The Clear Interesting Terrible World of Ellen Gilchrist

Some writers leave a mark on you.

Oh, my heart broke a little when I heard Ellen Gilchrist died. She hadn't published anything in years, but I loved her writing. Her writing-especially her short stories-taught me so much about developing characters, setting, and perseverance.

She was never supposed to be a writer; she was a girl, for Heaven's sake. A girl who had three boys and was supposed to be a good, nice housewife. That's what she was supposed to do. Do not marry four times (two were to the same man), nor study with Eudora Welty. But she did all that and created a character that taught me so much about short stories and writing.

In the late seventies, Gilchrist worked on a short story about the Broad Jump Pit, a pasture near her grandparents' home. She pictured a little red-haired girl standing on a hen house, daring to cross the Broad Jump Pit. But th…