Just One Thing with Joy Guo

“Brookline Reservoir, my favorite walking loop, in the falll”

Joy Guo’s story “Tiny Oily Halos” takes us on walks with two women, examining the electric space between sharing and withholding. Here she shares just one thing about the piece:

“The first draft had the roles switched, with the narrator about to have a baby, going on walks with an older co-worker. I scrapped that version about halfway through - I couldn't get the voice right and the relationship seemed half-formed and inauthentic. I started toying with the idea of pretense, of omitting something fundamental about yourself because of shame or guilt, and, from there, the narrator as this other mother doing her best to guide someone else, despite all the emotional complexities, was born (pun fully intended).”