The answers to these questions lie less in our ability to separate cleanly the true from the fanciful than in the relationship that develops among writer, reader, and character when a story is claimed or judged to be true. Because nonfictional narrative claims to reenact for the reader the play of actual characters and events across time, the underlying story never remains the exclusive domain of the writer.
Nonfictional characters can talk back.
Some readers will remember stories differently and might wrestle with writers over claims, facts, and interpretations. No matter how compellingly her story is told, even if her image is photographically fixed on the page, her authors cannot control her destiny in the same way they could the destiny of a fictional character. She inevitably would tell some stories differently than would her writers. Unlike fictional characters, none can be counted on to step aside gracefully and to allow the writers full command of the text. My sisters are watching this book carefully.