Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2015 i The Writer

Have YOUR story read by novelist Colum McCann! Write a 2,000-word short story responding to one or both quotes by novelist and short story writer Colum McCann (and perhaps keep in mind Robert Frost’s poem “A Road Not Taken”). What elements of duality and divergence can you include: duplicitous acts, binary oppositions, communication with the “other side,” double indemnity, twins? Let your imagination riff on taking a plot, character, setting or theme in two directions. Novelist and short story writer Column McCann will read the finalists and choose the winners. writermag.com/contests “There is always room for at least two truths." —TransAtlantic “With all respects to heaven, I like it here." — Let the Great World Spin…

Nick Flynn is a memoirist, poet, essayist and playwright. His first memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City – which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award – meditates on his relationship with his mother and with his father, from whom Flynn was estranged until they reunited by chance when his father checked into a Boston homeless shelter where Flynn happened to be working. Suck City was adapted into a movie starring Robert DeNiro and Julianne Moore, with Flynn as executive producer – an experience he describes in his third and most recent memoir The Reenactments. In addition to three memoirs and essays in publications including The New Yorker, Flynn is also the author of several volumes of poetry, which, like his memoirs, are deeply personal and which have garnered awards including…

This holiday season, pay extra attention to the stories being told in classic seasonal songs. Choose one and build a story around it. Include dialogue, elaborate on the setting, throw a random twist into what are typically picture-perfect scenes. ASK THE WRITER I often get tripped up when I list things. What’s wrong with this sentence: “She would stammer over the tea cakes, keep the butter in the refrigerator too long and there were no napkins in the holder. When you have a series of ideas, actions or items like this, you want to use the same pattern of words. Let’s look at a simple example of this: Fred likes sailing, fishing and sleeping. Notice how I used the same form of the verb for each action. This is called…

“A STRONG PROTAGONIST,” says Christine Sneed, “does much of the heavy-lifting in a work of fiction. The plot itself might not be very compelling or original, but if you have characters that seem to live and breathe on the page, they will more likely than not keep a reader invested.” Sneed’s protagonists keep readers invested because they are layered with such depth that we come to know them as real people. We know what dominates their thoughts: what they want out of life, what they might have to settle for. Her two novels are rife with complicated conflicts, sometimes of her characters’ own making, and yet they don’t willingly borrow trouble. They make choices, like all of us, and some choices are like stepping into a river. There are undertows.…

If you’re planning to further your writing education with a graduate degree, you have options. A popular trend is to get a Master of Fine Arts degree through a full-time or part-time program. But whatever happened to the traditional Master of Arts degree? Is there a difference between the two? The simple answer is yes, there is. An MA is often focused on English literature and academics with the possibility, depending on the program, of a concentration in creative writing. The MFA, on the other hand, may require heavy reading, but it is dedicated to writing, workshops and achieving a manuscript-length project at the end of the program. Consider the following when deciding which path to higher education suits your needs. Your future Deciding which degree is right for you…

NEW ENGLAND BENNINGTON COLLEGE Degree type: Low-residency MFA in writing. Concentrations: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Contact: Bennington College, One College Drive, Bennington, VT 05201. 802-440-4452. writing@bennington.edu bennington.edu/MFAWriting BOSTON UNIVERSITY Degree type: MFA in creative writing. MFA in playwriting also available. Concentrations: Fiction and poetry. Contact: Creative Writing Program, 236 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215. 617-353-2510. crwr@bu.edu bu.edu/creativewriting BROWN UNIVERSITY Degree type: MFA in literary arts. Concentrations: Fiction, poetry, electronic writing (hypertext) and mixed media. Contact: Literary Arts, Brown University, Box 1923, 68.5 Brown St., Providence, RI 02912. 401-863-3260. writing@brown. edu brown.edu/academics/literary-arts EMERSON COLLEGE Degree type: MFA in creative writing; MA in publishing and writing. Concentrations: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Contact: Department of Writing, Literature & Publishing, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116. Pablo Medina, 617-824-8750. pablo_medina@emerson.edu emerson.edu GODDARD COLLEGE…

