Legal Questions about Book Writing and Publishing

If a person is writing a book of memoirs, can and should the names be changed to avoid accusations of slander? And even if the stories are true, does changing the names only make it fiction? If so, should you just make it all fiction instead of bits and pieces?

if its the truth.....


its not slander, my dear.

that is why I used the word "accusations" ...

You’re writing a book that may or may not have names changed?
I’d avoid you like the plague.
1st rule of hobby: discretion.

Discretion is exactly why I avoid hobbyists who put themselves and the ladies and the website at risk by posting information that could result in a legal investigation. I think I have cognitive dissonance.

"Cognitive dissonance is a communication theory adopted from social psychology. The title gives the concept: cognitive is thinking or the mind; and dissonance is inconsistency or conflict. Cognitive dissonance is the psychological conflict from holding two or more incompatible beliefs simultaneously."

Another way to view this is:
dissonance

Lack of agreement or harmony between people or things.
‘the party faithful might be willing to put up with such dissonance among their candidates’

Cognitive

Late 16th century: from medieval Latin cognitivus, from cognit- ‘known’, from the verb cognoscere.

Or, you don't know what you know.

Question: Does this describe something else?

How people insisting on discretion can consider it discreet to put themselves and the service providers at risk by giving detailed reviews to others when YMMV blows my comprehension.