Some stories begin long before they're written.

Every novel has a story behind the story. Some of those stories begin with real places, photographs, conversations, and memories that eventually find their way onto the page.

Fragments of Fiction, the popular social media series, offers glimpses into the real-life inspirations behind The Life We Never Lived. Through photographs, personal artifacts, and the stories surrounding them, each fragment reveals a small connection between the experiences that inspired the novel and the fictional world they helped create.

But where does reality end and fiction begin? Names, details, timelines, and circumstances may or may not have been changed or fictionalized. Some fragments closely resemble moments in the novel, while others simply capture the memories and emotions that helped shape it.

Together, they offer a look at the pieces of real life that existed before the story was written.

More fragments will be posted as they are revealed in the series on social media.

There's more behind every fragment.

Subscribers to From the Desk, my newsletter, receive exclusive access to Behind the Fragments, where I go beyond the public series to share more personal accounts of the real memories, experiences, and untold stories behind selected fragments. Sign up here.