The Question is seeking personal essays from people living in the Sea to Sky Corridor. See below for their call for submissions:

We might be biased, but we think the Sea to Sky corridor is a fascinating community.

Adventurous spirits are drawn to our mountains from all over the world each year. Sometimes they stay for a season, other times they come for a season and stay for life, as that old, local adage goes.

They’ve fled cities, abandoned well-paying jobs, narrowly escaped disasters, run away from broken hearts, followed their true loves — and it’s led them here.

We want to hear their stories.

The Whistler Question and The Squamish Chief are currently on the hunt for personal essays from locals — whether they’ve been here for a week, 10 years or their entire lives. Our goal is to collect tales from all over the valley to showcase the compelling characters in our midst.

Here are the details:

Above all else, your story should be specific and true. We don’t want to hear your entire life story, but rather one chapter—and it can be set anywhere from any period in your life, not exclusively in the corridor.

We’re looking for submissions that are brave, honest, detailed and arrive at a point or conclusion.

While we’d love to hear your most harrowing tale—say, the time you escaped death in an avalanche—there is merit to sharing subtler stories as well. (See this essay on a 29-year-old who moved back in with her parents as an example of that http://bzfd.it/2eS2i1u)

You don’t have to be a professional writer. We’re looking to collect behind-the-scenes stories of the people who make up our community. If the first draft hits the right note, we’ll work with you on developing a final draft that you’ll be excited to see in print.

Keep the word count to around 650 words. Please submit it in a word file or copy and paste it into the body of an email.

If you don’t hear from us in a month that means your essay wasn’t a good fit, but don’t let that discourage you. Please feel free to send in more than one submission.

Payment is $40 for a published essay.

If you’re looking for some samples of personal essays you can read the New York Times’ Modern Love or the Globe and Mail’s Facts and Arguments. (Here are a couple we like http://nyti.ms/2eShMSP and http://bit.ly/2eN9VpV)

Have any other questions? Email Alyssa Noel at editor@whistlerquestion.com

– See more at: http://www.whistlerquestion.com/news/local-news/the-question-wants-your-stories-1.2423598#sthash.rZDXSEJ4.dpuf