Based on true events...

Rita Moreno, Tom Brady, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda

Don't you wonder how closely stories are "based on true events"? I know I do. 

At my request (insistence?) my family and I watched "80 for Brady" last week. The movie boasts an amazing cast, clips from the greatest Super Bowl in NFL history, plus cameos from the Patriots' players. What's not to love? 

Admittedly, I'm a diehard Patriots fan, so that might have played into my eagerness to watch the movie.

It was hilarious, the storyline hovering somewhere between "implausible" and "absurd." But in a good way, a way that made you laugh and root for the octogenarians (though Sally Field's character kept reminding her friends she was only seventy-five). 

I loved every minute of it.

But...based on true events? Really? 

Apparently, there was in fact a group of eighty-something widows who gathered every Sunday to cheer on their favorite team and their favorite quarterback, Tom Brady. 

According to the website, "History vs. Hollywood," that's where the similarities ended.

Still, I love the idea of taking a nugget of truth and transforming it into fiction. Real life is often either too dull--or too ridiculous--to ever work in novels and screenplays. Fictionalizing the events improves them. 

As long as we remember they're not real--I guess therein lies the rub, as they say. 

I wrote a story a few years ago, Generous Lies, about a father who takes his drug-addicted son to New Hampshire to get him away from the dangerous influences in his life and figure out what to do. That scenario actually happened in my family. My son had become addicted to drugs, and in the week between when he decided to go to rehab and when they could take him, my husband took him to his parents' house in New Hampshire. 

That was where the similarities ended, and thank God! In real life, their trip was relaxing and restorative, and it built a stronger bond between my husband and my son. 

In the book, there are murderous smugglers who'll stop at nothing to reclaim what's theirs.

Based on true events? Kinda. 

This summer, I have a story coming out that's based on my other son's car accident. I'll tell you more about A Mountain Too Steep as we get closer, but let me just say how thankful I am that the fictional events are only very loosely based on true events. 

How about you? Do you like true stories? Or sort of true stories? Or pure, unadulterated fiction? 

Comment below for a chance to win Generous Lies, Book 2 in the Coventry Saga. Here's the blurb: 

He had no idea it was so bad. Former FBI agent Garrison Kopp suspected his teenage son was in trouble, but a midnight summons to the ER reveals the drug problem is more serious than he thought. Desperate to get his son away from negative influences, he asks a beautiful and kind new friend who owns rental properties for a place to stay. 

She’ll help, as long as she doesn’t have to risk anything. Vacation homeowner Samantha Messenger is happy to provide Garrison and his son a lake cabin where they can regroup. She helps him search for a good rehab facility and tries not to hope for more than friendship. After what she’s been through, more isn’t an option, no matter what her heart wants.

Big trouble comes in tiny packages. Sparks fly between them as Sam and Garrison work together to help the resistant teen. But that becomes the least of their problems when a package planted in Garrison’s car lures enemies to the idyllic cabin on the lake. With their lives—and love—on the line, can they protect all they hold dear?

Get swept up in romance, danger, and intrigue. Buy Generous Lies today.