We recently published Katie Coleman’s heartbreaking “Jennifer.”

Here, we ask her two questions about her story:

1) I love the structure of this story, from the casual opening question to the killer ending question. What made you choose this question-style format for Jennifer’s story rather than a statement-style format?
I like stories that start with questions and I wanted to explore what would happen if I layered question upon question. I’d seen this interrogative style work effectively in 100-word stories and I wanted to see if it could work in a slightly longer piece. Jennifer’s story was originally written statement-style, but as I added questions I found it shaped the story and amped up the pace and intrigue, almost to the point where it pulls the reader through to the final line. I think the questions fit naturally because they replicate that mental process of going over and over something that can’t be explained through reason. I also feel that the ending leaves space for the reader to fill in with emotional resonance that hopefully, expands beyond the frame of the story.

2) And the callback to the milk at the end! The absolute devastation when the reader comes to understand what has made Jennifer what she is now. Do you think that was why there was never any milk? 
I associate milk with innocence, childhood, and nurturing. It’s the first food a baby consumes, and the act of withholding it seems sinister. Could it have been that Jennifer’s mother was struggling profoundly when Jennifer was young, perhaps she was unable emotionally and financially to meet her child’s physiological needs. It’s the Nature Vs. Nurture debate. Does this explain Jennifer’s actions when she was a child? I’m not sure but while numerous essential items could have been missing from the home, milk holds the most significance because it has to be refrigerated. Any reference to refrigerators will certainly trigger challenging emotions in these two characters.