Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2017 i The Writer

I don’t believe I’m the only writer in the world who’s ever wished for a bunker. To crawl inside some dark, underground hobbit-hole, to light some candles, and – sweetest of all! – to close and firmly bar the heavy door. To sit in silence, to dream, to sketch, to sprawl, to write my ever-living brains out. I’d have enough supplies to hole myself up for days. Finally, bereft of companionship (or procrastinating revisions), I’d emerge, blinking and lost, stumbling into the sun like a freed spelunker. In any other profession, this might sound like a concerning desire to become a hermit and might draw the attention of mental health professionals. But that’s one of the greatest things about being a writer: We get a free social pass to do…

Writers often invent assignments for themselves in pursuit of better, richer writing. Some of these projects require taking to the road to talk to sources or to inhabit some story’s setting. Others lead to work in an Indiana greenhouse or a B&B in Wisconsin. Though the subjects that inspire them are wholly individual, variable self-directed approaches to writing fieldwork can guide others. To outline some of the obstacles and successes that can occur on these self-guided quests, I asked four writers with different styles across genre to share what they’ve learned on self-assignment: Jean Harper’s first book, Rose City: A Memoir of Work, describes a divorce punctuated by lessons learned while working for rose hybridizer E.G. Hill. Dinty W. Moore relays how he managed field research during time divided between…

» Born in 1971 in Vietnam, Viet Thanh Nguyen came to the United States in 1975, when his family fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. » Ph.D. in English from UC Berkeley. » Associate professor of English and of American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. » His debut novel, The Sympathizer, won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, plus several other awards, including the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His novel was also a finalist for the 2016 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. » Short fiction writer, with stories published in such magazines as Narrative Magazine, TriQuarterly, and Chicago Tribune. » Nonfiction author of Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of…

Dark fiction – it’s a genre characterized by explorations of evil characters that often incite the fear of death. Think Dracula, works by Edgar Allan Poe, and Stephen King’s The Shining. The term encompasses thriller, horror, suspense, crime, and stories that are simply bizarre. It’s an exciting genre – one that’s unsettling and very, very popular. Shane Staley has been working in dark fiction for the past 20 years. He’s now publisher and editor-in-chief of DarkFuse Magazine, an online publication specializing in dark stories that range from microfiction to serialized novellas. Tone, editorial content Editors at DarkFuse are willing to consider almost any topic as long as it has a dark slant. In August 2016, the magazine ran author Renee Miller’s short story, “Antibody,” prefaced by this description: “What begins…

“I was born to travel and write verse.” —Theophile Gautier Agents often look for writing that they find exciting or compelling. Your agent is going to invest significant time and energy representing you on the literary market, so it is important she be enthusiastic about your work. With that in mind, you should start with the published books you admire that are similar to your own. This similarity might be in genre, style, or theme. Who represented those books? You can often find this information on the acknowledgments page, where many authors thank their agent by name. This, of course, requires that you know the longitude and latitude of the literary landscape in which you hope to publish. If you’re not familiar with it, this is a good time to…

When I first discovered that there was such a thing as a writer’s colony – where one could scribble away for weeks in a secluded cottage, but in the vicinity of other writers and have picnic-basket lunches delivered via invisible elves – I couldn’t imagine anything more heavenly. But being awarded such a spot is like winning a literary lottery, and often time or travel constraints put them even further out of reach. Colonies and residencies for writers are dreamy, but many of them are stiffly competitive. Furthermore, their time constraints might not work with the demands of one’s family or job. This doesn’t mean that you have to give up the dream. Sometimes I just can’t take time away for the month or two that an established colony offers.…

