Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2020 i The Writer

The Writer|November 2020

The new normal

As we enter the first autumn of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m noticing how many changes that seemed radical back in March now seem downright ordinary. Masks and gloves stuffed in every spare inch of our cars, for example. Waving to the delivery driver or postal worker from the window instead of going out to greet them. A Zoom-only social calendar. Online learning. Larger grocery trips; a national shortage of Clorox wipes; the minor miracle of finding yeast packets on shelves. The question on many of our minds as we juggle virtual class schedules, video conference calls, and family FaceTime sessions is when. When can I see far-away family again? When can I stop monitoring my child’s virtual schoolwork alongside my own full-time job? When can I plan a vacation again?…

2 min

The Writer|November 2020

Show don’t tell (and tell and tell)

Have you ever had a really bad argument with a good friend? One in which you feel the need to explain yourself, over and over and over again? I had one of those recently, and I think I have diagnosed the problem: neither one of us trusted the other to understand where we were each coming from. So we kept on talking over each other, becoming more and more frustrated until we were both in tears. Don’t worry! The thing ended okay. We left a little space in the video chat, in which we both breathed at each other, and then we revisited the thing between us from another angle. Weird that actually worked, but unpacking the why of it is not for this column. So, lady, you are saying,…

5 min

The Writer|November 2020

FIVE ‘TERRIBLE’ YA TROPES

AS preparation for writing yet another YA book of my own, I’ve been power-reading a lot of YA novels recently, and from that, three ideas have sprung to life. (1) YA writers love tropes. (2) YA writers super-duper love tropes. (3) Chupacabras are real. No. 3 is self-evident, and there’s simply nothing to be done about it. Nos. 1 and 2, though? Writers can and should do something about it. Why? Because readers of YA books – like me! and like you! – deserve storylines that aren’t easily predictable from the earliest pages. Now, if you’re a huge trope fan, you might be yelling how tropes are tropes for very solid reasons, and you’re right. They’re not inherently awful – and let’s face it, tropes have existed in the genre…

7 min

The Writer|November 2020

Ecotone

“There’s never been a greater need to think about the ways that creative work can help illuminate intersections between environmental and social justice,” says Anna Lena Phillips Bell, editor and art director of Ecotone, the award-winning literary magazine at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Author and creative writing professor David Gessner founded the publication in 2005. An ecotone is a space of transition between two biological communities – the grasslands between a forest and desert, for example, or a marsh between water and land. Likewise, the magazine connects literary prose and poetry with personal reflection on place. “When people hear our name, which sounds kind of sciency, they sometimes assume we’re running a lot of dry scientific stuff or nature writing of the kind that people are less likely…

4 min

The Writer|November 2020

Gigi Will Know

I know it’s helpful to show trusted readers your work before submitting it for publication. But none of my friends and family are writers! Do you have tips for finding good beta readers elsewhere? —DOUBLE VISION Dear Double Vision, Do you only want writers to read your book? No? You want everyone to read it and love it? Even – gasp! – people who watch television??? I think you probably understand what I’m getting at. Sure, you want some writers to take a look at your book, so they can help you to dissect what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. But ultimately, you want people who read to take a look, too, so that you can be sure you’re actually hitting the population of people who make…

3 min

The Writer|November 2020

This month on writermag.com

NEW CONTEST: 100-Word Contest Could you tell a complete story in just 100 words? Submit your best short-short work under 100 words in fiction OR nonfiction for your chance to win $1,000 and publication in our magazine. Learn more at writermag.com/contests. It’s horror season Join us on writermag.com throughout October for a celebration of all the things that go bump in the night, from themed writing prompts to horror books. Need an agent? We can help Our free guide to getting a literary agent is newly updated for 2020, including the contact information and submission preferences for dozens upon dozens of agencies. Find it and download it today at writermag.com/resources/free-downloads. STAY IN TOUCH Put our free e-mail newsletter to work: Check out our weekly newsletter, which offers highlights from our…

1 min

The Writer|November 2020

Panic reins

Logic, in my experience, is one of the first things to succumb to a crisis. When I got walloped by the Great Recession in summer 2008, I had been freelancing regularly since spring 2006 and had made the jump to full time three months before the economy, and I, collapsed. The abject horror of my dwindling checking account and vanishing clients paralyzed me. I didn’t write pitches. I didn’t diversify my skill set. I didn’t network. Instead of looking for ideas, I waited for the happy ending machine to kick into gear. If it weren’t for my parents’ ill-advised generosity, my mistakes would have had unimaginable consequences – like a cratered credit history or taking the LSATs. I suspect many writers face this ordeal now as an incomprehensible death count…

