The trick to writing a story

The trick, I sometimes think, to writing a story is not necessarily just to get it written down. Stories can pour forth in voluminous quantities, especially when they find their source in deep places. The sheer onslaught becomes a torrent, unstoppable in its force, and prone to setting its own course.

“At some point, my writer's brain started to whisper a mantra...”

Make it a simple story about hope.

Make it a story about human resilience.

Make it a story where people still laugh, brush their teeth, still fall in love, a story where people redeem one another by small gestures, a story where people have no choice but to keep going in the face of huge tragedy and unspeakable loss.

From 'Author's Note' by Gae Polisner, in The Memory of Things