God. Writers get this all.the.damned.time. Even death will not release you, because then you get it from the scholars and the critics.

I swear, sometimes I think most people have no concept of the idea of Making Stuff Up. Or else they think that it's something only kids do, and that grownups who do it are somehow suspect.

So either they believe that every story is the record of a deep hidden truth, or they believe that stories aren't actually made by human beings at all, but are the naturally occurring fruit of the fiction tree.

(Offstage sound of personal ox being gored....)