History Main / LifeEmbellished

* Simply put, ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}'' shows how this trope isn't always a good idea if the author lacks the necessary maturity and restraint. It's essentially pure WishFulfillment, with the characters either being the author, stand ins for the author, {{satellite love interest}}s, and strawman versions of the author's real life enemies.

* Bill Bryson's apocryphal friend "Stephen Katz" is an example of this, to the extent that the "real" or at least, "real person generally regarded as the inspiration" is reported not to be too happy about the portrayal.

* ''Webcomic/{{Comedity}}'' veers off into the wild blue yonder on occasion, but has a certain amount of grounding in its creator's life. One of the most notable changes? Alice, the RobotGirl, is his ''computer'' in real life.

* ''Look At The Harlequins!'' by Creator/VladimirNabokov.
* ''Lunar Park'' by Creator/BretEastonEllis.

* ''Webcomic/HangInThereKogasasan'' by ''Mizuki Hitoshi'' chronicles the misadventures of married doujin artists Kogasa Tatara and Sanae Kochiya from ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' and their lives during jobs, conventions and lots and lots of eating. The WebComic is also Mizuki's dairy, with lots of RuleOfFunny added to make the stories more interesting.

* Film meta-example: In the movie ''Film/BigFish'', Will Bloom grows up thinking that his father's stories about his life are absolutely true. As an adult, he comes to believe they're a complete fiction, based on the sheer number of improbabilities and impossibilities contained therein. While his father is on his deathbed, he comes to discover that the truth is somewhere in between -- that they're simply his life embellished.
* Creator/StevenMoffat and Sue Vertue, the husband-and-wife team behind ''Series/{{Coupling}}'', have [[WordOfGod said]] that the relationship of Steve and Susan (ahem) in the show is loosely based on the early stages of their own relationship. Similarly, Moffat's earlier sitcom ''Series/JokingApart'' is based of the fallout of his first marriage. He has described ''Coupling'' as "my life as told by a drunk". Parts of ''Joking Apart'' were clearly recycled for ''Coupling'' (and Moffat's ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances "The Doctor Dances"]], oddly).

* Jhonen Vasquez did a three-page comic in which he described his life, and how it was unlike Johnny C's life. It was embellished because, as he confessed, the scene wherein he flies out of his castle to buy a slushie from the devil didn't actually happen during a full moon.

* ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'' is a television show starring the band Flight Of The Conchords. The main characters are pretty much what the guys are actually like. About the only really fantastic elements of the show are all in the music videos, and those are usually symbolic.

* The Van de Kamps on ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' are based on creator Marc Cherry's family, with Cherry taking the comparison so far as to kill off Rex at the end of the first season despite him being one of the most popular characters, entirely because Cherry's father died at the same age. Another incident taken straight from real life are Bree's first words to Andrew (Cherry's own counterpart) upon his coming out of the closet: "I'd love you even if you were a murderer!" Though given some of the things that have happened since that first season, including Andrew becoming pretty much pure evil for a while, one would hope not everything is true to life.

* This is the setting of the ''Radio/APrairieHomeCompanion'' segment "News From Lake Wobegon" - the narrator Garrison Keillor making up exaggerated tales about his (fictional) hometown and the EccentricTownsfolk that live there. There's no sci-fi or fantasy elements, but it has the same "not quite real" feeling.
* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' has elements of this; many of the episodes were based on personal stories of the writers, and the title character is a fictionalized version of the actor who plays him.
** It's even more prevalent in ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'', where ''Seinfeld'''s co-creator, Creator/LarryDavid plays himself, and the supporting cast also includes several celebrities playing themselves.

* ''Film/GiveMyRegardsToBroadStreet'' has this InUniverse and may have had it absolutely.
* ''Film/AHardDaysNight'' was LifeEmbellished; only a few bits of absurdity kept it from being a Journal Film.
* The comic ''Comicbook/{{Rocky}}'' is autobiographical, but is often fictionalized for laughs.
* ''WebAnimation/EddsWorld'' played straight, including animated shorts based off the comics featuring the main characters voiced by their real-life counterparts.

