January 2011
75 posts
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“I’ve been reading fwriction : review, and I think those writers might...”
– friend of fwriction, via e-mail, regarding fwriction’s literary journal, fwriction : review
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Neil Genzlinger Hates Memoir →
Stephen Elliott, author of The Adderall Diaries, said this is “possibly the meanest and most senseless essay on memoir ever to run in the NYT.” I agree.
No one wants to relive your misery. Say you get stuck under a rock and have to cut off your own arm to escape. If, as you’re using your remaining hand to write a memoir about the experience, your only purpose in doing so is to make...
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“First, everybody loves my auto Godzilla.”
– Adam Sivits, “Letter to the Editor”
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“If you can’t write like New York, you have no business living in New York and...”
– James M. Cain (via theparisreview)
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The Millions : Flatmancrooked Reading in Brooklyn →
“Attention New York-based readers: This Friday evening at 7:00, The Millions staff writer Edan Lepucki will read from her novella If You’re Not Yet Like Me at Book Court bookstore in Brooklyn. Joining her will be fellow Flatmancrooked author Shya Scanlon, who will read from his novel, Forecast. Don’t miss it!”
I will be there. Because internet crushing on women you haven’t met is way more...
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I'm listed in Tumblweeds under writing, reading,...
I’m listed in Tumblweeds, a user-generated community directory that rates Tumblr bloggers by their number of followers. Find me listed in #writing, #reading, #storyoftheday
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Brilliant Kafka covers: by Peter Mendelsund →
These redesigns of Kafka covers are simply brilliant. I want to go to there:
Whenever I’m asked (and I’m asked with some frequency) which authors I’d most like to design jackets for, I always say Kafka (I mention others too, but Kafka is usually the first to spring to my mind).
There’s just something about Kafka- and what this something is, is so very hard to pin down.
...
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fwriction : review - Letter to the Editor, by Adam... →
There’s a new short story up at fwriction : review! Make Adam Sivits’s “Letter to the Editor” your snow day read, with a delicious cup of coffee, of course.
Share the love, and please submit!
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This is every story I've tried to write, only so,...
I have a new favorite short story. Am I still on the high from reading it? Yes. Do I believe this enthusiasm will fade? No.
Charles Baxter’s “Poor Devil,” the new release this week from Storyville (if you haven’t checked this out yet, dear god do so right now!), has left me almost incapable of other thought. The story has taken me in, held me. It’s every story...
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“Putting the reader under a spell is the job of every writer. I am only trying to...”
– Jhumpa Lahiri, interview in Fiction Gallery
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Peacekeeper, by Alan Heathcock →
I’m going to admit this freely: I have a bit of a man-crush on Alan Heathcock. His writing scratches me right where I itch, and I cannot wait to get my hands on VOLT, Heathcock’s collection of short stories, due for release by Graywolf Press in March. I think you should do the same.
In the meantime, enjoy this story from the Virginia Quarterly Review, then tell the author just how...
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“In fact, to every young person listening tonight who’s contemplating their...”
– Barack Obama, State of the Union Address
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“First, try to be something, anything, else.”
– Lorrie Moore, “How to Become a Writer”
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The Seeds of Story: Part I →
From Alexander Steele, Dean of Faculty at Gotham Writers’ Workshop, comes a short, effective piece on where stories can come from, particularly for those writers just starting off:
One of the pleasures of reading fiction is the way it gives a secret peek into the lives of others––those people in the passing cars or at the cash registers or on the television screens––people we may never...
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“Nuance is everything.”
– Sara Lippmann, “Emma Straub’s Other People We Married: A Review”
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Oscar Nods for Best Writing
Here, according to the Oscar nominations, are the best pieces of film writing this year (I cannot fully back this list without Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine, written by Cami Delavigne, Joey Curtis, and Derek Cianfrance, which was one of the strongest written works I’ve seen this year.):
Best Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh - Another Year
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and...
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Sarverville Remains, by Josh Weil →
Josh Weil is one of those writers who’s going to be around for a long time, setting literary tone and showing young writers how to do it right. His book, The New Valley, a collection of novellas, is some of the strongest writing from a young author I’ve seen in a long time. (Check out his new novella, “Solarium,” in the Winter issue of American Short Fiction.)
