'Shimmer' is not strictly autobiographical," Mr. O'Keefe said.

The fictional town of Mohawk owes much to his own boyhood in upstate Gloversville, N.Y., but Mr. Russo said his books are not strictly autobiographical.

This theme is revealed in the only strictly autobiographical event in any of Mr. Guare's plays.

Martel said, "The film isn't strictly autobiographical, but what I put in it is my personal experience in life, my memories.

He has resisted the label of 'storyteller' and insists that his songs are not strictly autobiographical; "they come from imagining someone in a particular situation.

Marriott of The New York Times (in 1997) believed his lyrics were not strictly autobiographical and wrote he "had a knack for exaggeration that increased sales".

But this is far from saying that his characters are strictly autobiographical.

Perhaps it is the magic of memoirs, which, though they may seem to cover the same material, differ greatly from even strictly autobiographical fiction.

"Shimmer is not strictly autobiographical," O'Keefe says.

He insists, however, that the songs were not strictly autobiographical.