I merely meant, is your dad a history or true-crime buff that ends up seeming unimaginative and not very creative, and maybe that's why you're trying to avoid turning out like him? ;0)

I love history, for example, but sometimes I find that I love historical fiction better, because it feeds the reader information in easy-to-swallow and attractive bits and requires me to fact-check on my own, which leads to better lines of inquiry and research. Straight non-fiction history can be dry and boring and often presents too much information without imaginative framing.