The poet may say or sing, not as things were, but as they ought to have been; but the historian must pen them, not as they ought to have been, but as they really were.

Some accounts are allowed to improve on events and some are not, and the harm comes from mixing the two without saying which you are doing. When you tell somebody what happened, the obligation is accuracy, including the parts that make a worse story. When you are imagining how things might be, accuracy is not the point.

Notice the story you have been telling about a recent episode and ask which kind it is. If you are reporting, take out the tidying: the line you wish you had said, the motive assigned afterwards. Keep the improved version for planning what to do next time.