The Writer September 2014

Who are the most influential people in your writing life? I’m going to bet that most of us would name a teacher, and many would name a mentor in a MFA or other writing program. Since this is September, the official back-to-school month, we’ve had classrooms on our minds here at The Writer. That means we’re thinking about all the people who offer writing insights, give tips, use a red pen, ask us to go back and revise. And all the places – colleges, universities, night schools, community colleges, special programs – that support your work in process and progress. The proliferation of MFA programs, writing workshops and classes points to the thriving nature of the field and the unflappable imperative to tell a story the best way possible. We…

WHEN IT COMES TO A CHARACTER’S HISTORY, TELL THE TRUTH. SLOWLY. I n Ed McBain’s mystery-thriller Downtown, Florida orange grower Michael Barnes is in New York City on business when he is framed for the murder of a movie director. Over the next 24 hours, he races around Manhattan trying to clear his name and keep from being killed. Three pages in, we learn that Barnes was once in the army. A few pages later, Barnes makes the first reference to Vietnam. More hints of Barnes’ army service, including a dark event from those days, pile up as the novel unfolds. But not until page 269 does McBain fill in the final blanks of Barnes’ past. The revelation, timed with the book’s climax, carries a powerful punch. It’s a masterful…

We asked 10 writing teachers and professors for a peek inside their classrooms. Here are their top writing tips for students. “Understand that there is a difference between wanting to write and wanting to be a writer, and if you don’t do the first, you aren’t the second.” — ALEXI ZENTNER, The Lobster Kings, Binghamton University and Sierra Nevada College “Don’t worry about trying to please or impress; focus that energy instead on trying to be clear.” — TED THOMPSON, The Land of Steady Habits, Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop “As writers, we have to be wary of trying to control everything all the time. I think it’s critical that we give our characters and our sentences the radical freedom to surprise us.” — JUSTIN HOCKING, The Great Floodgates of the…

In the spirit of MFA and writing programs, we asked our Facebook followers: “What’s the most important lesson your best writing teacher taught you?” Your answers follow. Our conclusion? Writing teachers rock. “Write the things you are most afraid to write. Be brave and write them anyway.” “Let your voice shine through in your writing.” “I’ll teach you the rules to creative writing and then I want you to break the hell out of them.” “Keep on writing regardless of what life throws at you.” “Premise. You need to know the premise of your story!” “The story has to move down as well as forward.” “Spelling correctly shows others that you aren’t stupid.” “Determination and persistence. Without both these two crucial ingredients, no book ever reaches the shelves.” “Write, write,…

Many writers struggle to pay the bills, but these tweets approach the starving artist life with humor and determination. Lola Blake @LolaBlakes Sweet fanciful delusions of one day being able to support myself by simply #amwriting and not having to work a real job #writerslife Rachel Lake @RachelKathryn90 Moleskin notebooks and pens are everything I’d hoped they’d be – except affordable #writerproblems Mae @mzeld The plural of writer is poor people. Jane Writer @WorkinWriter I am a poor writer who owns a 2003 Honda Civic and a Blackberry. My next story may feature a 30-year-old stranded on the side of the road. JayneCW @JayneCW Working on an essay about fear as a writer – will I make it? Will I get paid enough to at least fix my car? #amwriting…

My question concerns the use of a foreign language in a fiction novel. I am writing a spy novel with a plot that begins in North Korea and has American characters, including the protagonist, a CIA hired assassin. When the Korean-speaking characters are talking to each other, should I write the dialogue in Korean or do I write it in English? I have been writing the dialogues only in English as the book is, after all, going to be sold in the west and perhaps South Korea. The answer to this question is tied to your intended audience and your perspective. Let’s start with audience: If you’re writing for an English-speaking audience, then the book, including the dialogue of Korean-speaking characters, should be written in English. You might establish that…