Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature

by Meredith Maran

That convinced me to emphasize my flaws. Anywhere I had selfish, inappropriate thoughts, I kept them all in the book. Every chance I got, I made myself look bad. If nonfiction is any good, it has to be harder on the protagonist than on anybody else.