Innehållsförteckning för July/August 2018 från Writer's Digest

1 Lighten Up Generous. That’s the best word to describe this month’s WD Interview with George Saunders (Page 44), in which the award-winning author rhapsodizes about craft advice, motivation and trusting your gut. In this extended edition, Saunders explains how humor transformed his writing and shares tips for penning stronger dialogue. 2 Utopia Satire is more than just a comedic tool—it’s a device for social commentary. As a companion to his piece on how to write effective satire (“Modern Times,” Page 30), The Onion co-founder Scott Dikkers talks finding the compass for funny when things seem especially bleak. 3 Laugh-In In “Joke’s On You” (Page 23), four successful stand-up comics—Nikki Glaser, Andy Kindler, Laurie Kilmartin and Gary Gulman—share how their joke-writing processes can translate to scribes of all stripes. See…

A common question most poets ask when entering a contest is usually along the lines of, “What makes for a winning poem?” The easy answer: Write the best poem you can. Of course, that’s a cop out. Most judges are deciding between a whole host of good poems. The real answer is to write an excellent poem that separates itself from the pack—either in subject, tone or style. There is no set formula to accomplish that either, but as a judge, I get a gut feeling when a poem transcends the text on the page. There were many strong contenders in our latest competition—over 1,750 in total—but I ultimately selected “A Weeping Serbian Spruce,” by Thomas Dukes for the grand prize. Dukes will take home $1,000 and a copy of…

“You know, it’s hard work to write a book. I can’t tell you how many times I really get going on an idea, then my quill breaks. Or I spill ink all over my writing tunic.” Most people don’t think of stand-up comics as writers—at least not in the traditional sense. But as the above quote from Ellen DeGeneres illustrates, a comedian’s creative process can indeed mimic that of a conventional scribe (only with more writing tunics). The core building blocks of effective writing—structure, word choice, rhythm, voice—are as vital to stand-up comics as they are to novelists and journalists. To better understand what insight comics can offer traditional writers, we reached out to veteran comedians Nikki Glaser, Andy Kindler, Laurie Kilmartin and Gary Gulman—and discovered there is much that…

• Pick a distinct characteristic. It can be practically anything, such as: — inclination to quit at the slightest obstacle — self-dramatization — habitual overreacting — never shuts up — fear of strangers, cupcakes, asteroids, etc. — loyal to a fault — expert on some subject. • Label this character: The Quitter. The Drama Queen. The Overreactor. This is just to firm up the character in your own mind as you go. • Freewrite on how this characteristic can be radically exaggerated, then make a list of ideas for scenes of conflict surrounding the character. Let “Yes, and—” and “What if?” guide you. Are the scenes funny or ironic? Why or why not? Play around and see what emerges. • Remember the importance of contrasting this character with other (more…

Here’s another approach to take your brain funny places: Replace it! Well, not literally—this isn’t Young Frankenstein. The idea is to temporarily adopt another brain through which you will view the world and try to write funny. Just follow these steps: 1. Pick a story or a topic you’ve been thinking about adding humor to. For example, being stuck in traffic. 2. Choose an inanimate object and write the story from its perspective. How would the plastic hula dancer on your car dashboard respond to heavy traffic, for example? Aim for at least 300 words and try to avoid making them all questions. 3. When you’ve finished, choose an animal and write from its perspective. Maybe now you’re a dog on the way to the vet and you know you’ll…

When did you know that writing was your calling? When I was 7 or 8 years old, I had this class assignment to write a Halloween story. The assignment was probably a page or two. And I don’t know how at that age I got this in my head, but I just immediately thought that I needed to write a novel. What is one thing you can’t live without in your writing life? Feedback from other writers. No matter how much you try to self-edit, there will be certain things you’ll never think of. You need a different perspective. What makes flash fiction such a unique form? I like intense writing, and flash fiction forces you to be really intense because you’re just [at] full, forceful speed the whole time,…

Dear FYSA, The word lengths for book genres seem so arbitrary. How did agents and publishers arrive at these numbers, what’s the sweet spot and are there ever any exceptions? Yours, Count Me In Dear Count Me In, Oh my gosh, well—it is so fun! Every four years on the 29th of February, we all get together in a big field, Woodstock style, and tack giant felt targets with numbers on them onto huge bales of hay. Then, designated by genre, we have Velcro suit-wearing Human Javelins hurl themselves down a muddy runway toward a springboard, and WHAMMO! Whatever number they stick to is yelled out, the Genre Keeper writes it on a big board and we all chant, “Thus has it flown, thus it is known!” Ta-da! Word counts…

