Writers who lie

The recent legal settlement by Augusten Burroughs and St. Martin's Press with the family who objected to Burrough's characterization of their lives intrigue the journalist side of Mr. Obie Joe.

When a writer uses "composite characters," suspicions begin to breed. Our mentors in journalism remind me that if you work hard on your reporting, writing, and perceptions, you will not need composite characters. Plus, composite characters often lead to "composite events," and well, at that point, why don't you just label it fiction? We know why -- because memoirs are a hotter sell than fiction.

John Hersey used composite characters, and events in his amazing recount of a true event: Hiroshima. He was a decent man and writer; he didn't call it a memoir. He called it fiction, and the book still rang true.

Burroughs took the easy way out, and his completely unapologetic attitude is vexing.

Perhaps we can now turn our attention to those memoirs from writers with actual, unique, and corroborated stories to tell. A memoir by Cupcake Brown came out about the same time as James Frey, and unlike Frey, Ms. Brown really was an addict seconds from death, and immersed in desperate acts. Her story was 100% collaborated. But guess who's living in a Manhattan loft, and guess who's not (though Ms. Brown is doing OK; she now works for a law firm, happy).