This story began with a problem. As a historian, I was used to tracing an issue over a period of time, sometime for decades or even longer. How could you do this for a single person in a short story? I thought I’d try focusing on three crucial turning-points in a person’s life. And so, Gran came into being. There’s also a sort of pun in the title: Gran’s story is the narrative of her life, but it’s also a story in the simpler sense of the word: so it’s something that can be told by another person, and which could therefore live on after her death.
‘Gran’s Story’ was first published in October 2023 in Dog’s ASP Literary Journal.
https://www.asppublishing.co.uk/copy-of-asp-literary-journal-issue-9