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Perhaps it's easier to put yourself in the shoes of someone that you know is real (or based on a real person).  Be honest, would "Catch Me if You Can" be half as cool if it wasnt based on a real person?

Also, on the flip side of that, think about how violent the reaction is when authors who claim to have written autobiographical pieces are revealed to be lying.  That guy who wrote "A Million Little Pieces," which Oprah promoted, and then it turned out to be only semi-true and she burned him on national television.  Or that guy who wrote "A Child Called It," and then it turned out he had stolen stories from other people who had lived in abusive households.