Guest Bloggers

Begin with the low hanging fruit.

Guest Blogger Jan Ellison talks about truth in short stories and novels. Years ago, when the first short story I published was included in the 2007 O. Henry Prize anthology, I was standing out front of my kids’ school when a woman I hardly knew poked her head out of her car to say that she’d only read the first paragraph, but would I be willing to tell her how much of my short story was true? It was the first time the question had been posed to me, and I had no idea how to answer it. Did she only want to read the story if it was “true,” or if it was not? Sometimes the question comes in other forms. What gave rise to the novel? What was the inspiration for your story? Is it autobiographical? I am as guilty of wanting answers to those questions as any…