Truth vs. Fiction by Jim Breslin
I heard this true story on the radio last week. A woman called a locally produced show that focuses on psychology. The topic was “dealing with loss during the Thanksgiving holiday.” This woman gave the following details.
Three years ago, the woman woke up Thanksgiving morning and started preparing the big traditional dinner for the extended family that would be visiting. At ten-thirty in the morning, she went into the bedroom and found her mother had died in her sleep. Obviously, this was quite a shock. Family was driving in from far away, so it was rather tough to decide what to do, but she made the decision to proceed with the dinner. The first guests began arriving as the ambulance was pulling out of the driveway. The deceased woman owned a cockatoo that she adored, but the rest of the family hated the bird. The family spent the Thanksgiving afternoon reminiscing about the mother, who was also a grandmother, and how she had made them laugh through the years. The family joked about serving the cockatoo instead of turkey for dinner. While they were obviously saddened by the untimely death, they took the opportunity to celebrate the woman’s life.
The woman was composed as she told the story on the radio. It was a marvelous story of dealing with grief. There wasn’t much more to it, but the story very much moved me.
My first thought was, “who is this woman? And will she come to our local story slam to tell this story?” Good stories all have a seed of truth, a moment of inspiration from every day life, or a question that’s asked, generally “what if?”
I’ve been thinking about why this simple story appealed to me, and it’s possibly the combination of sorrow and humor. The unpredictability of death. The timing of the ambulance pulling out as family arrives. The thought of the hated cockatoo surviving the beloved grandmother. There’s a yin and a yang to the story. Over the past few days, I wondered how a fiction writer could change the details of this story but keep the same humor and melancholy tone of the real story this woman told? A different holiday? A different type of bird?
As far as I can tell, none of this works. In the end, some of the true stories in life are even more interesting than fiction.
Update on my last #amwriting post - my last post was about the launch of Chester County Fiction, an anthology of thirteen serious fiction writers in my local community. As the publisher, and one of the authors, I was thrilled that the book broke even financially in less than two weeks and has proven to be a popular gift for local book lovers. The local independent bookshops are carrying it and we’ve had several fun and well-attended events. You can read about our launch here and scroll up to see our book trailer. It's been a thrill to work with my talented friends who are writers, editors, graphic designers and photographers to put this project together. Have you thought of a local book movement?
Three years ago, the woman woke up Thanksgiving morning and started preparing the big traditional dinner for the extended family that would be visiting. At ten-thirty in the morning, she went into the bedroom and found her mother had died in her sleep. Obviously, this was quite a shock. Family was driving in from far away, so it was rather tough to decide what to do, but she made the decision to proceed with the dinner. The first guests began arriving as the ambulance was pulling out of the driveway. The deceased woman owned a cockatoo that she adored, but the rest of the family hated the bird. The family spent the Thanksgiving afternoon reminiscing about the mother, who was also a grandmother, and how she had made them laugh through the years. The family joked about serving the cockatoo instead of turkey for dinner. While they were obviously saddened by the untimely death, they took the opportunity to celebrate the woman’s life.
The woman was composed as she told the story on the radio. It was a marvelous story of dealing with grief. There wasn’t much more to it, but the story very much moved me.
My first thought was, “who is this woman? And will she come to our local story slam to tell this story?” Good stories all have a seed of truth, a moment of inspiration from every day life, or a question that’s asked, generally “what if?”
I’ve been thinking about why this simple story appealed to me, and it’s possibly the combination of sorrow and humor. The unpredictability of death. The timing of the ambulance pulling out as family arrives. The thought of the hated cockatoo surviving the beloved grandmother. There’s a yin and a yang to the story. Over the past few days, I wondered how a fiction writer could change the details of this story but keep the same humor and melancholy tone of the real story this woman told? A different holiday? A different type of bird?
As far as I can tell, none of this works. In the end, some of the true stories in life are even more interesting than fiction.
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Update on my last #amwriting post - my last post was about the launch of Chester County Fiction, an anthology of thirteen serious fiction writers in my local community. As the publisher, and one of the authors, I was thrilled that the book broke even financially in less than two weeks and has proven to be a popular gift for local book lovers. The local independent bookshops are carrying it and we’ve had several fun and well-attended events. You can read about our launch here and scroll up to see our book trailer. It's been a thrill to work with my talented friends who are writers, editors, graphic designers and photographers to put this project together. Have you thought of a local book movement?
