<p>IMO, you shouldn’t go over the limit of reasonable story-embellishment. We all know the scenario of our grandparents “walking to school in the snow, uphill both ways.” All stories tend to become more impressive and dramatic as time passes. This is acceptable as long as your prized fish was really 4 lbs after reeling it in, but in the essay it was a whopping 12 lbs. Assuming of course your main message and point remains the same. The added fluff is just insignificant and to make the reader pay close attention. What is NOT ok, is when you really go fishing for 10 minutes, get bored, and come home in reality…but write an essay about going fishing and catching the monstrous fish after an hour battle, while bonding with Aunt Suzie or w/e message you want to portray. Hope that made some sense.</p>