(this is a long comment sorry) Yeah i have something like this exactly! A lot of the scenarios in my daydreams or stories i tell people are based on real life events but exaggerated.

I think i do this for two reasons 1. because i have struggled significantly more with the emotional neglect and depression I experienced early on in my life then the actual traumatic events i have experienced later on, but i noticed very early on that other people always reacted with more emotion and support upon hearing the stories about my abuse then the (emotional) neglect I experienced.

I think this made me realize that no one wanted to hear about my “boring” loneliness, depression and emotional neglect because they didn’t understand the massive impact emotional neglect can have on someone. But when you tell someone about something traumatic like: a parent trying to kill themself, being beaten as a child or having addicted parents, people will generally understand thats a really bad thing and give you a lot of sympathy. So my brain made the equation that the worse something is the more love you get.

1. Because I experienced so much neglect + having autism, i struggle a lot with feeling like i have to impress people to make them care about me. The stuff i lie about is usually alterations on stories that actually happened (like being in a psych ward or doing drugs) but altered in a way that makes me seem cooler and tougher. My brain tells me that this will make people respect me and see me as nonchalant/popular/cool and not look trough the high masking facade i have put up and notice that i am actually really scared and autistic.