To satisfy an asylum officer takes the same narrative sophistication it takes to please book critics. At once logical and judgmental of demeanor, both are on guard for manipulation and emotional trickery. Stick to the concrete, the five senses, they say. Sound natural, human, but also dazzle with your prose. Make me cry, but a whiff of sentimentality and you’re done. Stay in scene, but also give compelling evidence of internal change. Go ahead. Try it. It’s not so hard, you penniless, traumatized fugitive from a ravaged village, just write a story worthy of The New Yorker.