Mededitor @Mededitor Actually, you can remove “actually” in most instances to good effect. #amediting #copyeditingprotip Valarie Kinney @kinneychaos Her fingers froze on the keyboard. Her lips quivered as she listened to the booming voice. “BEWARE THE COMMA SPLICE!” She wept. #amediting Tiffany Parks @ThePinesOfRome Have to cut 4000 words from my MS. Do I have 4000 adjectives and adverbs I can erase & just leave it at that? #amediting #killingmydarlings Terri Nixon @TerriNixon Sorting out redundant dialogue tags and run-on sentences today. Oh yeah, I know how to rock the lifestyle. #editing #amwriting #ASMSG M.W. Griffith emberian Editors and readers will forgive errors in syntax or formatting a lot faster than they’ll forgive you for telling a boring story. #amwriting Amy Maroney@wilaroney I hope I’m not going to Hell for…

“Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams,” says novelist Neil Gaiman. Reread your favorite short story. Choose a substantial paragraph – one that captures your imagination – and write it in longhand with a pen or pencil on a piece of paper. Diagram how the action occurs, how transitions take place, how verbs, adverbs and adjectives function. Find the “other worlds” and “dreams.” Then rewrite the paragraph in your own words, paying homage to your own worlds and dreams. Or use your observations to pump up a story you’re crafting. Find out more about The Writer's newest short story contest on PAGE 1…

GET PERSONAL Make an impression in the classroom and in professional encounters with this engraved leather notebook cover. It features a folder on one side, a pen slot in the middle and a space to insert a legal pagestyle notebook. Personalize the front cover with a name or monogram for a sophisticated touch. $25. etsy.com GET WORK DONE Starting a new course or new career is overwhelming – particularly when it comes to balancing schedule and workload. The Harvard Business Review’s Getting Work Done teaches strategies for being more productive and using time efficiently. $12.95. hbr.org BAGGED LUNCH Before a long day of class, pack a lunch and store it for up to four hours in an insulated neoprene bag by Built NY. Some of the stylish designs look like…

MIA ALVAR’S debut short story collection In the Country is plump. The nine stories clock in at a robust 347 pages, and Alvar admits her short stories have always been a bit big-boned. They chronicle the fragmented Filipino immigrant community and bring to life complex characters with a skill that matches some of the best in the business, including two of Alvar’s favorite short story wizards Junot Diaz and Jhumpa Lahiri. Alvar’s characters are inspired by her family and others she met growing up in the Philippines, Bahrain and New York City, but her imagination makes the stories work, weaving tales of crushing misery, loss and alienation. In this middle ground between truth and invention, Alvar has found her niche. Her stories contemplate the very real issues of race, class,…

“I FIGURE that if I’m going to write fiction and not memoir,” says novelist Eliza Kennedy, “I should take full advantage of the freedom that fiction offers to change and improve the ‘real.’” Vu Tran says when he writes fiction, he is less concerned about using any “factual experience” he has had, but instead seeks to relate the “emotional experience” he has lived. In her short stories and novels, Nancy Riesman likes to search for the “optimal distance” in turning facts of her life into fiction. “If I’m too close to the material, while I may be able to take useful notes or draft bits, the piece will be out of balance,” she says. “In a different way, I feel this when I’m too far.” For some authors, fiction should…

Seton Hill University’s one-of-a-kind Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction teaches writers to create – and market – the fiction that sells. It is designed for those authors who wish to write within the popular fiction genres such as romance, science fiction, fantasy, horror and mystery in the adult, children’s or young adult markets. Students in the Seton Hill program graduate having written a complete novel (and sometimes more than one). Recent successes include John Fortunato, whose thesis novel Dark Reservations won the Hillerman Prize, $10,000 and a contract with St. Martin’s Press (Macmillan). John Dixon’s novel Phoenix Island won a Stoker award and served as the inspiration for the CBS show Intelligence. Other multi-published alums include Shelley Bates (writing as Adina Senft and Shelley Adina), Nalo Hopkinson,…

