By: Charles Baxter,
on 1/30/2015
Why are people so interested in drunk writers? Recently I was sent a very interesting nonfiction book, The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking, by Olivia Laing, for a review. I couldn't review it. It's an anecdotal study of several American writers, including John Berryman, Tennessee Williams, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver (all [...]
By: Lucia Perillo,
on 5/3/2012
It should not be so hard to write both poetry and fiction. Both arts, after all, make use of the same materials, words and punctuation. Poems frequently utilize the strategies of fiction, which in turn, in the hands of the best writers, listens carefully to the sounds that it is making. Even poems which do [...]
By: Claudette Young,
on 2/21/2011
If you haven’t already read the February 2011 issue of The Writer Magazine, I highly recommending grabbing a copy of it and absorbing it from front to back. Not only does the reader learn about the latest contest winner and get to read a super-interesting new story, but there are also several lessons in writing that will hold their footing anywhere.
A profile that will grab your attention and hold it for as long as you have memory is one written by Bob Blaisdell. He writes about a little recognized writer by the name of Jorge Luis Borges.
This man who had almost no vision is described as “a thoroughly literary being” and from the examples given of his talent, I’d have to agree. He did things with words and concepts that I’ve never seen before. And now that I’ve seen those examples, I’ll never look at my writing the same way again. His one piece of advice for writers was “Let your imagination out to play.”
Though he’s gone now his writings and his examples will live on to inspire and instruct those who’ve come after. Be sure to study Borges’s technique as revealed in Blaisdell’s profile of this little-known author.
Mark Wagstaff’s prize-winning story is showcased along with a great little biography of the writer. The magazine also chose to annotate with the contest judge’s evaluation and reasons for choosing this story as the winner. This read shows much of what a current editor might be looking for in submissions in the way of style, tautness of structure, etc. There’s a lot packed into less than 2000 words here.
Literary fiction author, Charles Baxter does an interview with Luke Reynolds. Baxter talks about how writers need to remain true to their stories and the characters who live within them. Reynolds calls Baxter one of the contemporary masters of literary fiction. That’s a title hard to come by today. If you want to see how a modern literary author, with stories made into movies, thinks and works, this should be a can’t-miss interview for you.
Stephen Delaney takes the reader into the mind of the character by showing how to use the character’s thoughts to help tell important parts of the story as well as unveil character backstory, personality traits, physicality, etc. without having to use narrative in the usual way. His point is to show how to create the drama of a piece by using those thoughts. This was a great instruction piece and well worth holding on to, regardless of the genre involved in one’s writing.
There are more interviews, more instruction pieces, and oodles of extras that The Writer is so good at laying at the feet of writers. And if you can’t get your hands on the physical magazine, drop onto the website at: www.WriterMag.com/
Peruse the website and enjoy all the goodies available there. Sign up to get updates, if you wish. They come in handy.
And in case anyone wonders if this is advertising for the mag, I can tell you that they don’t need me to spread the word about their offerings. I just wanted to clue in those who don’t already subscribe or visit the site as to what they’re missing. This month’s issue is an especially good one. At least, for me it was.
Next time I’ll deal with another subject. Have a magnificent week, all. Until you drop in again, a bientot.
Claudsy
By: Beth Kephart ,
on 1/16/2011
Why does the short story lend itself so naturally to the muted but still shattering sentiments of yearning, nostalgia and regret? How many William Trevor tales focus on the moment when a heart is broken or at least badly chipped? Though Mavis Gallant’s work bristles with barbed wit and trenchant social observation, her most moving stories often pivot on romantic ruptures and repressed attraction. (This is Prose, who then goes on to note the exceptions to the rule while returning to her theme that the "short story has the power to summon, like a genie from a bottle, the ghost of lost happiness and missed chances.")
