As D'Agata and Fingal discuss the various liberties taken during the composition of the original text, the discourse leads to explorations of the importance of narrative flow in non-fiction and the role of fact checking when writing creatively about true events.

[3] D'Agata's 2003 essay "What Happens There" examines the culture of suicide in Las Vegas, Nevada following the 2002 death of sixteen year old Levi Presley.

This essay was originally commissioned in 2003 by Harper's Magazine, but was pulled from publication after the author and editors disagreed about D'Agata's literary approach.

[6] After D'Agata's essay was accepted by The Believer, Jim Fingal (a recent Harvard graduate who majored in English) was assigned to fact-check the work.

[11] In October 2018, The Lifespan of a Fact was adapted into a Broadway play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale.