Why would anyone do this?

Good morning one and all.

My questions pertains to an article in the New York Times about a writer, Margaret B. Jones, that wrote a false memoir.

She thought it would be valuable to voice other people's stories. People that society doesn't listen to. OK, fair enough, but if that really was her motivation why didn't she write a non-fiction book and site her sources. Wouldn't that have been far more valuable for the people whose voices she was trying to get people to hear?

By taking credit for it all as her own experience she not only lied to A LOT of people, but she ruined her credibility as a writer and a person.

It was Ms. Seltzer's (that's her real name) sister that told on her. Imagine!

I just don't get it. Did she not think she was important enough or experienced enough in life to tell her own story?

She could have written a fiction book with a lot of the same details in it and would have been fine.

I think it's pretty sad.

Somewhere inside of herself she must have known people would find out--that everyone would find out.

She even said, "maybe it's an ego thing..."

That's a pretty twisted ego!