Work by day, write by night
Not long ago, Matthew Salesses learned a lesson, cherished by many writers, that truth can be stranger than fiction. Unfortunately, he had to learn it through a relationship (and a literal) trial by fire. As it turns out, he said, the story of accidentally setting his wife’s hair ablaze — while in the act of apologizing for accidentally breaking her hand in a slammed door — made for pretty good material. “In fiction, you’re always trying to make it feel like an event could actually happen,” said Salesses, whose stories have been published in “American Short Fiction,” “Glimmer Train,” and elsewhere. “When you’re writing something that’s already true, people just accept it, even if it seems insane.” He certainly has enough real-life material to write about. For the past two years, Salesses, a faculty and staff assistant at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), has been balancing a full-time day job with a thriving, productive...