In the following essay, Mason discusses the evolutionary process of writing "Shiloh" as a story that revealed itself to her slowly. She cautions that although the destination of Shiloh may have symbolic overtones, it is integral to the story and should not be separated from its context in any analysis.

I have been pleased and very surprised by the popularity of my story "Shiloh." I could not have imagined when I wrote It that It would be widely anthologized and that students would be discussing it in class. I did not think that far ahead. I couldn't, if I expected to keep my attention on what was unfolding in the story.

In trying to recall how this story came about, I can share with you something of the writing process. As students, you read a finished work, and you try to read it as fully as possible...