A man and woman meet on a dating app. They see each other for a few months. Then an argument over politics reveals that the man is a convicted felon who served 24 years for murder.
You'd think it were fiction if it wasn't entered in a personal essay competition. And more surprising than the plot twist is that the essay-titled "Killer Punchline: Comedy-tragedy in the Dating World"-is funny.
A lifelong writer, Katie Love's résumé features a good many years as a corporate copywriter and freelance journalist, as well as a screenwriter and memoirist. She has explored the ins and outs of storytelling from every angle and has a feel for when something will reach out and grip an audience with both hands.
So, a year after that ill-fated romance ended and Katie found herself bursting into tears retelling the story to a fellow comedy writer, she thought, Maybe there's something here.
"When I think about my very early writings, from English class in, you know, seventh grade, the hero always won, but wow, did they have a tough time!" Love says, "... so I've always written from a place of comedy-tragedy. Those two balls are always in the air."
She acknowledges that there's a delicate balance between writing a funny essay about a disastrous relationship and honoring the fact that this man is a real person with a real past, no matter how complicated, and that there was a very real victim. She discusses how she overcame her fear of upsetting those she was writing about while she drafted her memoir, Two Tickets to Paradise: From Cult to Comedy.
"You have to be extremely careful about writing from a narrative place that would live inside someone else's heart, someone else's experience, someone else's mindset," she says.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Writing for a Warming World - Imagining the overwhelming, the ubiquitous, the world-shattering.
Climate change is one of those topics that can throw novelists—and everyone else—into a fearful and cowering silence. When the earth is losing its familiar shapes and consolations, changing drastically and in unpredictable ways beneath our feet, how can we summon our creative resources to engage in the imaginative world-building required to write a novel that takes on these threats in compelling ways? And how to avoid writing fiction that addresses irreversible climate change without letting our prose get too preachy, overly prescriptive, saturated with despair?
Kids' Author Meg Medina Inspires Readers
WD chats with the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.
The Horrors of Grief
Whether hot off the presses or on the shelves for years, a good book is worth talking about.
The Mystery of Growing Up
New York Times-bestselling author Jasmine Warga tackles a new genre with her signature blend of empathy for her readers, agency for her characters, and the belief that art is the great connector.
Education
Even if it's not your thing, you're probably familiar with the term dark academia.
A Do-Over Romance
Karin Patton, the first-place winner of the 24th Annual Writer's Digest Short Short Story Awards, shares a funny story about secondchance love and a brief Q&A.
Everyday Wonder
How to mine awe from the mundane
From Ordinary to Extraordinary
Unveil the hidden beauty in the facts and transform your nonfiction with the power of wonder.
Childhood: Our Touchstone for Wonder
How to get in touch with Little You and create big new work for today.
Agent Roundup
22 agents share details, about what kind of writing will pique their interest and offer tips for querying writers...