In this...
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Paris Review Daily – "My Rayannes," by Emma Straub →
Emma Straub meets Angela Chase. Monday win.
There are many painful, moving stories about female friendship out there—Amy Hempel’s In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried, Ann Patchett’s Truth and Beauty, Thelma and Louise—but even the most beautiful stories about teenage girls fail to capture the obsessive, all-encompassing infatuations I remember. That is, all except one: My-So Called Life....
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Brief Interviews with Kickass Women
Here’s some serious awesomeness for you:
An Interview with Edan Lepucki, from Full Stop
“At the same time, while I really respect writers who are able sell themselves and do it all the time, I don’t think I could do it quite as constantly as people like Tao Lin do it. Sometimes I think that overshadows the work itself. As much as I loved the launch, Deena and I spent so much more...
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Story of the Day: AM:3 and AM:5, by Amelia Gray
I’ve been reading through Amelia Gray’s AM/PM, and I now understand why Stacey Swann, editor of American Short Fiction, said, “The stories in AM/PM have ruined me as a reader of shorts. I will no longer be satisfied by the merely beautiful, the singularly clever, or the one big thought purely rendered. I want all those things in a two-hundred-word package. I want to be highly amused and deeply sad...
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“The simplest gestures of discontent can sometimes ruin a man.”
– Jack Allen, “La Dame du Lac”
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Poets & Writers: Writers Recommend →
from Belle Boggs:
“I have a small loft in my house where I write; I like being up high with my laptop and a few books. For me, reading is the best way to get excited about writing, but I love to read so much that it has to be something I’ve read before, or something very short, or else I’ll spend all my working time reading instead of writing. Just rereading part of a favorite story can make me...
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“The woman still stood in front of me, unbothered by all that surrounded us. Her...”
– Danny Goodman, “Somehow There Was More Here”
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A new short story at fwriction : review - La Dame... →
Jack Allen, fiction editor of The Void Magazine, has written something truly unique, and fwriction : review is excited to publish it as the new fiction release!
From Allen, regarding his story, as a bit of an introduction to the work:
“La Dame du Lac” is a fragment from an unfinished and forgotten collection of scenes. Each section had a number of unique limitations: multilingualism,...
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The Millions - The Long and the Short of It:... →
The collection I’ve been working on for three years is one of “linked stories,” and this piece by Sonya Chung in The Millions packed a punch of inspiration.
2. In the meantime, I am lately obsessed with the form we refer to as “linked” stories. Sometimes these are called “story cycles” or “a collection of tales about _____.” As a reader and developing writer, I cannot get...
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from I Heart Short Stories: Julie Orringer and... →
Julie Orringer’s How to Breathe Underwater is one of my favorite short story collections, and I think Lindsay Tigue really nails the reasons why:
I like the idea that Orringer rejects “coming of age” as sharp transformation–the revelatory moments in her stories are only small steps, even while being very poignant and charged…
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Found Press has my new story, "Somehow There Was... →
It has been a wonderful experience working with the talented editors at Found Press, and I’m incredibly excited to be a part of their first issue, Found Press Quarterly Winter 2011, which can be found here.
If you prefer, you can purchase and download my story directly, or the entire issue. It’s up to you!
A huge thank you to the generous and brilliant editors at FP, Bryan...
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Le Playe
Curtains open on a grassy field. In the night sky, the stars twinkle just enough to provide light onstage, and a cool breeze whispers through the auditorium.
“Danger Zone” plays in the background.
Something like an intro will happen. Probably some cool dude who looks like he bones a lot of hot chicks will walk on and say some really deep shit like, “The moon is always darkest in the night”...
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Zelda, by Meg Pokrass →
Fictionaut continues to be such a resource for writers and readers alike. I am struggling to keep up with all the good writing there.
This piece has been in my story of the day queue for some time, and today seems just right. Meg Pokrass has a style and voice all her own, which is what makes her flash fiction so damned attractive. She turns phrases with the fluidity and speed of an Indy car...
