Innehållsförteckning för June 2015 från The Writer

I’M ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT for work that makes me swoon with a finely tuned combination of intellect and emotion. It can be a concise work, such as Jaime Joyce’s short essay “Picnic in the Yard,” which I read in last year’s food issue of The New Yorker magazine. (Turn to page 30 to read the conversation Joyce and I had about the piece, which is also reprinted in this issue.) And then, sometimes we’re captivated by longer works, such as Ulysses (which takes place on only one day in June), written by another Joyce. But whether it’s 800 words or 800 pages, good writing draws on the same elements, all of which we explore each month in these pages. We hope you find the directions and discussions herewith to…

* “It’s very hard to have ideas. It’s very hard to put yourself out there, it’s very hard to be vulnerable, but those people who do that are the dreamers, the thinkers and the creators. They are the magic people of the world.” –Amy Poehler TV veteran Bo Kaprall has been writing, directing and producing for the small screen for more than three decades. Currently, he writes for Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, is executive producer of the new series Outlaw Country, which debuted this year on WGN, and is developing shows for several networks, including Discovery and A&E. Over the years, he has written for such classics as The Carol Burnett Show, The Cher Show, The Partridge Family, Welcome Back Kotter, Laverne & Shirley and the Bob Hope Christmas…

* From The New York Post’s list of funniest jokes on Twitter: @joshgondelman Instagram is just Twitter for people who go outside. You’re right. People in real life often use contractions when they speak, and so it makes sense that many of our characters would as well. This is equally true for a first person narrator, which uses the character’s voice to narrate the story. Casual voices will use contractions more often, while more formal voices will use them less. Some characters may even switch, depending upon the listener or the situation. Let your deep understanding of the character’s individual voice guide you in these choices. Contractions also show up in third person narratives. Although the narrator isn’t a character in the story, the words you choose create a voice for the…

I opened the door to my mailbox and there it was: My first-ever paycheck for a writing assignment. It was for a newspaper article about a local abstract painter. I ripped open the envelope and held the check in my hands as if it were alive. $125. The amount was so meager I considered framing the check, like the first baby dollar bill of a newly hatched business. But I needed the cash. I also needed to acknowledge the triumph. I hopped in my car for what would become the first in a series of celebratory latte runs with each published work. So what if it was only 125 bucks? Who cares? Nothing could lessen the glow sparked by that small paycheck and heady byline. Except, of course, when my monthly…

Last fall, in my magazine writing class, I asked students to find a published nonfiction story they had come across in their daily reading. The plan was to examine the craft behind each story, to identify how each author accomplished effectiveness. The story I contributed was “Picnic in the Yard,” which I had seen in the annual food issue of The New Yorker magazine. The byline – Jaime Joyce – was new to me, but the story, a mere 800 words – what the New Yorker calls a “sidebar” – was so engaging that the minute I finished reading it, I read it again. Then I read it again to dissect the parts. When I took it to class, we spent an unprecedented 90 minutes talking about the story. How…

*The Greek poet Aristophanes is considered the Father of Old Comedy because his drama lampooned the most important personalities and institutions of his day. He was born 446 B.C. Each winter, I’m part of a group that puts on an arts festival in a university setting. Most of the events are student-driven and showcase considerable undergraduate skill in the visual, performing and literary arts. Additionally, I’m part of a creative team that writes a spoof performance to both highlight student talents and comically entertain audiences. In addition to understanding what goes into a high-level production, the single most important quality for our team is a sense of humor in the writing. One year we featured an internationally esteemed economist as a world-class conductor of the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth…

WHERE DO YOU READ THE WRITER? Send a photo of yourself and a short description of the location to tweditorial@madavor.com.…

