I wish Jamie Grove posted at How Not to Write more regularly, because even when I disagree with some of his ideas about writing (which is very rare), he always gets me thinking about the craft and the process. Today’s post, “Charles Dickens – Three Principles of Writing,” is a great example and a wonderfulContinue reading “Three principles of writing”
Tag Archives: writers
New fiction from Ryan Werner
Ryan Werner’s online fiction project, Our Band Could Be Your Lit, is back in action with a beautiful new piece of flash fiction, “Back and to the Left,” based on Pearl Jam’s “Brain of J.” And it is one of the best stories I’ve read in a while. In his blog project, Ryan has vowedContinue reading “New fiction from Ryan Werner”
A Writer’s Notebook: a reading meme
Okay, this is perhaps cheating slightly, because a meme is hardly a writing exercise, right? Except that it is. I’ll explain more below, but for now, let’s call this a review of my influences. I should also preëmptively explain that this meme is made rather tricky because I have to qualify my answers: When itContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: a reading meme”
The end is near: Darin’s Bradley’s “Noise”
My friend Darin Bradley has had a very, very good year. His debut novel, the apocalyptic Noise, has garnered a great deal of praise and recognition since its release early this fall, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. Now, at the end of the year, Noise is starting to turn upContinue reading “The end is near: Darin’s Bradley’s “Noise””
Bad Writing
Point me to the advance ticket sales, please! Dan Chaon posted this on his Facebook page, which is where I found it. Sounds like a fantastic (and potentially depressing) jaunt into cold, blinding reality. A bit like “the Bulwer-Lytton contest meets 90% of all graduate writing workshops.” Which is exactly how I’d have pitched this.Continue reading “Bad Writing”
A Writer’s Notebook: HerInteractive story
So, as I wrote a while ago, HerInteractive is sponsoring a story contest, and I decided to play along. This isn’t a story I’d submit (for one thing, it isn’t finished; for another, I broke the rules), but here’s what I’ve done so far with the instructions for the contest. Isn’t it marvelous to beContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: HerInteractive story”
A Writer’s Notebook: Found poem (from Nizar Qabbani)
I’m in Dubai this weekend, visiting friends. Yesterday, I spent part of my day on the Dubai campus of Zayed University, where, in a hallway leading to the campus library, I found a row of large, framed prints, each bearing–in Arabic and in English–lines of poetry. The lines all come from existing poetry, but theyContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Found poem (from Nizar Qabbani)”
15 Authors (and then some)
There’s a meme going around Facebook (and probably elsewhere) in which we are invited to name 15 influential authors in 15 minutes. It reads like this: The Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who’ve influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen youContinue reading “15 Authors (and then some)”
Vonnegut at the blackboard
I was so glad to see Ampersand Review link to this article in Lapham’s Quarterly: I had to profound good fortune to see Kurt Vonnegut give this same lecture at Trinity University in San Antonio back in, oh, 1995? 1996? I forget the date, but I will never forget this lecture, in which Vonnegut explainsContinue reading “Vonnegut at the blackboard”
A follow-up about Virginia Quarterly
Back in August, I wrote a post about the tragic suicide of Kevin Morrissey; in that post, I commented on one aspect of the narrative unfolding at the time, namely, the dangers of workplace bullying and the need for our vigilance in fighting it. That post has received a lot of traffic since, partly fromContinue reading “A follow-up about Virginia Quarterly”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 