5 min

The Writer|November 2020

YOUNG BLOOD in YOUNG ADULT An interview with Chloe Gong

Publishing is often seen as a “mature” person’s game, so much so that writers who successfully claim a seat at the Big-Kids Table and achieve critical success before crossing particular age thresholds are lauded as rarities, prodigies who beat the odds by creating something noteworthy despite their young years. How else would we justify the National Book Foundation’s annual 5 Under 35 list? But unlike voting, driving, or drinking, there is no age requirement for having a story in your heart nor for knowing how to tell it. Enter Chloe Gong, University of Pennsylvania undergrad student and author of the forthcoming YA historical fantasy These Violent Delights. Set in 1920s Shanghai, this Romeo and Juliet retelling features rival gangs, longstanding grudges, and a monster dwelling in the depths of the…

9 min

The Writer|November 2020

Northern Colorado Writers Conference

In 2020, for the first time in 15 years, the Northern Colorado Writers Conference staff had to cancel their two-day event because of the coronavirus pandemic. Director Amy Rivers wants to make sure that never happens again. “We’re going to offer a hybrid conference, in person and virtual, for 2021,” she says. “We have our in-person location in Fort Collins booked. If things get to the point where we’re not allowed to have a large gathering in our state, we’ll have a robust virtual conference along with interactive networking opportunities for people who can’t or don’t want to attend in person.” The conference has, in the past, been a small, intimate event that caters to both emerging and established writers, and provides numerous opportunities for personal interaction with other attendees.…

4 min

The Writer|November 2020

FALL BOOK PREVIEW 2020

Publishing dates are never truly set in stone, but this year has seen an unprecedented number of publication date swaps, delays, and early releases thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stories relevant to the outbreak, such as titles about past pandemics or bread baking, were launched ahead of schedule, for example; some were delayed in hopes of rescheduling book tours or other promotional events; others still were pushed back for fear they’d get lost in the nonstop media coverage of the novel virus. (Media coverage for authors is always hard to come by in an election year, but couple that with a global pandemic and the situation becomes even more dire, with many outlets being too strapped with breaking news to devote much time and attention to book releases.) And so,…

7 min

The Writer|November 2020

THE CHANGING FACE OF WRITING CONFERENCES

Kate Ristau, executive director of Willamette Writers in Portland, Oregon, believes in the power of the Zoom breakout room to build literary community. She witnessed it firsthand this past August at the Willamette Writers Conference online. “Usually at a conference, you walk into a banquet hall and get your food and worry about what table to choose before a presentation,” Ristau says. “This year, we had breakout rooms before every keynote, and we got to meet all sorts of new people. I assigned volunteers into each room to make the conversation flower easier, and people loved it. We created all these situations for discussion and networking, community building and friendship.” Across the world, social distancing in response to the coronavirus pandemic has forced in-person annual writing conferences to move online.…

9 min

The Writer|November 2020

SPEAKING OF HORROR

I started writing seriously, with an aim toward making it my career, almost 40 years ago. I explored several genres – science fiction, fantasy, literary, mystery, and horror – before eventually focusing on the latter. It was inevitable, I suppose. Horror was my first love, after all, and I’d been obsessed with monsters and all things dark and wonderful since childhood. In my late 20s, during the first tentative days of social media, I started to make connections with other horror writers, and I quickly learned that the adage “pay it forward” wasn’t simply a saying in the horror community – it was one of its bedrock principles. But despite being the beneficiary of experienced writers’ advice, I still found there was a lot I didn’t know and had to…

19 min

The Writer|November 2020

Take a chance

Information in this section is provided to The Writer by the individual markets and events; for more information, contact those entities directly. F = Fiction N = Nonfiction P = Poetry C = Children’s Y = Young adult O = Other CONTESTS P AUTUMN HOUSE CHAPBOOK CONTEST Submit 15-30 pages of poetry by email or regular mail. Final judge of the competition is Danusha Laméris. Deadline: Aug. 31. Entry fee: $20. Prizes: Publication and $1,000. Contact: Autumn House Press. Email from website. autumnhouse.org/submissions/chapbook F THE BIG MOOSE PRIZE SUBMIT unpublished novel through online submission manager only. Manuscripts should be 90-1,000 pages in length. Open to new, emerging, and established writers. Entry through Submittable. Deadline: Jan. 31. Entry fee: $25. Prizes: $1,000, 10 copies of the book, and publication. Contact: Black…

17 min