As this question was asked in a religious category, I will try to provide some of the answers useful for judging religious stories. However, the same principles often apply to non-religious stories.
Science
If a story so contradicts accepted science that even a miracle could not explain it, then the story is fiction. An example is the first creation story in Genesis, which says that God created the light of day on day1, but did not create the sun, moon and stars until day 4. He even created plants and grass before the sun, when the temperature must have been close to absolute zero.
Parallels
If a story in the Bible closely parallels older stories from the same region, it is probably derived from those older stories and therefore really factual. For example, the story of Noah's Flood closely parallels the story of the flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Doublets and multiple versions
If there are two or more different versions of the same story in the Bible, then one or both of them must be fiction. Just a few examples:
Structure
If the story structure is so artificial that it can only have been fiction, then it was fiction. A few examples are:
Historical accuracy
If the story contains significant historical inaccuracies, then it is probably fiction. Some examples are:
In other instances, you may find sufficient reasons to believe that a particular story actually is true. Undoubtedly some stories in the Bible are true, or at least contain truth. And in some cases you will decide to suspend judgement, because a story is sufficiently credible that it might have been true, but there is no extra-biblical evidence to support it.
Since this question was placed in a religious category, this Answer will attempt to provide information useful for judging religious stories (specifically, the Hebrew Bible). However, the same principle often applies to secular stories.
Many Biblical narratives were doubted due to lack of outside evidence, and were later substantiated by Archaeology. 1) Before the late 1800s, the Hittites were known only from the Bible, and many readers said that they were fictitious.
In 1876 a dramatic discovery changed this view. A. H. Sayce, a British scholar, found inscriptions carved on rocks in Turkey. Ten years later, more clay tablets were found in Turkey at Boghaz-koy. German expert Hugo Winckler uncovered five temples, a fortified citadel and several big sculptures. Boghaz-koy turned out to have been the Hittite capital city.
2) Until recently, no evidence outside the Bible attested to King David's existence. Some people questioned his existence. In 1993, an archaeologist named Dr. Avraham Biran and his team, digging at Tell Dan, discovered a black basalt stele, containing Aramaic inscriptions. Two of the lines included the phrases "The King of Israel" and "House of David." This discovery has forced critics to reconsider their view of the historicity of the Davidic kingdom. In 1994 more pieces were found, with inscriptions referring to Jehoram, the son of Ahab, ruler over Israel, and Ahaziah, who was "The ruler over the House of David." Dr. Hershel Shanks of the Biblical Archaeological Review states, "The stele brings to life the biblical narrative in a dramatic way."
3) At one time the 39 kings of ancient Israel and Judah were known only from the Biblical books. Some readers charged fabrication. But then came to light the royal cuneiform records of many Assyrian kings, mentioning the kings of Israel and Judah, including Omri, Ahab, Jehu, Menahem, Hoshea, Pekah, Hezekiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoram and Jehoshaphat.
4) The Assyrian king Sargon was known only from the Bible account (Isaiah 20:1). This Bible verse was discounted as of no historical value. Then excavations revealed the ruins of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad, with many inscriptions. Sargon is now one of the best known of the Assyrian kings.
5) In 1934-39, excavations were conducted at ancient Mari on the Euphrates River (present-day Iraq). They found that ancient towns were named after the ancestors (Genesis ch.11) of Abraham:
The "city of Nahor" was found near the city of Haran which still exists to this day. Equally clear signs of early Hebrew residence appear in the names of other towns nearby: Serug (Assyrian Sarugi), Terah (Til Turakhi, "Mound of Terah"), and Peleg (Paliga, on the Euphrates near the mouth of the Habur).
6) Some people claimed that the Babylonian captivity never happened.
However, in 1935-38, important finds were made 30 miles from Jerusalem at a site thought to be ancient Lachish. Lachish was one of the cities recorded in the Bible as being besieged by the Babylonians at the same time as the siege of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 34:7).
Twenty-one pottery fragments were found in the latest pre-exilic levels of the site. Called the Lachish Ostraca, they were written during the Babylonian siege. Some of them are exchanges between the military commander and an outlying observation post, vividly picturing the final days of Judah's struggle against Babylon.
Since the 1930s, there has been more unearthing of Babylonian texts which describe the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The historical fact of the Babylonian captivity is now undisputed.
7) The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser the 3rd shows Jehu, king of Israel, bowing before the Assyrian king.
8) Tablets from the time of Tiglath-Pileser state that he received tribute from Jehoahaz of Judah. This is the full name of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:7).
