A nice piece from Reedsy about the function of a prologue and whether or not you need one.
A class on Beginnings with Editor Will Allison.
Poets &Writers' 2917 Special on MFA Programs. The September-October 2017 issue has a chart of MFA programs and a lot of advice and ideas. You may want to consider buying a back copy of the issue
The best novelists avoid their deficiencies :
Michael Gorra in his Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece (New York: Liverigtht, 2012), p. 160, quotes Graham Greene's essay "The Dark Backward': "A novelist's individual technique is more than anything else a means of evading the personally impossible, of disguising a deficiency....Lesser writers never realize their limitations. Many great ones stumble over something a hack might do with ease."
From a wonderful old piece on whether writing can be taught by Kurt Vonnegut:
"When the subject of creative writing courses is raised in company as sophisticated as readers of this paper, say, two virtually automatic responses can be expected. First a withering 'Can you really teach anyone how to write?' An editor of this very paper asked me that only two days ago.
"And then someone is almost certain to repeat a legend from the old days, when male American writers acted like tough guys, like Humphrey Bogart, to prove that they, although they were sensitive and liked beauty, were far from being homosexual. The Legend: A tough guy, I forget which one, is asked to speak to a creative writing class. He says: 'What in hell are you doing here? Go home and glue your butts to a chair, and write and write until your heads fall off!' Or words to that effect.
"My reply: 'Listen, there were creative writing teachers long before there were creative writing courses, and they were called and continue to be called editors.'"
Killing the Angel in the House
It was she who used to come between me and my paper when I was writing reviews. It was she who bothered me and wasted my time and so tormented me that at last I killed her. You who come of a younger and happier generation may not have heard of her– you may not know what I mean by the Angel in the House. I will describe her as shortly as I can. She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily. If there was chicken, she took the leg; if there was a draught she sat in it–in short she was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own, but preferred to sympathize always with the minds or wishes of others. Above all– I need not say it– she was preened when I came to write I encountered her with the very first words. The shadow of her wings fell on my page; I heard the rustling of her skirts in the room. Directly, that is to say, I took my pen in hand to review that novel by a famous man, she slipped behind me and whispered: "my dear, you are a young woman. You are writing about a book that has been written by a man. Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own. Above all, be pure." And she made as if to guide my pen. I now record the one act for which I take some credit to myself, though the credit right belongs to some excellent ancestors of mine who left me a certain sum of money–shall we say five hundred pounds a year?– so that it was not necessary for me to depend solely on charm for my living. I turned upon her and caught her by the throat. I did my best to kill her. My excuse, if I were to be had up in a court of law, would be that I acted in self-defence. Had I not killed her she would have killed me. She would have plucked the heart out of my writing.
-- Virginia Woolf, From "Professions for Women," in The Death of the Moth and Other Essays, (New York: Haircord Brace Juvenilia, 1970) 236-239.
John Attanas's notes on Writing Conferences he has attended:
1- Vermont College of Fine Arts Conference-very good teacher/student ratio. Good teachers who read from their own work each night. Good opportunity for schmoozing. Downsides-awful accommodations, greasy food, located in Montpelier, Vermont, one of the oddest and smallest of state capitals.
2- Sarah Lawrence College Festival-Great location. NY'ers do not need to live there during the conference. Good teacher/student ratio. Some schmoozing. Downsides-expensive food, much "selling" of their MFA program.
3- Stonybrook/Southampton Conference-I received a scholarship (which means you can too)! Near the water (although not right next to it). Good public readings by teachers. Downsides-lousy teacher/student ratio, acceptable living conditions, known for being cheap on food (although not when I was there).
ESPECIALLY FOR MIDDLE-GRADE/YA WRITERS:
1- NJSCBWI conference-excellent two day conference. Lots of good lectures. Good food. Driveable from NYC. Downsides-expensive, must pay for facetime, many snotty "professionals" who treat you badly (and some who treat you nicely).
2- New York SCBWI conference- A Zoo. Best thing-in midtown Manhattan
3- Los Angeles SCBWI conference- A bigger zoo. Well located in one hotel, but you need a car to tour LA. I combined it with a trip to see friends.
Suzanne Martinez on Iowa Writers Festival:
In its 32nd year, ISWF offers a broad array of workshops in a dozen genres: fiction (short story, novel), non-fiction (essay, memoir), poetry, YA, playwriting, etc. in week-long or weekend sessions between June 16th and July 27th. More than a hundred different workshops are offered. I met a woman there who has written a number of historical novels and had attended ISWF every year it has been held. In my experience the instruction varied. Over two summers, I had two excellent instructors and two mediocre ones. Most instructors have a connection with the Iowa Writer’s Program. The level of work among the students was high. I found the experience well worth it. The accommodations at the student union are plain vanilla, but clean and convenient. Iowa City has many interesting restaurants and shops. $360.00 for weekend workshops, $685.00 for week long workshops, plus room, board and travel: https://iowasummerwritingfestival.org
Blog post with commentary on novels in the present tense: pro, con, and practical ("...the story chooses the tense...")
Hero's Journey: Short Version
The Editor's Blog on Point-of-View and Time in Fiction
An article about ten best books for novelists
Jami Attenberg on autobiography & fiction: "Nonfiction, while more 'true' than fiction, is bound by limitations in part because of its responsibility to that same truth. You can know only so much in nonfiction. But with fiction, you can have it all." I'm not crazy about Attenberg's attitude in this essay, in which she comes across as having an over-developed sense of entitlement, but scroll down and find what Junot Diaz and others say about readers who want to know if fiction really happened.
