When I used to teach intro fiction classes, I noticed that students often turned in stories that featured omniscient third-person narrators, and I can remember doing this when I started writing fiction, too. There’s something very alluring, especially when you first start writing, about being able to access the thoughts of multiple characters, since we’re…
In our Writing Lessons series, writers and writing students will discuss lessons learned, epiphanies about craft, and the challenges of studying writing. This week, we hear from Matthew Wimberley, an MFA student and Starworks Fellow at New York University. You can follow him on Tumblr at matthewwimberley.tumblr.com. —Andrew Ladd, Blog Editor My mother spent three months looking…
It snowed today. It was supposed to snow, but only for a minute, and it was not supposed to stick. Instead it snowed all day and as the sun went down at 4:30 (alas) the snow was still there on the lawn. And while part of me is so not ready for the onset of…
After one year of writing my novel, I took stock of what I’d accomplished—which seemed like very little. Would writing always feel like flailing? How do novelists find their way through? For guidance, I turned to published novelists, whose interviews are presented in One Year In: Writing the Novel. Today’s novelist is Dean Bakopoulos, author of Please Don’t Come Back…
Rick Moody is author of the novels The Four Fingers of Death, The Ice Storm, Purple America, The Diviner, and Garden State, which won the Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award. He is also the author of two collections of stories, The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven and Demonology, as well as a memoir, The Black Veil, winner…
A while back a friend of mine contacted me with a good idea: he wanted to collect one piece of advice from a number of writers he knew and pass all of them on to his advanced undergraduate workshop students. If you’re anything like me, this is the kind of assignment/favor you’ve thought a lot…
We lit-loving folk tend to accumulate an overwhelming number of books. Even if you’re a diehard eBook reader, audiobook listener, or library borrower, chances are you’ll still find yourself receiving the odd hard copy as a gift, or springing for an exciting new release or two at a local author signing. Next thing you know,…
In our Writing Lessons series, writers and writing students will discuss lessons learned, epiphanies about craft, and the challenges of studying writing. This week, we hear from Karen Ackland, a graduate of the MFA program at Pacific University. —Andrew Ladd, Blog Editor Last summer I had two experiences I’ve referred to as summer camp for grown-ups….
The ‘Writers and Their Pets’ series began with my own desire to celebrate my dog Sally, and since then I have also invited other writers to share with the rest of us the details of their lives with beloved pets. Today, please enjoy this essay by Enid Shomer. —Ladette Randolph, Editor-in-Chief Because a large portion of my spine is…
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