"When I start trying to make choices about what to reveal or conceal, it just doesn't work. When I try to keep [the personal] out, it gets in anyway, or the book will refuse to be written."
"I didn't have an adopted sister, I didn't know anybody that had killed themselves, but my stepsister died by suicide - is the simplest way to describe it - after I had finished the book."
"It's terrifying for something to possess a voice. It's terrifying to have disclosures on a page. That even though they're through a fictional character, it somehow reflects something about you."
Catherine Lacey views fiction as a means to uncover personal truths, stating that attempts to conceal personal elements often fail. Her debut novel, 'Nobody Is Ever Missing,' reflects this, as it unintentionally mirrored her life experiences, particularly the loss of her stepsister to suicide. Lacey acknowledges the emotional challenges of creating authentic characters and recognizes that when her writing resonates emotionally, it indicates success. She finds the process of revealing personal disclosures through fiction both terrifying and essential to her creative expression.
Read at Harvard Gazette
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