The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word COLOURED
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
C
O
L
O
U
R
E
D
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "factual accounts shouldn’t be this!" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case factual accounts shouldn’t be this! = coloured.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does COLOURED mean?
COLOURED verb- To give something color.
- To apply colors to the areas within the boundaries of a line drawing using colored markers or crayons.
- (of a person or their face) To become red through increased blood flow.
- To affect without completely changing.
- To attribute a quality to; to portray (as).
- To assign colors to the vertices of a graph (or the regions of a map) so that no two vertices connected by an edge (regions sharing a border) have the same color.
- A colored person.
- (laundry) A colored article of clothing.
- Having a color.
- Having a particular color or kind of color.
- Having prominent colors; colorful.
- Influenced pervasively but subtly.
- Of skin color other than white; in particular, black.
- Of neither black nor white skin color.
- Designated for use by colored people (in either the US or South African sense).