Georgie Dalliston @GeeroseD From magical worlds to comedic ones! Trying my hand at writing comedy sketches. Harder than it looks #comedy dadley cooper @canticonti sad to know i already hit my comedic peak by writing a phroth article called “woman eats too much potato soup, dies” Jenni @crissmyhedwig i started writing comedic blogs, and i think they are funny but no one else is amused. Steve Olivas @steveolivas   I gave up writing funny tweets for Lent. Rhymer Rigby @rhymerrigby   Have convinced myself that because I’m meant to be writing a vaguely funny piece, watching 3 episodes of Nathan Barley on YouTube is work. Hillary Dixler @hillarydixler   it feels so arrogant and wrong to actually like what you’re writing, but i’m writing something now and it is funny and good so…

“Honey, sit down and write a story.” My mother turns on her electric typewriter. It fills her garage office with a warming hum. I’m 9 years old. I’m wearing a latex Ronald Reagan mask and chasing my siblings until they scream. Craving peace, my mother reaches past The Complete Works of William Shakespeare on her shelf. She picks up her copy of the Writer’s Market and thumps it onto the desk. “When you’re finished, submit your story to a magazine.” Thus, my writing career begins. That first afternoon spent writing, I learn – as my mother had decades before – to consult Shakespeare in the midst of writer’s block. When I stall in my tale about a mentally ill teen who befriends a white tiger, I haul down the mammoth…

ON MONEY AND CREATIVITY “Many of us believe we will be more creative when we are financially comfortable. ‘When I have enough money, then I’ll try…’ we tell ourselves. But creativity does not depend on money. It depends on our sense of abundance. When we tend ourselves creatively, we often trigger an increased flow financially. Creativity is an act of faith. We extend ourselves, believing that good will come to pass. This act of faith brings us closer to our Creator, closer to our flow of good.” ON ANXIETY “Anxiety blocks our flow. Worried about what we don’t have, focused on our lack, our anxiety increases. It takes a deliberate act of faith to reverse our scarcity thinking. Often, work with an affirmation will clear a channel. The affirmation can…

For years, we said that my little brother would end up either dead or in prison. In 2005, when he was twenty-three, he went to a Holiday Inn parking lot in Mesa and tried to sell ten pounds of weed to a guy who turned out to be an undercover cop. He was sentenced to six years at an Arizona Department of Corrections prison complex near Phoenix. We were relieved, in a way, because prison was so much better than dead. My mom and sister went to see him almost every weekend. I was living in New York then, so I saw him only during trips home. Food visits are a good-behavior incentive, allowed about five times a year. People on an inmate’s approved visitation list can bring in home-cooked…

Walking to campus after the Disneyland measles outbreak last winter, Oregon State University instructor George Estreich thought of how funny it would be to ask if Cinderella were current on her shots. At home later, he wrote a piece that became “Immunization Status of Magic Kingdom Celebrities,” published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency in February. Internet Tendency, the literature website affiliated with McSweeney’s Publishing in San Francisco, features short conceptual humor on topics both relevant and just plain weird. A selection of recent titles gives a sense of content and tone. “Amazing Trivia about Every U.S. President Almost Too Unbelievable to Be True.” “Reasons You Were Not Promoted that Are Totally Unrelated to Gender.” “What a Straight Man’s Favorite Musical Says about Him.” “Given that we’re on the web,” says editor…

Get up-to-date information on markets at writermag.com CLEVER MAGAZINE Quarterly e-publication that features short fiction, personal essays and travel articles with a subtle sense of humor. Submissions via email only. Contact: Clever Magazine editor@clevermag.com clevermag.com HOBO PANCAKES Online quarterly humor journal that strives to present humor in many forms. Poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction and letters to the editor under 6,000 words accepted via only submission portal only. Contact: Hobo Pancakes hobo.pancakes@gmail.com hobopancakes.com KUGELMASS: A JOURNAL OF LITERARY HUMOR Biannual print magazine featuring humorous poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews between 1,000 and 4,000 words. Topics can range from sad and dark to happy and rip-roaring. Contact: Firewheel Editions, 9 Pond Brook Rd., Newtown, CT 06470kugelmass@firewheel-editions.org firewheel-editions.org/kugelmass NUTHOUSE MAGAZINE Print magazine that publishes humorous fiction and commentary under 1,000 words. Reprints okay…