A new piece in A Journal of Practical Writing on how Virginia Woolf uses the omnisicent point of view.
Literary hub has listed some weird writing residencies. Take a look!
Stephen King tweeted ((@StephenKing): Aspiring fiction writer? Cool! Here are 2 phrases you must NEVER use: "for a long moment" and "for some reason." Find another way!
Interview by MSW with former student Helen Wan, author of The Partner Track, online at the NYUSPS Center for Applied Liberal Arts blog.
Bibliography of Books about writing
Notes on Point of View
Proof reader's marks
Novels recommended for reading/study by students
Some quotations about writing
Resources for Writers
Blog with warnings for writers ("Writer Beware")
Short piece in The Practical Writer on how Anthony Trollope wrote all those pages.
A sobering--and fascinating--summary of publishing in 2016: http://www.themillions.com/2016/…/the-open-refrigerator.html
The Editor's Blog on choices for writing "Inner dialogue."
Don't wait to submit if a magazine asks you to try again (aimed at women but true for everyone).
Troy E. Hill on Making a Writers' Group Work
On drafting a novel and then having to draft again: Ed Davis's blog post.
The case for keeping your novel short.
A wonderful old piece on whether writing can be taught by Kurt Vonnegut.
Article on Indie Publishing from Author's Guild
Sergio gives us the link to an article about Romance novel covers (and the men who model for them) with lots of insights into an active area of self-publishing.
YU asks that ...students remember that the evaluation period has started and that they must submit their evaluations by 11:59 p.m. on the evening of the final class. They won't accept late evaluations. If you did not receive the email, go to the following URL to complete their evaluation:sps.nyu.edu/evaluate. Log in with your NetID/Password. This is the same information you use to login to NYUHome.
Writing summaries and synopses: Daniel José Older and Jenna Moreci (thanks David Martin)
Veronica Sicoe on using stereotypes -- More from Veronica Sicoe: Why she self-publishes
Interview with Lauren Groff
Does reading literary fiction make you better at reading social clues? This study says yes.
Article on overuse of certain words
Are you thinking of writing for young adults? How old do you think a "young adult" is? Here are a couple of interesting posts about "New Adult" novels--thanks, David Martin:
http://laurajmoss.com/laurablog/?p=2202
https://aaomer.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/new-adult-the-answer-to-the-void-between-ya-and-adult
"Robin Hobb" says of her process with her epic fantasy novels, in an interview: "I have the general premise for the full trilogy in my brain when I start, but it's not usually formally committed to paper. There will be notes and cool ideas and sometimes even bits of dialogue. Often those ideas float around in my brain for years. "Then when the time comes to start writing, I do a quick chapter breakdown for the first book. I don't regard it as binding; it's more like a map of how the story might go to reach the desired endpoint. But as all travelers know, there are many routes to any destination, so if I see an interesting detour, I'll probably follow it. I may come to a dead end and have to backtrack, but there is also the chance that I'll find some really fascinating unexplored territory or meet a character I didn't expect to be traveling with.... "The bargain I make with myself is that if I suddenly see a more interesting direction for the story to take, I'll follow it. I've regretted that more than once as I ran into brick walls, but it's what keeps my world and my characters alive and interesting. If I'm always dictating to my characters, then I'm never surprised. And surprises keep the story interesting. It can also lead to moments when you realize you have to discard the last fifty pages as the story line has trickled to a halt. That's a surprise, too, but not the kind I like."
Tips for Writers
Articles for Writers
Chuck Sambuchino on how to get an agent without a query letter.
Dan Menaker on old time editing and the publishing that (used to?) make it possible--and my blog post in response.
Publishing by Crowd Funding?
Writers Digest piece on Using Real Life in your fiction.
A TED talk on world building in fiction.
More Readings
Information on Marketing: Go to the resources page, and in particular to the links in the left hand column for: Agents, Articles of interest to writers, online places to submit fiction, Book Doctors & Private Editors, Book Publishers (small), Copyright , Literary Agents, Markets for Literary Fiction, Printers: Recommended book producers (not publishers), Publicizing Your Book , and more online resources for writers.
Virginia Woolf from "Killing the Angel"
Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules for writers. You don't have to agree to be amused.
Discussion of Memoir and Fiction by Keith Maillard and Carole Rosenthal in Books For Readers Issue #80.
Phillip Roth and RIchard Wright on writing.
Article on publishing in Salon: "20 percent of a [book's] budget... pays for paper, printing and binding..."
Article on how authors get paid
"The Business of Books, by André Schiffrin," reviewed by Meredith Sue Willis (the status of publishing-- old, but has historical interest.)
Here is a funny poem by Billy Collins about workshopping poetry.
Notes on various kinds of publishing at Publishing Types and Print on Demand.
Query letters & more: Sample Query Letters from MSW ; The 5 Stages of querying
Take a look at this daunting but important article about publishing by Gerald Howard: http://www.themillions.com/2016/…/the-open-refrigerator.html. It includes this sentence: "There are these days about as many uncredentialed walk-ons in our literary fiction as there are walk-ons in major league baseball."
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