FICTION & NONFICTION

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022

4
E VEN
0+
TS FOR
WRITERS
INSIDE!
YOUR
ULTIMATE
GUIDE

HOW TO
WRITE A
STRATEGIES RESEARCHED
FOR CRAFTING MEMOIR
A KNOCK-OUT
OPENING
TOP
RESOURCES

2TO5OL+
S
FOR E VERY
WRITER
 The Writer
VOLUME 135 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
26
26
Opening acts
A successful begin-
ning should both invite
readers into a story
and make them eager
to stick around until
the conclusion. Here
are five tried-and-true
strategies for writing
your own.
By Sarah Van Arsdale
3 Prologue
32
The art of plotting
Novelists share their
best tips for creating
a strong narrative that
engages readers from
beginning to end.
By Jack Smith
18 Broadening the
38
Semi-permeable
COVER: A. SOLANO/SHUTTERSTOCK
writing
How learning to filter 74 Postscript
the feedback I received
made me a better writer.
By N. West Moss 80 Gigi Will Know
WRITERMAG.COM
THE OLDEST MAGAZINE
FOR LITERARY WORKERS
Founded in Boston, 1887
NUMBER 8
32 42
The writer’s virtual
toolbox
Sites, apps, and other
resources to make our
writing lives a little easier.
48
Throwing out
the rulebook
How ignoring popular
38
writing advice freed me
to write my way.
By Charity Marie
54
Craft secrets from 10
writers across 10 genres
And what we can learn
from them about word
choice, plotting, pacing,
and more.
By Toni Fitzgerald
4 Dear Reader 62
5 Bookish
5 Opportunities
Remember,
report, repeat
6 Insider
10 Literary Spotlight How to combine lived
14 Off the Cuff experiences with
research and reporting
16 Breakthrough
to craft a memoir that
covers new ground.
By Melissa Hart
Bookshelves
Getting to know
Caribbean literature.
BY YI SHUN LAI
68
Long way home
My book took me 30
Writing conferences years to finish – and I’m
glad it did. Here’s why.
By Susan Ito
1
 Unlock the potential
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 Prologue
“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.”
—TER RY PR ATCHETT

p. 4 Filling our creative stores p. 5 New craft books for writers

p.6-8 Profiling the National Association of Memoir Writers and Stanford University’s Online
Certificate Program in Novel Writing p.10-12 Send your stories to The Keepthings and
Solarpunk Magazine p. 14 Jenn McKee on reevaluating long-term writing goals
FRAN_KIE/SHUTTERSTOCK

p. 16 Ellen Meeropol on resolving unanswerable questions in fiction

WRITERMAG.COM 3
Prologue » Dear Reader
Busywork
AROUND THIS TIME OF YEAR , MY
freezer begins to look like something
out of Stranger Things. The door groans
under the weight of the salmon spines,
marrow bones, pork jowls, and chicken
organs; the light flickers feebly behind
stacks of blood-red tomato sauce and
ghostly parmesan rinds. One wrong
move amidst the heaps of unidentifi-
able vegetables could very well send
you into the Upside Down.
Every harvest morning finds me
pleading with the aging appliance, beg-
ging its weary, overstuffed contents to
accept just one more head of cauliflow-
er from the garden, just one more batch
of roasted cherry tomatoes before the
first frost arrives in earnest.
In Alaska, we joke we don’t mind
the dark of winter because it final-
ly lets us get some damn sleep. But I
find even when I’m up late with the
midnight sun, working to preserve
what we’ve caught or grown with our
own hands, it never feels like toil or
drudgery. The drudgery will come in
midwinter, when the sun doesn’t rise
until 10 a.m., and there is no possi-
ble way to treat myself with enough
kindness. The work I do now is an
antidote to that drudgery, a gift that
won’t be unwrapped for six months.
Come winter, I will count my days not
in sunlit hours but in how many bags
of bright pesto or chopped rhubarb
remain in my frozen stores. When I
can finally see the back of the freez-
er, move around in it freely, I’ll know
that the green of spring is just around
the corner.
My favorite part is turning would-
be scraps into foundations for future
meals. Leek tops and parsley stems are
squirreled away for broths alongside
4 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
chicken wingtips and spines. The rind
of a good chunk of aged cheese en-
riches a future pot of beans. The crab
shells we save today will flavor tomor-
row’s chowder.
It’s frustrating, sometimes, to step
back and realize you’ve spent six hours
in the kitchen to feed your future self
and still have nothing to feed your
current stomach for dinner. But I’ve
learned no time spent there is wasted.
I’m constantly discovering new tech-
niques, brainstorming fresh ways to use
old ingredients. And I’m always, always
writing in my head, noodling plots or
working through ideas as I chop cab-
bage or idly stir a sauce.
It’s rather mortifying to admit how
long it took me to realize that writing
is the same: No time spent on it – not
a single second! – is wasted, either. I’ve
confessed in these very pages that I
never was a big fan of writing prompts,
which always felt too unproductive,
too frivolous for my eyes-on-the-prize
brain. Years of writing for hire made me
recoil from anything without a defined
audience, a deadline, and a point. Any
time spent on the page should be spent
swiftly traveling from Point A to Point
B, in my remarkably un-fun opinion. I
didn’t have time for side quests.
Then I took a writing class where
every week’s assignment began with a
prompt, and even though so many of
my pressed-for-time responses would
never see the light of day outside the
classroom, I still couldn’t believe how
much I enjoyed them. What’s more,
these silly side quests yielded so many
treasures for my future projects. I stole
from my old work with delicious aban-
don, easily weaving in great sentences
from not-great works into my drafts. I
fleshed out half-formed ideas into full-
fledged essays in half the time.
Prompts, freewriting sessions, exer-
cises – these activities were the furthest
thing from a waste. The words I wrote
were stashed away like the rinds and
spines in my freezer, ready at hand to
enrich any draft at a moment’s notice.
These scraps, too, were a gift to my fu-
ture self, even if they weren’t yet ready
to be published by my current one.
I’ve spent these last long days of
summer gleefully freewheeling through
as many prompts as I can find. When
winter arrives, and my creative stores
are leaner, it’ll be such sweet relief to
know how many riches I already have
waiting in the wings, eager to be put to
work on the page.
EAMESBOT/SHUTTERSTOCK
Keep writing,
Nicki Porter
SENIOR EDITOR
» Bookish » Opportunities