* ''Literature/DonQuixote'': [[AuthorAvatar Ruy Pérez de Viedma]] relates all his biography in ''“The story of the Captive Captain”''. He was a handsome captive captain who wanted to escape the Moors and was helped by a Zoraida, a beautiful moor princess who wanted to convert to Christianity, organized a successful evasion to Spain, was well received by his powerful and rich relatives and married Zoraida. Cervantes (the author) was a captive who failed all his evasion intents, his family paid his rescue and always was an ImpoverishedPatrician.

* Scott Adams began writing ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' when he was employed at Pacific Bell, and some of the early strips are not-so-embellished portrayals of his own encounters with his bosses.

* ''VideoGame/{{Segagaga}}'' is a video game example, Creator/{{SEGA}}'s loose autobiography of its years as a console manufacturer competing against the UsefulNotes/PlayStation, albeit with WritingAroundTrademarks. "Loose," by the way, as in the programmers become feral and turn into monsters due to being overworked, the video game characters are real and both work on the games and perform in them a la ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', and the Sony analogue, recognizing SEGA as a threat, attempts to [[DeathFromAbove destroy them from outer space]].

* The main premise of ''[[http://damonk.com/ Framed!!!]]'' was that a character which Damonk had created had gotten out of control and had trapped Damonk in his own comic along with several of his friends.
* Greg Dean's ''Webcomic/RealLifeComics'' indulged in this more in its early years, such as a strip where Greg goes on a date with [[Manga/AhMyGoddess Belldandy]]; its absolute peak was probably Tony and his then-girlfriend's dispute about Western vs. Eastern HumongousMecha turning into an actual fight between fight between a {{TabletopGame/Battletech}} 'Mech and [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Eva Unit-00]]. Over time this element has faded away a good deal and it's mostly just autobiographical, but when it comes to [[EvilGenius Tony]] all bets are off.
* ''[[http://green-avenger.com/ The Green Avenger]]'' is an autobiographical / superhero comic.

* TV example: Creator/StevenMoffat and Sue Vertue, the husband-and-wife team behind ''Series/{{Coupling}}'', have [[WordOfGod said]] that the relationship of Steve and Susan (ahem) in the show is loosely based on the early stages of their own relationship. Similarly, Moffat's earlier sitcom ''Series/JokingApart'' is based of the fallout of his first marriage. He has described ''Coupling'' as "my life as told by a drunk". Parts of ''Joking Apart'' were clearly recycled for ''Coupling'' (and Moffat's ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances "The Doctor Dances"]], oddly).

* Greg Dean has even ''called'' his comic ''Webcomic/RealLifeComics''.
** By his own admission, Dean has gotten a little out there (such as an early story where Tony and his then-current girlfriend's debate over Western vs Eastern mecha turns into an actual {{TabletopGame/Battletech}} versus Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion fight), but he tries to keep things relatively normal. All bets are off when it comes to [[EvilGenius Tony]], though.

* The first year of ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' was this kind of strip, but as time went by it got too "embellished."

{{Webcomics}} are pretty informal. All you need is an idea, a modicum of artistic talent, and somewhere on the internet to host it. And hey, there are [[http://www.comicgenesis.com plenty]] [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com of]] [[http://www.smackjeeves.com sites]] to help you with the the latter. And all [[HomePage the expanses of popular culture]] to inspire you with the rest.

-->--''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''

* In newspaper comics, the original four main characters of ''ForBetterOrForWorse'' were based on creator Lynn Johnston, her husband, her son and her daughter, and were all named after the middle names of their real-life counterparts. April, the last child, is the embellishment and possibly the third child Johnston wanted.

* ''{{Overcompensating}}'' calls itself "a 100% true journal comic about things that actually happen". According to his, the average day in Jeffrey Rowland's life involves meeting God, complaining about internet slang to "The GØd of the Internets", fighting a T-Rex (or daring Jesus to do it for him) and chatting with fellow webcomic-author [[ScaryGoRound John Allison]], who is apparently a [[BritishStuffiness stuffy British]] superhero.
* The first year of ''SomethingPositive'' was this kind of strip, but as time went by it got too "embellished."