New writers are often advised to “Show, don’t tell.” Many have no idea what this means. Mark Twain instructed: “Don’t report that the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.” More recently, bestseller Janet Evanovich wrote: “If your character walks out of his apartment, pulls up the collar of his coat, and goes searching through pockets for his gloves, you don’t have to tell us it’s freezing.” Both Twain and Evanovich are known primarily for their fiction. When it comes to nonfiction, though, while you don’t want to list everything that happened to you from birth on, there are often compelling and necessary reasons you should “tell” factual elements. Here’s why you might need to show and tell when writing essays—and how to strike the perfect balance.…

PAWSOME PUNS What if these stories went to the dogs? See if you can guess each literary classic’s canine-pun title in the four images below. Images courtesy of Better. Learn more at better.org.uk/library/activities/reading-groups. STRONG OPEN Write a first sentence on the lines below for a story about a mouse who burgles cheese (e.g. Mick Rodenthal laid out the plan to steal the block of Swiss, but in its current state, it was full of holes). Love your line? Tweet it to @WritersDigest, and we just might share it with our more than 700,000 followers! QUOTATION QUIBBLES Which of the following classic literary characters uttered the quote to the right? A. HERCULE POIROT, Murder on the Orient Express B. GILDEROY LOCKHART, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets C. IGNATIUS J.…

Laugh It Off Good-natured revenge. Such was my goal as I prepared to give a speech at the wedding of a pal from high school. The year before, this buddy had given an impromptu toast at my own reception—more of a roast, actually—in which my face burned a hue common to most fire extinguishers. Now, I hoped to return the favor. For a month I plotted out barbs and digs, scrapping draft after dismal draft until finally I forged a version that made my wife giggle—the ultimate tensile test. I was ready. The big day arrived. As the speeches commenced, my friend’s father stood to speak. Forgoing laughs, he delivered a powerful, emotionally devastating soliloquy about how he wished my friend’s mother—who’d died when he was a childcould’ve been there…

New York Press, a free alternative-weekly newspaper, was published and hungrily ingested by a large populace of New York City starting in the late 1980s. I thought I might try submitting some of my first-person stories there when I began attempting to write for money in 1998. I mailed a letter to the editor introducing myself, and included a few potential story ideas. Despite his newspaper’s reputation for snarling sarcasm, the editor was kind and responded, “I’d like to see these, but write the whole story; don’t pitch. The way it works here is if we like it, we’ll run it. If we don’t, we won’t.” Over the following year, I sent him a short first-person story about once every six weeks: my three-year engagement to an heiress; my five…

I’d cry, too, Stranded beside a house Older than the Crucifixion In Wadsworth, Ohio. I lived too long Said Miss Julia before they Carried her out feet first Beside the subservient branches. Children and grandchildren Played camouflage and cried Inside its arms until They outgrew such mysteries. Brides posed before it, Breezes impatient with their dresses; Dogs went underneath to whelp, Cats to die. The house will never sell at that price, And the neighbors smirk—The indifferent tree waits. Waiting is what it does best.…

GLASS LITERARY MANAGEMENT Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised predominantly in Long Island (“close enough to feel the buzz of the city”), Rick Pascocello earned his English language and literature degree from Binghamton University, graduating in 1992 and beginning his publishing career at Putnam/Berkley the same year. He spent the next two decades orchestrating thousands of book-marketing campaigns and working with bestsellers, including Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, Charlaine Harris, Nora Roberts, Khaled Hosseini, James McBride, Dan Pink, Joan Rivers, Patrick Rothfuss, J.R. Ward and more. Eager to leverage his marketing know-how for writers in an agenting capacity, Pascocello joined Glass Literary Management in 2016. “I know what marketing sells books to readers,” he says, “and I also realize the book itself is more critical to its success than any marketing…

1. Find inspiration by observing your world through a well-honed writer’s eye. Good ideas are everywhere, but you must be ready to receive them. 2. Exceed your limitations by striving to be as good as your favorite writer. Don’t settle for anything less. 3. Write first, polish second. It’s vital that you put words on paper before even thinking of editing. 4. Word choice can either turn a good story into a work of art or thrust it into mediocrity. Make sure every word used is the best word. Play around with vocabulary to surprise and enlighten readers. 5. A work is seldom perfect in its first draft. Revise again and again—every story has room for improvement. 6. The nature of a piece often dictates its structure, but don’t be…

What’s the secret to making readers laugh using only the written word? You can’t gesticulate. Can’t act out the story with funny voices or expressions. What’s worse, you can’t control timing—and timing is key in comedy. In prose, readers will read however fast or slow they want. Maybe even skip around. You can’t play a funny pratfall video or use wacky sound effects. It may seem you have no tools at your disposal. Just a block of copy on a page. Let the hilarity ensue, right? As the longest-serving editor-in-chief of The Onion, this is a challenge I faced every day for more than 15 years. The truth is, writing funny prose that makes people bust up laughing is daunting, it’s nerve-wracking and often it’s downright painful. That pain pushed…

