Want to Use a Letter as the Basis for a Story? Here’s an Easy But Really Important Tip for Getting Started

A cache of family letters, or maybe even just one amazing letter written by an ancestor, is a great source for writing a story from family history.

Martha McCallum’s book Unknown Valor: A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima, or Sarah Wildman’s Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind are great examples.

However, you do not have to write a book. You can write one story based on a family letter, which is what I did with my story The Flying Du...