Fictional reality

So I finished reading part four of the Vinyl Cafe series last night. That volume is called Vinyl Cafe Diaries, or something like that. It's divided into 4 sections, each focusing on stories related to one of the main characters: parents Dave & Morely, and children Stephanie and Sam. At the beginning of each part are a few pages supposedly written by the character themselves, commenting on what they think about their lives being featured in a series of novels and radio shows.

These bits are told so precisely in character that I found it only natural to assume they were, like the rest of the book, made up by Stuart McLean. Until a funny thing happened: I read the appendix. These end notes were by McLean explaining that, though all the names are false, there is a real family out there somewhere upon whom all of the adventures are based. And the real people actually wrote those forewards to their sections! Of course all of the stories are tweaked and altered, having things added and taken out. Some happened to other families, and some are primarily from McLean's imagination, but the majority of them really happened to Dave and his household.

Egads, playing with my mind!