Improvisation is an instant idea generator—and as a creativity device it can be as effective for writers as it is for performers on stage. With the right principles applied, it’s a secret weapon, ya’ll! Originating as a 16th-century Italian theater form called commedia dell’arte, today improv has been referred to as “writing on your feet.” Taking that tagline to heart, I’ve been luring shy writer friends into extemporaneous exercises and games for years to help them spawn funny ideas on the fly. Want to play? Hooray! By agreeing to join me, you are intuitively following the first and mightiest directive of improvisation: Saying “Yes!” Starting now, resolve to run with whatever jumps into your brain. Once you start, don’t stop or second-guess—on stage, that kills a scene. Instead, embrace the…

Out of more than 300 entries, Writer’s Digest editors and forum members chose this winner, submitted by ROB SNYDER of Fort Wayne, Ind. She was the love of my life from the beginning. The first time I saw Ellie, we were just kids. I met her at the junior-high dance. As was the custom, boys stood on one side of the old gymnasium, girls on the other. No one was dancing until the last half-hour, when our gym teacher forced all the boys to venture into the great unknown by crossing the gym floor. I’ll forever be indebted to that man for the brutal shove out of my comfort zone that evening. I think what attracted us to each other that night was the overwhelming degree of utter shyness we…

Writing advice is like a recipe in a cookbook. It’s a proven method to make a tasty meal, but there’s room for improvisation and creativity. It’s a guide. Similarly, “show, don’t tell” has been hammered into your head as a universal truth. And to some degree, you’ve been misled. The advice is not actually applicable in all situations. In fact, sometimes you should tell—but you need to learn when to do one rather than the other. Let’s say you have a vampire chasing a man through a moonlit forest. Do you show the chase, or do you summarize it? Under what circumstances would you simply tell readers that it happened? Think of how you might reveal that a character is angry. You could simply tell readers: Jonathan was furious. Or…

1 Realm Makers Writers Conference Explore the limitless worlds of science fiction and fantasy at this Christian-influenced conference. WHEN: July 19–21, 2018. WHERE: Westport Sheraton Chalet, St. Louis. PRICE: $369; includes pitch session with agents and editors. Discount rates available for attendees. See website for fee details on manuscript critiques and pre- and post-conference workshops. WHAT MAKES THE CONFERENCE UNIQUE: It bridges the gap between general and inspirational markets while focusing on topics specific to sci-fi and fantasy. “We serve primarily Christian writers, but we acknowledge that every path to publishing is as unique as the stories our attendees write,” Conference Director Becky Minor says. “Our goal is to provide a supportive and challenging environment to writers who often otherwise feel like outliers.” WHO IT’S PERFECT FOR: People of faith…

SCOTT DIKKERS (“Modern Times,” Page 30) co-founded The Onion, founded TheOnion.com and heads the “Writing With The Onion” program at The Second City in Chicago. He’s the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of How To Write Funny, and his work has won the Thurber Prize for American Humor, a Peabody and more than 30 Webby Awards. DINTY W. MOORE (“True Wit,” Page 34) is the author of the memoir Between Panic & Desire, the writing guide Crafting the Personal Essay and nine other books. He has published essays and stories in The Georgia Review, Harpers, The New York Times Magazine, The Normal School and elsewhere, and he edits Brevity, a literary journal of flash nonfiction. Moore lives in Athens, Ohio, where he grows heirloom tomatoes and edible dandelions.…

For every article I write I consult five to 15 experts—depending on length, type and complexity of topic. Including voices of authority on a subject allows me to formulate the contours of a piece by describing, summarizing, predicting, interpreting and breaking down especially thorny topics. Unlike other forms of research, experts are available for interaction—I can ask questions and seek clarification. To identify these subject specialists, I search relevant leading publications, associations, prominent blogs and books. The more technical the article, the more experts I try to engage. Those I seek generally fall into three main categories: 1. THE RESPECTED AUTHORITY (a person who has convincing credentials or publication credits) 2. THE POSITION HOLDER (an officer, CEO, board member, government official, etc.) 3. THE REPRESENTATIVE VOICE (a person whose voice…

To complement this issue’s comedy theme, we thought it might be interesting to take a look at what tips we could find in our archives. This article from the August 1923 Writer’s Digest titled “What Is Humor?” is perhaps better suited for historical amusement than practical application—but we bet a buggy whip that you’ll enjoy the read. Will the professional humorists kindly leave the room for a few moments? Thank you! The writer—a professional humorist—wants to open the joker’s bag of tricks, and is not very desirous to be dodging bullets during the exposé. Sh! Have they all gone? Then let’s go! Did you know that, with the proper formula, anyone with the slightest sense of humor is capable of turning out original jokes by the score—the kind that every…

