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"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Difference between revisions
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* "I am not making this up" is a [[Catch Phrase]] of humor writer [[Dave Barry]]; he even named one of his books ''Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up''. Although sometimes [[Blatant Lies|he is anyway]]. On occasion, when he's reporting something genuine but really ridiculous, he'll say something like "I'm pretty sure I must have made this up."
* In [https://web.archive.org/web/20110319220609/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cache-and-carry one column], Steve Mirsky uses the phrase "I'm not kidding, that's the actual plot." after summarizing ''[[Relentless]]''.
* ''Discworld'':
** In the Author's Note at the end of ''[[
** In
* The author's note/introduction to the [[Stephen King]] story collection ''[[Hearts in Atlantis]]'', in a section that includes the usual "this is a work of fiction" disclaimer, also contains the line "Although it is difficult to believe, the sixties are not fictional; they actually happened."
* Inverted in ''[[Complete World Knowledge]]''. Each books starts with a reminder that John Hodgman ''is'' making this up. Although he has insisted that one blurb on the back of [[The Areas of My Expertise|the first book]], a letter of praise from a magus of the Church of Satan, is, in fact, genuine, although Hodgman himself is not a Satanist.
* [[Mary Renault]] wrote in the novel ''Funeral Games'' that Alexander the Great's body didn't decompose during the 48 hours following his death even though he had died in Babylon during a heat wave. Critics accused Renault of falling prey to the modern Eastern Orthodox myth of the "incorruptible saint". Renault pointed out in an author's note to the second edition that the story of Alexander's incorruptibility is part of the historical record, and was likely the result of his troops mistaking a profound pre-death coma for actual death. This kind of thing happened all the time with Renault's works, with the critics screeching in rage about things ''she got right'' because they weren't in accordance with conventional politically correct (for the '50s) wisdom.
* In the "Caveat, and Warning for Travelers" that opens the novel ''[[American Gods]]'', [[Neil Gaiman]] states the following: "Furthermore, it goes without saying that all of the people, living, dead, and otherwise in this story are fictional or used in a fictional context. Only the gods are real."
** Of course, at least one of the main ones was completely made up for the book.
* The opening of ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' opens with a fictional "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Although Tom Sawyer is not a real person, the book is told from Huck Finn's perspective, and therefore Tom ''is'' real to the narrator (because they are from the same universe). Huck breaks the fourth wall to acknowledge that "[''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer''] was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth .
* Neil Strauss does this at the beginning of [[The Game (novel)|The Game]]. He would have to because no one would believe the crazy events and people that he wrote about in the book.
* In the ''Orphanage / Jason Wander'' series by Robert Buettner, in the second book ''Orphan's Destiny'', the main character quotes "I am not making this up". It almost has to be a deliberate nod to [[Dave Barry]], as it occurs in Florida and is in reference to orange juice and space-industry politics.
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