CRAFT: Marlena’s opening is striking on a craft level for several reasons: first, there’s no withholding. We learn right away what happens to Marlena. And second, the use of the present tense serves to put us in the moment, in…
You’ve amassed some stories. Maybe you have enough for a collection, maybe you’re still a few shy. It’s not an obvious grouping of stories: there are no common characters or recurring places or a clear theme. How do you organize…
The very first week Tara got her license, the cassette in her car jammed and no matter how hard we pushed the eject button with the flat of our palms—praying it would gag itself out like Gene Simmons’ tongue—the tape…
Obsessions lie at the heart of most of the things we do well. And figuring out what your obsessions are in writing may well be the key to figuring out that next short story or novel. Poet Natalie Diaz talks…
A note from the author accompanies each of the stories we publish. We ask the author to write something—anything—about the craft in their story. We love these Author’s Notes, as they shed an important light on each story. Every time…
Light the Dark, edited by Joe Fassler Penguin Books, 2017 A collection of craft essays from a series in The Atlantic, this is a book to treasure, one to read again and again. The online series, called “By Heart,” is curated…
Invasive Species: a species that is non-native to an ecosystem and that is likely to cause harm to native species. The creature had been spotted again, and this time, accounts came from two unrelated individuals. The sightings had taken place…
Another AWP has come and gone. This time we got palm trees, warmer weather for many, and late arrivals from the New York crowd, as a Nor’easter hit just as planes were scheduled to leave. Some committed New York writers…
Here’s a quick look at some of the great books out this week. Happy pub day to all! Alan Hollinghurst, The Sparsholt Affair Knopf From The Guardian: “Alan Hollinghurst’s sixth novel, The Sparsholt Affair, opens in Oxford during the second…
If you’re heading to AWP, please stop by and say hello! We’ll be at Table 1219, along with drDOCTOR and Triangle House. Are you staring at that AWP schedule, not sure where to begin? Quite a few of our authors…
