The Joy of Finding the 'Real Person'

“My joy as a writer is circling around and around and down and down to find out who the real person is. “ – Jill McCorkle

Born in North Carolina on this date in 1958, McCorkle is an award-winning short story writer and professor of creative writing at North Carolina State University.   Winner of the Dos Passos Prize – given annually to a writer in the middle of his or her career who is deemed to be “under-recognized for his/her life’s work” – McCorkle is a frequent speaker at regional and national book and author events.  

Adhering to the  “Write What You Know” adage, she noted, “I always tell my students, 'If you walk around with your eyes and ears open, you can't possibly live long enough to write all the novels you'll encounter’.”  

 

Among her best -known works are Going Away Shoes; Final Vinyl Days & Other Stories; and Life After Life, a poignant tale about residents in a North Carolina retirement facility.

“For me, a happy ending is not everything works out just right and there is a big bow,” she said about her stories.  “It's more coming to a place where a person has a clear vision of his or her own life in a way that enables them to kind of throw down their crutches and walk.”

Share A Writer’s Moment with a friend or forward the link: http://writersmoment.blogspot.com