A good writers’ conference or retreat can teach you about craft and business, connect you with industry professionals, and introduce you to colleagues in your particular genre. While it’s a given that you’ll meet other writers at any such gathering, maybe you’d like to refine your network even further. Or maybe you’re simply searching for a safe space to explore your creativity surrounded by people like you. Each year, several conferences and retreats cater to specific demographics, enabling writers to find a community that understands the challenges inherent in belonging to, and writing in, a particular culture. We’ve identified a few such events below; you can locate others using your favorite search engine or by visiting Shaw Guides at writing.shawguides.com. Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices lambdaliterary.org/writers-retreat Writers who identify…

1. Do your research. Before you sign up for a conference, explore the faculty lineup and daily schedule to see what sessions will be beneficial to your work. Note the workshops you’d like to attend and find out what the protocol is for registering. And do so by the cutoff date. 2. Be prepared. If you are asked to bring a piece to workshop, make sure you have it. Likewise, pack all of the items you’ll need – notepad, pens, your tablet, a voice recorder – to ensure you and your work will continue to benefit from the workshop once you’re back at home. 3. Keep an open mind. Whether commenting on someone else’s work or hearing feedback on your own, be open to new ideas and different ways of…

“So, what do you do?” After years of practice, I can answer with the smoothness of a veteran politician at a reelection fundraiser. “I’m a freelance writer,” I tell the person whose hand I just shook. “I write about sports and movies mostly. I’ve written for the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and Sports Illustrated. I also have several corporate clients for which I provide newsletters and articles.” I always use “freelance writer,” not “writer,” which to skeptics sounds as professional as “binge watcher.” I start with the high-profile outlets to promote my seriousness. If the questioner is under the age of 35, I may throw in a couple of notable online outlets. Talking about celebrities and athletes that I’ve interviewed is another asset. Joy Behar, Cobie Smulders,…

Drink water. Travel + talking + sometimes having a drink after talking left me dehydrated at the start of my tour. Always have a water bottle with you, and drink more often than you think you should. Protect your voice. I talked a lot more on my book tour than I do in my daily life, and that plus dehydration lead me to lose my voice – twice. Drinking plenty of water helps, as does making sure you have cough drops and Throat Coat tea. You can’t talk about your book if you can’t talk (or you can cough your way through it as I did in Brooklyn, but that’s no fun for anyone). Touch base with your host. One running store reached out to me in the summer to…

California Mount Madonna Center JORDAN ROSENFELD I am lucky to live 35 minutes from a retreat center called the Mount Madonna Center, in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. For just the cost of meals (less than $30 for breakfast/lunch), I can drive in and walk all the beautiful grounds, use the yoga room, eat food, hike, meditate, use their hot tub, and write. It is my saving grace. The Vagabond House SHARON VAN EPPS I went to The Vagabond House in Carmel, California, for a few days. Lovely inn, walking distance to the beach, breakfast, and 5 p.m. glass of wine included. My room had a kitchenette so I could prep some meals. Lots of artists and writers go there. I feel safer staying alone in a small town…

Viet Thanh Nguyen recently won the Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, The Sympathizer. Fiction writer, nonfiction author, scholar, and professor at the University of Southern California, Nguyen was only 4 years old when the Vietnam War ended, and yet he has given voice to a generation of Vietnamese people caught up in the war. His body of work constitutes an alternate version to the American story of the war “over there,” however critical the various books and movies on that conflict have been. Nguyen’s story is not only that of the 3 million Vietnamese lives lost in that war and the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese boat people who were lost at sea, but also the lives of surviving refugees in their American diaspora. The Sympathizer is told from…

Acclaimed Israeli writer Etgar Keret is known for his unique and distinctive writing style, allowing him to create work that is moving and deeply affecting in only a few pages. After several celebrated short story collections, Keret released his first nonfiction book, The Seven Good Years, which covers the time between the birth of Keret’s son and the death of his father. This memoir is made up of a series of autobiographical essays, some of which of were previously published as stand-alone pieces. All are packed with keen observation, insight, and sharp wit, even when dealing with serious subject matters, such as terrorism and illness. Unplanned memoir I wrote the first essay the day my son was born. [Usually] I have an emotional experience and then use metaphor to write…