Sam Kean is a uniquely engaging science writer who has found broad success with his three books. In The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons, The Violinist’s Thumb and The Disappearing Spoon, Kean transforms complex scientific material into captivating narrative. Understandable. Interesting. Witty – and quite funny at times. More than you might think possible in a science story. Kean’s love of science led him to a college degree in physics. He went on to get an English degree and explore writing, but he found himself missing the science. Ultimately, he found science writing to be a compromise, a way to combine a field he loves without having to spend his life in a lab. He’s working on a fourth book, which will be about the hidden stories of the air…

Shutterstock It happened in summer. Some neighbors were getting together to plan a party, and I was the odd person out because I am not a big partygoer. But this one was in celebration of a relative, so I wanted to be there. And the party had distantly been my idea, an idea that passed through my thoughts and out of my mouth before I realized anyone was listening. At least two people were, and it grew from there. When I arrived at the home of the host for the obligatory planning session, coffee and tea were served, chocolates were on the table and everyone took a seat. I was distracted, my mind was elsewhere, but because I was out of my comfort zone, my attentiveness to detail kicked in.…

Learn every grammar rule there is so that you can make an informed decision about when to defy those rules. (I never once heard it said of a good writer, “Oh, so-and-so is such a great grammarian.”) —Christopher J. Yates, Black Chalk Powerful verbs scrub my work clean. They manipulate a psychological thriller – the grim unease, the emotion, the pageflipping pace. I especially love “pulse” and “thrum.” Strong verbs allow me to write sparely and abandon the rest to the imagination. That way, the reader and I are in the game together. —Julia Heaberlin, Black-Eyed Susans Many of my characters are obsessed with grammar, often in ways that confine them, but for me, grammar has always been liberating. Thinking about it slows me down. I find inspiration in crafting…

DINTY W. MOORE stands in one corner of the Moto-I Sake and Noodle House in Minneapolis, surrounded by writing students who are eating and drinking. He’s reading from a manuscript in his hands, an essay called “Of Old Girlfriends.” “First of all, I am grateful,” he begins. “And I wish there had been more of you. But I fully understand.” At the bar, colleagues from across the country slurp ramen and sip sake cocktails under large photographs of cats. Sumo wrestlers gyrate across two TV screens. The scene is loud, crowded, exploding with pent-up energy from participants unleashed for the day from the AWP annual conference. Still, Moore’s voice – deep and melodious as a radio announcer’s – carries across the room. People turn and pay attention. Moore, who turned…

“I’ve got the perfect book for you,” said a tattooed young woman who had just cornered me after a talk at a writer’s conference on writing book reviews. She pressed a fancy business card into my hand and said, “Call me, and I’ll send you a copy.” Then she disappeared into the crowd, most likely in search of a literary editor or agent. Here’s where she went wrong. 1. No one likes to be cornered. 2. She didn’t introduce herself. 3. She didn’t tell me the title of her book, or anything else about it. 4. She wanted me to do the work of chasing her down to ask (beg?) for a chance to review a book I knew nothing about. 5. While her nom de plume was clear on…

Both this phrase and its meaning spring directly from the unique mission of Antioch University Los Angeles’ (AULA) MFA program: the education of literary artists, community engagement and the pursuit of social justice. At AULA, you will not only improve your craft through one-onone mentoring with successful writers who are also excellent teachers, but you will also enjoy critical reading and reflection in small and larger groups. Lively discussions in faculty and guest seminars and graduating student presentations will help you begin a lifelong reflection on the rights and responsibilities of the writer in society. At each residency, you will study both craft and the writer’s relationship to the world. During one or more of the online project periods, you will design and conduct an MFA field study that will…

Four times a year, editor Janna Marlies Maron hosts a video chat on Google-Plus allowing readers from around the world to celebrate the launch of the newest issue of her magazine, Under the Gum Tree. Participants log on in real time to watch contributors read creative nonfiction pieces from their homes and chat with other viewers via the hashtag #gumtreelive. “I love to bring our contributors together in a video call to interact with each other and with me,” Maron says. Participants can also view the archives later at their leisure. In October 2015, Under the Gum Tree celebrated its fourth year as a digital and print publication available as PDF and print-ondemand. Maron started the publication with a desire to showcase creative nonfiction alongside art and photography in a…