What I was just reminded of, randomly:
Once, for instance, my father asked me a series of questions that suddenly made me wonder whether I understood even my father whom I felt close to than any man I have ever known. “You like to tell true stories, don’t you?” he asked, and I answered, “Yes, I like to tell stories that are true.”
Then he asked, “After you have finished your true stories sometime, why don’t you make up a story and the people to go with it?
“Only then will you understand what happened and why.
“It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us.”
(From A River Runs Through It)