As a professor of English at Diablo Valley College in northern California where she teaches a variety of writing and literature courses, the author finds her students' essays so often lack not only shape and drama, but the ring of emotional truth as well. Their "life" stories are lifeless and their "true" stories sound somehow false. Over the years, the author has developed some strategies to tease out of the corners and into the open the genuine, compelling stories the students want to tell. In this article, the author presents strategies to help students breathe life into their personal narratives by, on the one hand, encouraging them to find the "truth" of their stories and, on the other, encouraging them to play a little fast and a little loose with that truth. (Contains 4 notes.)