1 Ellison Cooper Caged (crime thriller, July, Minotaur Books) After the death of her fiancé, FBI neuroscientist Sayer Altair wanted nothing more than to focus on her research—until she was called to lead a gruesome case. WRITES FROM: The Bay Area. PRE- CAGED: I’ve lived all over the world—in West Africa, London and the jungles of Belize, running archaeology projects, investigating murders and searching for lost hikers with my K-9 search-and-rescue unit. Before Caged, I completed one other novel and started [an undisclosed number of] others. I also wrote and published quite a few short stories as I worked on my writing craft. TIME FRAME: I began Caged almost two years before finding an agent, [even though] the actual writing time was only about eight months. ENTER THE AGENT:…

At times, the human animal is a fair bit silly. At other times, we’re nothing short of ridiculous. Consider how much effort we exert to hide our flaws and failings—more effort, at times, than it would probably take to correct them. We regularly tell ourselves convenient lies—I’ll start my diet right after I finish this leftover birthday cake—and, inexplicably, we believe them. We pretend to be in full control of basic human traits like hunger, lust and insecurity, while all too often they threaten to spin us out of control. The more we manage to seem perfect on the outside—think of how devotedly preachers and politicians burnish their shiny exteriors—the bigger rascals and hypocrites we turn out to be. Shakespeare knew this. As did Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Jane…

As a 911 operator, 28-year-old Nicole Disney understands the impact of a single life-changing instant. “Doing 911 work, you hear the moments that change people’s lives,” she explains. “It is a constant inspiration to talk to people in this raw form that you don’t usually get to experience. It’s a privilege to be a part of someone’s life in that way, even if it’s just for a couple of minutes.” That same intimacy is also what Disney considers the best part of writing short fiction: You have limited space to capture and distill an experience for the reader, finding beauty and humanity in life’s struggles. She conveys that amity well in her 1,400-word story “Beneath the Cracks,” which bested more than 3,000 entries to win first place in the 18th…

Superlatives. George Saunders is used to those. A 2013 profile in The New York Times Magazine called him “the writer of our time.” The late David Foster Wallace once dubbed him “the most exciting writer in America,” and Saunders’ fellow novelist and teaching peer Mary Karr named him “the best short story writer in English—not ‘one of,’ not ‘arguably,’ but the Best.” Zadie Smith deemed his latest work “a masterpiece,” and he’s been hailed as the heir to Pynchon and Vonnegut. A former MacArthur Genius Fellow, Saunders has written nearly two dozen pieces—both fiction and nonfiction—for The New Yorker, demonstrating his talent across category. His 2013 New York Times bestselling short story collection, “Tenth of December,” was a National Book Award Finalist and was named one of the best books…

TO ENTER: Send your story via the online submission form at writersdigest.com/your-story-competition or via email to yourstorycontest@fwmedia.com (entries must be pasted directly into the body of the email; attachments will not be opened). NOTE: WD editors select the top 10 entries and post them on our website (writersdigest.com/your-story-competition). Join us online in July, when readers will vote for their favorites to help rank the winners! The winner will be published in a future issue of Writer’s Digest . DON’T FORGET: Your name and mailing address. One entry per person. DEADLINE: July 9, 2018…

FOR YOUR WEB-FRIENDLY WRITING: Atlas Obscura WHAT STANDS OUT & WHY: A publisher of “best-in-class journalism about hidden places, incredible history, scientific marvels and gastronomical wonders,” Atlas Obscura spotlights the weird and wonderful from around the globe. In the short time since their founding, they’ve earned recognition from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian and more; published a New York Times bestselling book (Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders); and cultivated a rapidly growing audience that extends beyond digital. Best of all, they’re actively seeking new voices eager to enlighten readers to the hidden treasures of our world. —BG ABOUT: “Our mission is to inspire wonder and curiosity about the incredible world we all share.” FOUNDED: 2009. TRAFFIC: More than 5 million…

CONFERENCE GUIDE JULY/AUGUST 2018 • Keep in mind that there may be more than one workshop in each listing. • These workshops are listed alphabetically by state, country or continent. • Unless otherwise indicated, rates include tuition (T) only. Sometimes the rates also include airfare (AF), some or all meals (M), accommodations (AC), ground transportation (GT), materials (MT) or fees (F). • When you find workshops that interest you, be sure to call, email or check the website of the instructor or organization for additional information. • All listings are paid advertisements. CALIFORNIA ANNUAL GREATER LOS ANGELES WRITERS CONFERENCE, produced by West Coast Writers Conferences. June 22–24, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA. Writers of all genres and disciplines benefit from this popular educational and inspirational three-day event focused on…