Center of Insurance Against Villains
speculative fiction by H.M. Wheat The neighborhood was built in the seventies and didn’t seem to have been upgraded at all since then. All the… Read More »Center of Insurance Against Villains
the feel of the pen
Empires fall, votes are accorded, but to those people writing in the circular room it is the feel of the pen between their fingers that… Read More »the feel of the pen
Write Well. Imagine Deeply.
Today, in the graduate fiction workshop I teach, we’re discussing a story written by a young white woman who grew up somewhere in the middle… Read More »Write Well. Imagine Deeply.
Claire Messud on ambition
Here’s a good interview with Claire Messud, author of The Emperor’s Children, on the Kenyon Review blog. So is ambition ever justified? There’s always something… Read More »Claire Messud on ambition
John Gardner on detail
“In addition to watching the rhythm of his scene–the tempo or pace–the writer pays close attention, in constructing the scene, to the relationship, in each… Read More »John Gardner on detail
good advice from Frederick Barthelme
Frederick Barthelme’s The 39 Steps: A Primer on Story Writing, begins: Step one in the great enterprise of a new and preferable you in the… Read More »good advice from Frederick Barthelme
economy
Here is one of the most economical sentence pairings I’ve come across in a while: He couldn’t remember his wife clearly–only the hats she wore.… Read More »economy
Romney Schell, At the Disco (1979)
I found myself wandering around Midtown, nearly 3:00am on a Tuesday night, finally single, finally alone. The town that never sleeps was asleep, and the… Read More »Romney Schell, At the Disco (1979)
Hong Kong Karma
by Kevin Brown
for Suk Kuen Chow The summer I realized girls didn’t have cooties, my father died of liver failure. I was not present at my father’s… Read More »Hong Kong Karma
by Kevin Brown
graham greene on the importance of superficiality
“So much in writing depends on the superficiality of one’s days. One may be preoccupied with shopping and income tax returns and chance conversations, but… Read More »graham greene on the importance of superficiality
selection: the memoirist’s dilemma
“…a detective must find it as important as a novelist to amass his trivial material before picking out the right clue. But how difficult that… Read More »selection: the memoirist’s dilemma