These days, it is normal for authors to go to writing workshops – or teach them. So why does the idea they produce derivative writers persist?What makes a writer? How do you become one? When I was younger, even asking those questions seemed to disqualify me: a writer isn’t something one becomes, I thought, a writer just is. Despite writing, rewriting and reading all through my 20s, I was no closer to completing, let alone publishing, a novel. I realised I would need help if I was going to succeed, and I applied to several creative writing MAs.This was, depending on who you ask, either a decision that condemned my writing to being forever derivative and tired, or, an important step on the path towards the publication of my first book. The debate about the value of a degree in creative writing has been done, one might think, to death – good writing depends on an innate facility that cannot be taught, versus good writing depends on devoted time, support, and elements of craft that can be studied – yet it continues to rage. This week, a much-lauded debut novel was criticised in a review by an author for its “MA creative writing-speak” and “oh so tediously writing workshop description”. For some, “writing workshop” is shorthand for bad. But why?'One must have in mind between 68 and 73% of the ending' before starting a story, my teacher once advised Related: Buy a cat, stay up late, don't drink: top 10 writers’ tips on writing Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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My first encounter with Valzhyna Mort’s work was Collected Body, her second book of poems released in America, which I picked off a shelf in a bookstore in Upstate New York. As its title suggests, the collection explores the body as a conflicted site of desire and repulsion, mythology and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-04-13 08:51:54 UTC ]
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Does the following really sound like contemporary American conservatism to you? Dawn of the Brave, which is aimed at children age 6 to 10, helps readers recognize that everyone has strengths and weakness, but teamwork allows people to come together for the greater good. I am… confused. Dawn of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-04-11 14:24:51 UTC ]
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The author behind such favorites as “You’ve Got Mail” shares her own made-for-Hollywood tale in “Left on Tenth” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-04-09 12:00:29 UTC ]
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Interviews Sandra Cisneros’s success as a poet, short-story writer, novelist, and essayist is tied to her determination to write about others with awareness and love. Her work is populated by powerful people—powerful in their pain, joy, and hunger for... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2022-04-01 16:29:13 UTC ]
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How’s this for fun? Take 27 incredible writers—including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, PEN Awards, Women’s Prize for Fiction, Edgar Award, and more—and invite each of them to write an erotic short story. Then publish the collection in one steamy anthology with the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-17 08:50:16 UTC ]
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Knopf announced March 8 that it will publish two novels by Cormac McCarthy this fall, his first in 16 years, but don’t expect a book tour. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author lives an entirely private life. “He doesn’t give interviews, doesn’t give lectures, and doesn’t do book signings,” Michael... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-15 08:55:34 UTC ]
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Until I was five years old, my mother and I lived with her parents in Flatbush, Brooklyn. We never talked about my father. We never said his name, which meant that we never said my full name, Sherry Zimmerman. I first saw my full name written out in an inscription in a children’s alphabet book […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-28 09:49:55 UTC ]
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The author’s new middle grade novel, Solimar, follows the adventures of a soon-to-be 15-year-old Mexican royal who can predict the future and must work to protect her country’s fragile natural world. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The following first appeared in Lit Hub’s The Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. It is from Story Club with George Saunders, a Substack publication and literary community where Saunders offers weekly discussions of the craft of the short story. Both free and paid subscriptions are... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-25 09:51:07 UTC ]
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An unspoken tradition hints that going to the source is good for the story you want to write. The trouble often is that we have no idea what that source may be. Sometimes we think it is sheer research and we spend time in libraries. Often, we think it’s where the action of the proposed […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-22 09:52:32 UTC ]
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After previous seminars showcased work from Scotland and Wales, this year the focus is on writing from Northern Ireland. Chaired by novelist and non-fiction writer Glenn Patterson, director at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast – a familiar and popular name for British... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2022-02-16 12:14:57 UTC ]
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This is Underreported with Nicholas Lemann, from the publishing imprint Columbia Global Reports. We don’t just publish books; we use books to start conversations about topics that weren’t getting the attention they deserved. At least, until we took them on. This podcast is your audio connection... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-11 09:55:06 UTC ]
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“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” –Arthur Ashe * Years ago, when I was still a budding fiction writer, I published an essay about how hard skateboarding is to write about. I focused on a few novelists who had skater characters in their books but who clearly didn’t skate […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-09 09:55:45 UTC ]
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Axel Scheffler has usurped Tony Ross in the list of 2021’s most lucrative illustrators through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-29 03:07:14 UTC ]
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Leanne Brown’s wildly popular, IACP award-winning and The New York Times bestselling cookbook Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day showed us that kitchen skill and resourcefulness, not budget, is the key to great food. Greenlight is delighted to welcome Brown back for the launch of her new... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-27 09:49:53 UTC ]
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The Dutch Foundation for Literature has announced the New Dutch Writing campaign will return to the UK for the fourth year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-25 17:20:43 UTC ]
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Creative Access is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a new website and brand identity as industry heads such as Stephen Page and Tom Weldon pay tribute to the social enterprise’s impact. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-19 22:49:33 UTC ]
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Hot Key Books has snapped up two new books from sister writing duo Katharine and Elizabeth Corr. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-19 18:16:51 UTC ]
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When I reviewed Jabari Asim’s first short story collection, A Taste of Honey (2010), I knew him to be a prominent essayist and cultural critic, author of What Obama Means and The N Word, former Washington Post deputy books editor and editor in chief of the iconic The Crisis, the journal of the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-12 09:49:19 UTC ]
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Josie Dobrin is stepping down from her c.e.o. role at Creative Access as the social enterprise celebrates its 10-year anniversary. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-11 05:50:09 UTC ]
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