How to Kill Your Muse: Too Much Truth in Fiction

A recent tweet by author and D4EO Literary agent Mandy Hubbard (aka @mandyhubbard) inspired this post. She asked fellow agents if they saw red flags when a query for a novel mentioned "based on a true story" or "sprinkled with true life experiences." She went on to say that lots of first-time writers start out trying to write novels from real life, but quickly learn that fiction makes for a much better story.

As someone who jumped into the world of fiction after decades of journaling and...