Hi Katherine,

Thank you for reading and for sharing your thoughts! At first I thought it was interesting how many people were tricked into thinking this was an actual experience of mine. But when I thought about it from the reader’s perspective, the reader has no idea who I am, what my personality is (I enjoy a good laugh and like to be quite a trickster), and generally starts with an innocent and sympathetic view for writers and their stories on Medium.

At the time of writing this, I was not aware of all these factors, which was why I was surprised at the initial reactions from people who came to console me and sympathized with me. I found myself having to individually explain to everyone who were angry at this interviewer’s behavior that this story was fictional, and I saw that although it was tempting to leave that sense of mystery (where it leaves the reader guessing whether the situation was fictional or real), it was better that I stay honest and include that disclaimer.

I’m glad that I wrote this story because I found that there were so many people who had actually gone through experiences of unnecessarily cruel interviewers. I also found people who was able to identify with my character in the story and subsequently confronted their own “inner critic”, their own interviewer who made them face their excuses and flaws. I always enjoy reading everyone’s experiences and I am always happy whenever someone reaches out and decides to share their story with me.

I’m glad that you wrote this comment, because it helped me realize many important things and allowed me an opportunity to share these small epiphanies. Thank you again for reading and I hope you have a great rest of your day!