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“We listen to the space between the notes of this jazz happening all around us,...”
– Ali Arnold, “For Now”
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Je recommanderais...
On this fine Tumblr Tuesday, I realized I’ve been absent in sending the love out there. Of course, I hope that, if you enjoy what we do, you’d consider recommending either fwriction or fwriction : review in the Creative Writing directory.
If not—say, if you find me smelly—here are some folks whom I’ve been enjoying:
TrainWrite ; Fumbling...
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The Story Problem: 10 Thoughts on Academia’s Novel... →
While I do love writing workshops and believe strongly in their worth and value (my time spent in UNO’s MFA program has shaped me into the writer I am today), Cathy Day’s piece in The Millions was a fascinating read.
I’ve struggled to work on longer projects and always favored the short story form. Perhaps Day sheds some light onto this struggle for you writers out there...
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Blubber Boy, by Julie Innis →
The new winter issue of jmww is overflowing with good writing. However, for this reader, Julie Innis’s “Blubber Boy” is the tops. fwriction readers should be familiar with Innis’s work, which is some of the strongest to walk these literary halls, and I know we’ll be reading her stories for many years to come.
It’s rainy today in New York City, so grab a cup of...
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“Earl put on his best smile. He held it. He held it until he felt his face...”
– Raymond Carver, “They’re Not Your Husband”
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Explosions! Gunfights! Firebombs! - 'Married' to... →
Emma Straub, a fwriction favorite, has a NY Post headline. I believe that all is becoming right with this world.
Buy Other People We Married right now, before the tri-state area snatches them all up.
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A new short story - "What About Sushi?" -... →
The wonderful crew over at Wufniks has been kind enough to publish one of my short stories, “What About Sushi?”. I’ve been crushing hardcore on this journal for some time, and it feels like a pretty big honor to be published in such a place, particularly alongside such waffle rockers as Roxane Gay, Karen Eileen Sikola, and Meg Sefton.
A huge thanks to Wufniks for everything, and...
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Checking In With fwriction - Fictionaut Blog →
The always delightful and waffle-rocking folks at Fictionaut were kind enough to ask about our lil’ literary journal, the fwriction : review!
Thanks so much to Nicolle and everyone at Fictionaut, which really is one of the best things around.
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“Cracking his neck
while the yellow cabs start
honking behind him
Unwilling...”
– Jerry Ratch, “Bike Messenger on Lexington Avenue”
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fwriction : review is a month old today! →
One month ago today, fwriction : review launched, with Casey Lefante’s “Love Letter,” followed by Shelagh Power-Chopra’s “La Plaza Del Sol,” and now Jerry Ratch’s poem, “Bike Messenger on Lexington Avenue.”
Stop by and read these wonderful pieces, submit your own, and wherever you are, give fwricrion : review an air-high-five.
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“‘Never have I ever,’ I began again, ‘been unfaithful to...”
– Shannan Rouss, “Dog People” (via Storyville)
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Edmund White's Top 10 New York Books →
I think my dream, as a writer, is to one day appear on a list such as this.
From Edith Wharton to Martin Amis, the novelist selects his favourites from the thousands of books spawned by the great American city.
(via blackbondbooks)
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A new piece from fwriction : review! - Bike... →
After the craziness of the holidays, finally a new release from fwriction : review! I hope you enjoy the first poetry selection for the journal, Jerry Ratch’s “Bike Messenger on Lexington Avenue.”
Spread the word, and please submit!
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Talking with Furniture: Emma Straub →
I adore both Emma Straub and Used Furniture Review, so this just made my week.
UF Review: What does your revision process look like? How would you describe the writing life?
Straub: My revision process looks like this: a cup of tea, a cat kneading my stomach, the doorbell ringing, Facebook, Twitter, five solid minutes of work, repeat. I am a very twitchy person, and so it’s hard for me to...
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Writers Reading: Death Is Not An Option, by...
Story Prize finalist Suzanne Rivecca reads the title story from her debut collection, Death Is Not An Option.
(via wwnorton)