Marian Crotty’s Essay “To Fund, or Not to Fund” on LitHub

In her new essay “To Fund, or Not to Fund: On Redefining What Type of Work Is Grant-Worthy,” published by LitHub, AHP author Marian Crotty explores the research she did in South Dakota that inspired stories in her recently published short story collection, Near Strangers. Of her experience, Crotty writes:

I’d researched something for every story I’d ever written and had even conducted a few interviews to make sure I got certain details right, but the research had always come after the story and its characters, and my questions were often things like, “What kinds of snacks are sold in Phoenix’s Greyhound bus station?” or “What is an entry-level job on a construction site?”

I had also always thought of fiction writing as a more intuitive and exploratory endeavor, a chance to, as Joan Didion wrote in her famous essay, “Why I Write,” figure out what I think. I wasn’t convinced that a writing process that began with a theme and an idea would result in compelling creative work. But then, to my surprise, I got the research grant.

Read the full essay on the LitHub website.