* ''FlightOfTheConchords'' is a television show starring the band Flight Of The Conchords. The main characters are pretty much what the guys are actually like. About the only really fantastic elements of the show are all in the music videos, and those are usually symbolic.

* The Van de Kamps on ''DesperateHousewives'' are based on creator Marc Cherry's family, with Cherry taking the comparison so far as to kill off Rex at the end of the first season despite him being one of the most popular characters, entirely because Cherry's father died at the same age. Another incident taken straight from real life are Bree's first words to Andrew (Cherry's own counterpart) upon his coming out of the closet: "I'd love you even if you were a murderer!" Though given some of the things that have happened since that first season, including Andrew becoming pretty much pure evil for a while, one would hope not everything is true to life.

* ''EverydayHeroes'' is set in Indianapolis. Mr. Mighty drives down Keystone Avenue to his job in the "Vonnegut Building" (Regions Bank Building); his daughter attends "Washington Central" (North Central) High School, home of the "WildCats" (Panthers); the characters go to lunch at a deli suspiciously like Shapiro's, etc.

** It's even more prevalent in ''CurbYourEnthusiasm'', where ''Seinfeld'''s co-creator, Creator/LarryDavid plays himself, and the supporting cast also includes several celebrities playing themselves.
* {{Enjuhneer}} subscribes heavily to this trope.

* ''Lunar Park'' by BretEastonEllis.
* ''GiveMyRegardsToBroadStreet'' has this InUniverse and may have had it absolutely.
* AHardDaysNight was LifeEmbellished; only a few bits of absurdity kept it from being a Journal Film.

* EddsWorld played straight, including animated shorts based off the comics featuring the main characters voiced by their real-life counterparts.
* TerrifyingMonsters is mostly autobiographical, but the author and his friends are all represented as giant monsters.
* Arthur's [[ShowWithinAShow strip-within-a-strip]] in ''ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'', with the embellishments based on Paul Gadzikowski's old ''Infinity Labs'' LifeEmbellished strip.

* [[http://atcomic.com/ AceroTiburon's comics]] are based on Antonia's real life experiences as part of the anime fandom, except with catgirls, cameos from {{Naruto}} characters, a few [[OriginalCharacter OCs]] and MundaneFantastic elements.

** By his own admission, Dean has gotten a little out there (such as an early story where Tony and his then-current girlfriend's debate over Western vs Eastern mecha turns into an actual {{Battletech}} versus Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion fight), but he tries to keep things relatively normal. All bets are off when it comes to [[EvilGenius Tony]], though.

* The sideplots in ''Webcomic/KitNKayBoodle'' involve the artist and his girlfriend engaging in disturbing sexual activities with their parents. (No actual ParentalIncest has happened as such, but the girlfriend's mother watched the couple have sex and then had cybersex with the artist's father in front of them and their friends.) A lot of critics sincerely hope that the emphasis is on the "Embellished".

* ''PennyArcade'''s authors admit that Gabe and Tycho's adventures are sometimes extremely embellished versions of their own lives, but that they weren't originally intended to be literal {{Author Avatar}}s until their fandom grew huge and [[SureWhyNot began referring to them that way]].

* ''MacHall'', named after the dorm Ian lived in at the time.

* ''{{Comedity}}'' veers off into the wild blue yonder on occasion, but has a certain amount of grounding in its creator's life. One of the most notable changes? Alice, the RobotGirl, is his ''computer'' in real life.

* Shin Goji from ''TwistedKaijuTheater'' Every of the Toxic Pirates are based off of his friends. He also admits that Shin in the comic is what he'd be like if he could get away with the same stuff without going to jail. Though sometimes, they get too embellished for humor. Like when Space Hojo is revealed to be Nyarlothotep.