9) A limestone relief from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh shows the siege of Lachish.
10) The cylinder of Nabonidus, last ruler of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, shows that his son Belshazzar was co-regent with him (Daniel 5; 7:1; 8:1). Some people had previously denied Belshazzar's very existence.
Archaeological finds, such as the Ugarit documents and those of Nuzu, Mari, Susa, Ebla, and Tel el-Amarna, have repeatedly caused doubters to retract specific claims. The entire social milieu portrayed in the Torah, once criticized as anachronistic, has been shown to be historically accurate, including customs of marriage, adoption, contracts, inheritance, purchases, utensils, modes of travel, people's names and titles, etc. Professor Gleason Archer Ph.D of Harvard University states: "In case after case where historical inaccuracy was alleged as proof of late and spurious authorship of the biblical documents, the Hebrew record has been vindicated by the results of recent excavation, and condemnatory judgment has been proved to be without foundation."
"Whoever wrote the narrative of Joseph was quite familiar with Egyptian life, Egyptian literature and culture. In particular he was expertly informed concerning the Egyptian royal court" (Prof. Alan Sherman).
When the French archaeologist Marcel Dieulefoy excavated Susa, he stated that the author of Esther must have been closely familiar with the details of the city and the royal palace, which by 1900 had been buried for 2300 years.
It was asked how Cyrus' famous proclamation could be dated "the year one" (Ezra 1:1), seeing as it was made in the 21st year of his reign. But then archaeologists found inscriptions stating that when Cyrus conquered Babylon, they began to count the years from that date.
Some saw as "unlikely" the royal curse in Ezra 6:12 made by Darius. But inscriptions were found in which more terrible curses were proclaimed by Assurbanipal, Sennacherib, Sargon and other kings.
Some people questioned the narrative of how the Judean king Menashe was captured by the Assyrians. But in the ruins of Kuyundshik was found an inscription by Esarhaddon, enumerating 22 foreign kings that he and Assurbanipal captured, including Menashe king of Judah.
The destruction of Sennacherib's army at the walls of Jerusalem was denied by some. But then it was found that Berosus and Herodotus both state that Sennacherib's military campaign in Judea ended in plague and defeat. It should not surprise us that the Assyrians themselves didn't record their own losses.
The existence of the Assyrian king Pul (2 Kings 15:19) was denied. But a tablet, now in the British Museum and dated the year 22 of Darius, states that Tiglat-Pileser and Pul are the same person.
It was claimed that the camel hadn't been domesticated in Abraham's time. But the Canophorin tablet, dating from 18th century BCE gives a list of fodder for camels and other household animals. And a cylinder seal from Mesopotamia, dating from the patriarchal era, shows riders sitting on camels.
The term "achol et kaspeinu" ("our money was eaten," Genesis 31:15) is spoken by Rachel and Leah concerning an inheritance from their father Laban. This term is found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Five documents have been unearthed in which 18th century BCE Akkadian marriage contracts use this exact terminology, in the same context.
The names Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Laban, Balaam and Joseph were used in the Patriarchal period and dropped out of usage thereafter. These names appear in archaeological inscriptions from that period and no later period.
Joseph is sold for twenty pieces of silver. That was the accurate price of a slave in Joseph's time, and at no other time. Slaves were cheaper beforehand, and they got increasingly expensive later. How would a later redactor know the right price?
And for those who would like a little more:
In order to determine if a story is factual or fictitious, look at the details of the story and compare them to other evidence, such as science experiments or historical archives.
Without more context, it is difficult to determine if "An Indian father's plea" is a fiction story. It could be fiction or non-fiction depending on the author and content of the story.
Fiction. From Wikipedia: "The novel is presented as a novelization of a true story, but it is in fact entirely fiction."
Beyond Belief Fact or Fiction - 1997 The FBI Story was released on: USA: 2 June 2000
It's not based on fact-made up.
Gradpoint: By noting from whose vantage point the story is being told.
It is not a true story. It is not based on fact. It is made up, not real.
It is science fiction. Science fiction generally bases a fictional story about a debatable scientific point like time travel, aliens and other disputed ideas.
Fiction it never existed. This movie was based on a true story but the details where changed and fabricated to protect identities and make the movie more dramatic and interesting.
No it's a historical fact
Fiction is based on imagination and not necessarily fact.
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is a short story written by James Thurber in 1939. It is a work of fiction and not based on a fact. The story follows the daydreams of the character Walter Mitty as he escapes the mundane reality of his life through vivid fantasies.
Gradpoint: By noting from whose vantage point the story is being told.