. There are things I can roll with in fictional stories because it never actually happened to someone. So for me, there's room for both.