* Simply put, ''{{Sonichu}}'' shows how this trope isn't always a good idea if the author lacks the necessary maturity and restraint. It's essentially pure WishFulfillment, with the characters either being the author, stand ins for the author, {{satellite love interest}}s, and strawman versions of the author's real life enemies.
* In ''{{Megatokyo}}'', many of the characters are based on the two original creators and their friends. However, that's about where the similarities of the creators' lives ends, but Piro still uses the character designs for his character and his wife's character as {{Author Avatar}}s for them in {{omake}}.
** Megatokyo basically started off as "{{Author Avatar}}s visit Japan and get stuck" but very soon began moving further and further from reality, even before the CerebusSyndrome took hold.
* The sideplots in KitNKayBoodle involve the artist and his girlfriend engaging in disturbing sexual activities with their parents. (No actual ParentalIncest has happened as such, but the girlfriend's mother watched the couple have sex and then had cybersex with the artist's father in front of them and their friends.) A lot of critics sincerely hope that the emphasis is on the "Embellished".

* ''{{Seinfeld}}'' has elements of this; many of the episodes were based on personal stories of the writers, and the title character is a fictionalized version of the actor who plays him.

* TV example: Creator/StevenMoffat and Sue Vertue, the husband-and-wife team behind ''{{Coupling}}'', have [[WordOfGod said]] that the relationship of Steve and Susan (ahem) in the show is loosely based on the early stages of their own relationship. Similarly, Moffat's earlier sitcom JokingApart is based of the fallout of his first marriage. He has described ''Coupling'' as "my life as told by a drunk".
** Parts of ''Joking Apart'' were clearly recycled for ''{{Coupling}}'' (and Moffat's ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E10TheDoctorDances The Doctor Dances]]", oddly).

* TV example: StevenMoffat and Sue Vertue, the husband-and-wife team behind ''{{Coupling}}'', have [[WordOfGod said]] that the relationship of Steve and Susan (ahem) in the show is loosely based on the early stages of their own relationship. Similarly, Moffat's earlier sitcom JokingApart is based of the fallout of his first marriage. He has described ''Coupling'' as "my life as told by a drunk".

The result is that an author is often pretty laid back about where exactly the line between RealLife and TheVerse lies. We're talking about things past AuthorAvatar here. Way, way, past RealitySubtext. We're talking a protagonist whose name is the same as the author's ScreenName, and who has the same attitudes and interests (except that he also has [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes Impossibly Cool Hair]]). [[WriteWhatYouKnow We're talking a supporting cast that strikingly resembles the author's friends]], except that they're always funny and one of them is probably a talking animal or something. We're talking about how they attend a WackyCollege that seems identical to the one the author attends, except that the unpopular teacher is some kind of Orc or Robot and there's a [[WeirdnessMagnet portal to another universe]] in the basement.

* QuestionableContent takes place in modern-day Northampton, Mass., but with fully sentient AIs and robots, which function as anything from something like a pet to being a legal citizen[[note]]Earlier in the comic, AIs only existed as "Anthro [=PCs=]", tiny robots which functioned as a companion and a personal computer. Later, other AI characters were introduced, one of whom got a humanoid chassis and a job, and later one was seen to own a fortune's worth of shares in the company at which he works[[/note]]. Also, space stations are more widely used.

->'''Calvin''': Well, you know what historical fiction is? This is sort of like that. I'm writing a fictional autobiography. It's the story of my life, but with a lot of parts completely made up.
->'''Hobbes''': Why would you make up your own life?
->'''Calvin''': Because in'' my ''book [[IncendiaryExponent I have a flamethrower!]]
-->--''CalvinAndHobbes''

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* Bill Bryson's apocryphal friend "Stephen Katz" is an example of this, to the extent that the "real" or at least, "real person generally regarded as the inspiration" is reported not to be too happy about the portrayal

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* QuestionableContent takes place in modern-day Northampton, Mass., but with fully sentient AIs and robots, which function as anything from something like a pet to being a legal citizen[[hottip:*:Earlier in the comic, AIs only existed as "Anthro [=PCs=]", tiny robots which functioned as a companion and a personal computer. Later, other AI characters were introduced, one of whom got a humanoid chassis and a job, and later one was seen to own a fortune's worth of shares in the company at which he works]]. Also, space stations are more widely used.

** By his own admission, Dean has gotten a little out there (such as an early story where Tony and his then-current girlfriend's debate over Western vs Eastern mecha turns into an actual {{Battletech}} versus NeonGenesisEvangelion fight), but he tries to keep things relatively normal. All bets are off when it comes to [[EvilGenius Tony]], though.