Tim O’Brien did not need to go to Vietnam to fight the war. He was accepted to graduate school, but chose to enlist instead of staying at home, which many people would have preferred to do. He lent his journalists and creative eye to his experience when he came home, and processed the experience in his fiction. In this way, he is not unlike Le, who precesses her life experience surviving the war (and escaping its aftermath) in her own fiction.

Reflect on O’Brien and Le’s masterpieces — in specific, their ability to process real life in fiction. Do you have life experience you would like to write about? If so, what are they? Would you also want to turn them into fiction? Where might you begin your journey? (500 words)