Acknowledge your gratitude for something from your life that has inspired your work. Maybe it’s something good; somewhat more likely, it’s a conflict, a problem, a person you have a complex relationship to. Then do reality a solid and change something substantial, putting distance between the source of inspiration and the version you’ve written. Make that brother a banker, not a painter. Set the scene of the trauma in the woods, not the beach. If you’re working in autofiction and don’t want to make things untrue, consider a mashup of two true things, combining elements of both to give rise to an authentic moment that is nonetheless a hybrid — and very much your own. Why do this? It will free you up, let you see things differently, and, by allowing you to choose what you’re changing it to, it will free you from the constraints of your memory, putting you in fuller control of your fictional universe.