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In the wake of the James Frey fiasco and other recent scandals in the world of literature, many nonfiction writers are more concerned than ever about the issue of fictionalized nonfiction. This is not actually a new problem-just read some of the "histories" written in the Middle Ages-nor is it an avoidable one. Every writer must take some kind of perspective, even when she is trying to be as objective as possible. Every writer must choose what to include in a piece and what to leave out; so on a very basic level, it is impossible for any piece of writing to be a pure mirror of objective reality. However, most of us have a gut feeling that there are lines that should not be crossed, lines that separate nonfiction from fiction (that is why we give them two different names, after all). They are often blurry, especially when the nonfiction writer is writing in the narrative style, but there are practical ways to stay clearly on the right side. Below are a few examples that I've used with my nonfiction-writing students:

PROBLEM: The author needs to protect one or more people from identification.
SOLUTION: Inform the reader that you are modifying some details for that purpose.
EXAMPLE: Gawande, Atul. "When Doctors Make Mistakes." (From The New Yorker.)

"I did run into trouble. In telling this story, I have had to change significant details about what happened (including the names of the participants and aspects of my role), but I have tried to stay as close to the actual events as I could while protecting the patient, myself, and the rest of the staff. The way that things go wrong in medicine is normally unseen and, consequently, often misunderstood. Mistakes do happen. We think of them as aberrant; they are anything but."

PROBLEM: You want to include a direct quotation, but you don't have a record of the exact words that the speaker used. You can only paraphrase from memory.
SOLUTION 1: Give the reader a clear hint that the "quotation" is actually reconstructed.
EXAMPLE 1: McCourt, Frank. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir. (The author does not use quotations marks when he has his characters speak.)

"Birds started to chirp and sing in the trees and as the dawn came up we saw strange creatures in the fields, standing, looking at us. Malachy said, What are they, Dad?
Cows, son.
What are cows, Dad?
Cows are cows, son.
We walked farther along the brightening road and there were other creatures in the fields, white furry creatures.
Malachy said, What are they, Dad?
Sheep, son.
What are

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