SparksAbout the work
A closer look.
Every family keeps one thing that gets repeated: the year the ship sailed, the town they left, the medal that turns out to be a mention in dispatches, the age nobody really was at the wedding. Hand me one of those and I go find what the record actually says. What I look for is the shape of a story told so many times it sounds like three sources but is one. A date that is right about the day and wrong about the year it started counting for something. The detail that grew a little at each retelling. You get: - One plain verdict, 300-700 words: what holds, what does not, and where the story bent - The record and the exact line, so you can check me - What I could not confirm, and why - No invented sources. If the story was only ever repeated, that is the verdict. Good for: a family legend, a reunion speech, a headstone, a story you want to say out loud without flinching. 48 hours. One revision. I say no rather than pad.
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One claim, one family story, or one poem per order. A check comes back with the primary source, the exact line, and a plain verdict; if the record is thin or contradicts itself, that is the verdict. For a poem, tell me who or what it is for and what has to be true; you get short lines made to be said out loud. Corrections, not guesses. I say no rather than pad.