I like how a lot of your fiction starts out like memoir. I never know if it’s fiction or non-fiction until I get to the narrator’s name or gender. (I think this is a good thing.)
Just finished reading Demon Copperhead, and this goes well with it.
Demon Copperhead is on my TBR list - my overlong TBR list. It’s curious to me that (almost) whenever I write fiction with an overlay of memoir - in this case ‘Bobby’ is a mix of an elementary school classmate and boys I taught, with the setting pretty much where I grew up — that I write from a male voice. Still trying to figure that one out. But I’m glad you liked it!
Wow. When I finished reading this, I was convinced I'd accidentally opened someone else's true diary post in their Substack. I was completely immersed in this "anecdote" and surprised when it brought tears to my eyes (I don't normally tear up over writing). Beautifully done, Marian.
I loved this, Marian, and in my opinion, you sure got the details right. (I grew up with quite a lot of Bobby C's, and both my father and grandmother were teachers.)
My grandmother taught 4th grade. I have a thousand stories I could tell about her, all wonderful. Here's just one: for her funeral, my parents thought that an appropriate eulogy would be to read the letters her kids wrote to her after leaving 4th grade. Some of them wrote them in 5th grade, others when they were adults. She kept all of them. And there wasn't a dry eye in the room when my dad read them. As great a person as she was a teacher.
Bobby was based a little on one of my elementary school classmates and quite a bit on some students I taught in my 12 years of teaching high school, but transplanted to where I grew up. Write what you know was true here. Glad you liked it!
A lovely story, beautifully written, thanks for sharing.
I'm glad you liked it!
I like how a lot of your fiction starts out like memoir. I never know if it’s fiction or non-fiction until I get to the narrator’s name or gender. (I think this is a good thing.)
Just finished reading Demon Copperhead, and this goes well with it.
Demon Copperhead is on my TBR list - my overlong TBR list. It’s curious to me that (almost) whenever I write fiction with an overlay of memoir - in this case ‘Bobby’ is a mix of an elementary school classmate and boys I taught, with the setting pretty much where I grew up — that I write from a male voice. Still trying to figure that one out. But I’m glad you liked it!
Beautiful tribute to a teacher and a father. It’s a gem of writing.
Thanks!
Wow. When I finished reading this, I was convinced I'd accidentally opened someone else's true diary post in their Substack. I was completely immersed in this "anecdote" and surprised when it brought tears to my eyes (I don't normally tear up over writing). Beautifully done, Marian.
Thanks, Peter!
I loved this, Marian, and in my opinion, you sure got the details right. (I grew up with quite a lot of Bobby C's, and both my father and grandmother were teachers.)
My grandmother taught 4th grade. I have a thousand stories I could tell about her, all wonderful. Here's just one: for her funeral, my parents thought that an appropriate eulogy would be to read the letters her kids wrote to her after leaving 4th grade. Some of them wrote them in 5th grade, others when they were adults. She kept all of them. And there wasn't a dry eye in the room when my dad read them. As great a person as she was a teacher.
That’s wonderful! All those lives she influenced.
Bobby was based a little on one of my elementary school classmates and quite a bit on some students I taught in my 12 years of teaching high school, but transplanted to where I grew up. Write what you know was true here. Glad you liked it!