Tag: laura nelson
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“Elijah’s Funeral”: The story behind the story
I worked a long time on this story to make sure I got it absolutely right. I think maybe I did. The setting of the story is completely real. The Los Angeles Catholic Worker, Hennessy House and the Hippie Kitchen are all real places/institutions in Skid Row and Boyle Heights and were where I spent…
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“The universe is broken”: The story behind the story
Electric Literature does a weird thing where they give a different title to the webpages that have their stories than the story actually has and use that in their promotion for the story. A couple years ago, they did this with Elizabeth Campbell’s story, “The Big Bang” giving an alternate title of “A busted family in…
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“The Norton Anthology of Self-Destructive Behavior”: The story behind the story
This story was one that unfolded itself gradually over time. It started with the title which came to me one day during a residency for my MFA. I wrote down the title and even got so far as writing down a list of self-destructive behaviors, but put it aside for a while after that. I picked…
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“Saint Anthony in West Hollywood”: The Story Behind the Story
My newest story, “Saint Anthony in West Hollywood” is up now at The Rappahannock Review. I began with a vague notion of a saint in the modern world, or perhaps someone who was delusional and just thought he was the saint, leaving the truth purposefully indeterminate. I had no idea which saint or where. Then…