Although the much-lauded Atlantic Monthly Fiction Issue always features excellent contemporary fiction (thus the title), what often goes unnoticed is the essays that are also included. For my purposes, sometimes they are worth the price of the magazine alone.
This issue is no exception: Bret Anthony Johnston of Harvard's writing program offers some fantastic insights into separating the real from the true by avoiding that ancient fiction trope of “Write what you know.” His examples and metaphors are perfect for the task, for instance:
Instead of thinking of my experiences as structures I wanted to erect in fiction, I started conceiving of them as the scaffolding that would be torn down once the work was complete. I took small details from my life to evoke a place and the people who inhabit it, but those details served to illuminate my imagination. Before, I’d forced my fiction to conform to the contours of my life; now I sought out any and every point where a plot could be rerouted away from what I’d known. The shift was seismic. My confidence waned, but my curiosity sprawled.
If you’re called to write fiction, then this is a must-read piece.
