By Olivia Augustine – Staff Reporter

Rachel McKay is a senior at Jonathan Law and a member of Law’s Advanced Creative Writing class. Advocate staff reporter Olivia Augustine interviewed McKay the story she wrote in Advanced Creative Writing that was published in the class’ book “The Fine Art Of Messing Up.” 

Olivia Augustine: What gave you the idea for your story?

Rachel McKay: The idea for my story came from one of my characters from a novel I had outlined a while back. She was my favorite character I came up with, but since I don’t plan to write the full story I came up with I decided to write a short story.

OA: Why did you choose to end your story the way you did?

RM: I chose to end my story the way I did because I thought it would be an interesting conclusion. I wanted to include a more open and unclear ending, and I figured that ending it on a note that contrasted with the rest of the story would be a cool way to do that.

OA: What is your favorite part of your story?

RM: My favorite part of the story is the opening. I think it adds a lot of tension and interest, as well as acting as a running start to the story.

OA: Why did you choose to enter this story into the book?

RM: I chose to enter this story into the book because it was my favorite I had written this year. I enjoyed the word choice I used, and overall I think it is the most well written out of all my other stories.

OA: What was your favorite part of your story to write?

RM: My favorite part of the story to write was the funeral scene. I had a lot of fun experimenting with my writing in that part, more so than some other parts.