You can tell from the chapter titles – “Spelling Is for Weirdos” “Who Put the Hyphen in Moby-Dick” – that Mary Norris’ first book, Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen is not the usual sober, finger-pointing collection of rules for writers. Entertaining as well as instructive, it’s a breezy read that humanizes the nuts and bolts of writing via engaging storytelling. Norris takes construction, usage and self-editing seriously, but the longtime copy editor for The New Yorker is no obsessive. “I like to help a writer find the optimum form for a sentence so that it says what the writer wants it to say in a compelling way,” she says. “But you could spend so much time reading books on usage that you would have no time…

PUNCTUATION POSTERS Word nerds unite! Grammar-themed posters from Get Your Nerd On will bring a chuckle to any language purist. Designs include comma sutra, shout outs to the semi-colon and many plays on general literary nerdiness. Start at $20. etsy.com SLINGSHOT PENCIL Troublemakers and history buffs will welcome the distractions built into this pencil. Get inspiration for your next historical fiction novel by reenacting this ancient war technique. $9.95. gadgetsandgear.com PERSONAL LIBRARY KIT Hate it when you loan a book and never see it again? Start your own check-out system with a date stamp, cards to track return dates and a handy pocket to affix inside each cover. $16. knockknockstuff.com UNICORN SHARPENER Make your pencil as sharp as a unicorn’s horn to add a layer of magic to your next…

THE TRAILER for David Gessner’s My Green Manifesto begins with the author emerging bare-chested and grunting from a swamp. In one hand, he brandishes a copy of the book that charts his journey down Boston’s Charles River with an environmental planner responsible for cleaning up the area. Cut to another shot of Professor Gessner in a suit coat and spectacles, bare legs striped with mud, reclining on a chair in the swamp to read an excerpt. “This is my wildness,” he says. “A trashy ditch with a hooker boot for flora. Maybe that’s a good thing. Sometimes I don’t think people value wildness because they believe they have to hike to the top of a mountain in Alaska to find it.” In the midst of solemn rumination and grim reportage…

Publishing is dying; it’s doomed. We’ve heard this proclamation from so many detractors in the past decade, but the reality is not so one-dimensional. A group of forward-thinking, risk-taking entrepreneurs has grabbed the steering wheel of the industry and is changing the course of publishing. Thanks to them, publishing has so far weathered the technology revolution, taking the challenges thrown at it and turning them into opportunities for innovation. These 21st-century publishing pioneers had to decide what it means to be a publisher today. Is it embracing mobile platforms? Finding ways to reach readers? Meeting authors’ evolving needs? For writers, the new publishing landscape can be scary, but it also opens up a variety of new possibilities. For Evan Ratliff, CEO and co-founder of The Atavist, whose writing has appeared…

How well do you know religions of the world? Here’s a sampling of questions from the Pew Research Religious Knowledge Quiz. To take the full quiz and read the report, visit: PewForum.org. 1. Which Bible figure is most closely associated with leading the exodus from Egypt? a. Job b. Elijah c. Moses d. Abraham 2. What was Mother Teresa’s religion? a. Catholic b. Jewish c. Buddhist d. Mormon e. Hindu 3. Which of the following is NOT one of the Ten Commandments? a. Do not commit adultery. b. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. c. Do not steal. d. Keep the Sabbath holy. 4. Is Ramadan...? a. The Hindu festival of lights b. A Jewish day of atonement c. The Islamic holy month 5. In…

Even though many don’t offer payment, literary journals are a great way to get your writing’s foot in an editor’s door. Some writers may overlook smaller publications to concentrate on bigger projects, but doing so could be a mistake. Whether you’re looking to apply to an MFA program or want to build your publishing portfolio, publication in a literary magazine or journal can be a useful first step toward your dream career. Here are three advantages that come with submitting your writing to lit journals. 1 Build a reputation. If there’s one thing that publishers look for, it’s a platform. While a healthy social media following is certainly helpful, it’s not the only aspect that matters when you’re trying to land a book deal or get published in a big-name…