Reflecting our dazzlingly diverse culture, the contemporary American short story is virtually impossible to define. Where once the “well crafted” short story in the revered tradition of Henry James, Anton Chekhov and James Joyce was the predominant literary model — an essentially realist tradition, subtle in construction and inward rather than dramatic — now the more typical story is likely to be a first-person narration, or monologue: more akin to nonliterary sources like stand-up comedy, performance art, movies and rap music and blogs. Such prose pieces showcase distinctive “voices” as if fictional characters, long restrained by the highly polished language of their creators, have broken free to speak directly and sometimes aggressively to the reader — as in boldly vernacular stories by Junot Díaz, Chuck Palahniuk, Edwidge Danticat, George Saunders, John Edgar Wideman, Denis Johnson and T. C. Boyle, among others. (Yet Edgar Allan Poe, as long ago as 1843, brilliantly gave voice to the manic and utterly convincing murderer of “The Tell-Tale Heart” — perhaps genius is always our contemporary.) (This would be Oates)What, I wonder, do you expect when you read a contemporary short story? Where do you expect it to take you, and by what means? Where do you hope it will leave you? Who is, in your opinion, the best practitioner of the short story today?
By: Jason Boog,
on 3/21/2008
Sometimes I ask myself why I pay high rents and fight crowded subways to live in New York City. But then I end up on a cruise ship in Red Hook, and I remember exactly why I'm here.
Yesterday I took a surreal trip to the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship parked outside the Brooklyn docks--all to hear novelist Francine Prose and a motley crew of writers celebrate the upcoming PEN World Voices Festival.
Running from April 29 until May 4th in New York, it will feature a heck of a list, everybody from Charles Baxter to Mia Farrow to A.M. Homes to Salman Rushdie. If you are anywhere near New York, you should check it out--you can learn a lot.
As you can tell, I've got music and vacation on the brain. If you want to talk about music, 52 Projects is looking for your advice--asking "What's the best music to write to?"
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By: Cheryl Rainfield,
on 10/16/2007
A few presenters at the recent kidlit blogging conference have posted some fantastic, thoughtful, and informative articles from their presentations, that are sure to be of use or help to other kidlit bloggers:
Jen Robinson posted a thoughtful article on promoting the kidlitosphere with a compelling discussion on why promote the kidlitosphere, what some bloggers are already doing to accomplish this, and what the rest of us can do.
Anne Boles Levy at BookBuds posted a detailed, helpful article on creating more professional book reviews, suggesting that we avoid formulas and overused cliches and metaphors; think of our ideal reader; and consider the form we want to use in reviewing (capsule reviews, mid-length or daily reviews, and long-form essays). She also goes into some detail about the forms of reviews.
MotherReader posted a great article on Kidlit Blog Promotion with helpful, concrete suggestions on how to promote your blog, and gain greater visibility, including bringing your own voice into your blog, finding your niche, and commenting on other’s posts.
I found all of these articles inspiring and helpful, though I admit to getting slightly overwhelmed. I think it’s important to take it a little bit as we can, and to keep blogging about what’s important to us–children’s and teen books, and issues that relate. We’re all helping create greater visibility for great children’s and teen books (and their authors), and that’s a wonderful thing.
By: Amy C. Moreno,
on 8/16/2007
About.com has a nice listing here of Children's Book Blogs (most very familiar). Today I braved the stores for the yearly Back-to-school Shopping. It wasn't too bad. I actually enjoy looking through aisles of pencils, pens, backpacks, binders, paper, erasers, scissors, notebooks, folders, glue-sticks and other essentials. It can be a bit addicting for an artist...there's always some new pen or funky folder, but I restrained myself and kept it to the kid's stuff. We've only just begun...still have to get that exPENsive calculator, (WHY do they think a middle schooler needs a fancy $100.00+ caculcator???) flash-drives, clothes, sneakers, gym uniforms...yikes......I am already weepy about school beginning soon..... Read the rest of this post
(Not that I’m glad you’re overwhelmed–just glad not to feel alone.) And I really enjoyed your article! Thanks for sharing it with all of us.
Thanks Claudsy, my copy is on my dining room table. I was waiting to catch up before reading it but I just might need to absorb it tonight with a nice hot cup of coffee.