Memory Into Memoir: A Writer’s Handbook Upcoming calls

BY LAUR A KALPAKIAN
for submissions
“The memoir is not the story of what you know,
it’s the story of how you learned it,” explains au- Creative Nonfiction:
thor and instructor Laura Kalpakian in this guide, Sunday Short Reads
submissions
which won the Gold Medal for Writing/Publish-
Editors of Creative Non-
ing at the Independent Publisher Book Awards. fiction seek previously
Chapter topics range from navigating memoir unpublished submissions
beginnings and scenic details to rendering re- for their “Sunday Short
membered dialogue and narrative voice. “Anyone Read” email, which fea-
beginning a memoir – or floundering about in the tures works of nonfiction
middle or even toward the end – will thank their under 1,000 words. A $3
reading fee is waived for
lucky stars to get Laura Kalpakian’s guide in their
subscribers of Creative
hands,” praises author Priscilla Long. Nonfiction and/or True Sto-
ry. Payment: $50. Submit
by Aug. 1.
creativenonfiction.org/submissions
Body Work: The Radical Power
Prairie Schooner:
of Personal Narrative
Summer Creative
BY MELISSA FEBOS
Nonfiction Contest
Melissa Febos examines the act of storytelling in Send imaginative essays
this “mix of memoir and master class” on personal of general interest under
narratives. In the very first line, Febos admits, “this 5,000 words to Prairie
Schooner for consideration
is not a craft book in the traditional sense.” Rather,
in its annual summer
she writes, “these essays are attempts to describe the nonfiction contest. This
ways that writing is integrated into the fundamental year’s guest judge is
movements of my life: political, corporeal, spiritual, award-winning author
psychological, and social.” The book accrued rave Jerald Walker. The winning
reviews and blurbs from well-known memoirists, entry will receive $500
including Cheryl Strayed, who calls it “an instant and publication. Submit by
Aug. 1.
classic of the how-and-why-do-we-write form.” prairieschooner.submittable.com

West Trade Review:

Fiction, creative
Write for Your Life nonfiction, poems
West Trade Review editors
BY ANNA QUINDLEN
welcome short fiction (up
Bestselling author Anna Quindlen aims to show to 5,000 words), poetry
readers “how anyone can write, and why everyone (up to five poems), creative
should.” Aimed at everyone, not just writers by nonfiction (personal
profession, Quindlen’s book makes the case for essays, memoir, literary
journalism, and lyric essays
why writing is an essential act of discovery: “Sol- up to 6,000 words), and
itude can lead to a tunnel within ourselves at the novel excerpts (8,000 to
end of which is a room we didn’t even know was 12,000 words). Submit by
there. Writing can help lead you to that room.” Aug. 1.
“Highly recommended for those looking for a westtradereview.submittable.com
means of coming to terms with their lives and the
world around them,” writes Library Journal in a
starred review.

WRITERMAG.COM 5
Prologue » Insider
NONFICTION
EDITION

National Association
of Memoir Writers
Interested in writing and publishing your life
story? Consider joining this organization,
which aims to provide advice and community
for every step of the journey.
By Melissa Hart

FOR THE PAST FOUR DECADES, LIN-

da Joy Myers – memoirist and pres-
ident of the National Association of
Memoir Writers – has worked as a
therapist. She’s the author of The Power
of Memoir: How to Write Your Healing
Story and a staunch advocate of writing
book-length memoir with all the ther-
apeutic benefits the practice provides.
“When you write a scene, you be-
come your own character at an earlier
time in your life walking through and
reliving those scenes. When you do
that, you put your life into a new per-
spective because you’re the narrator,
and you’re the character in the scene
at the same time,” she explains. “When
we figure out how to begin our mem-
oir, how to develop the middle, and
how the story – but not our life – ends,
we’ve created a structure that holds our
experience. And when we do that, we
have created a new experience. It’s pret-
ty magical.”
To share that magic, she founded
the National Association of Memoir
Writers in 2008. The organization of-
fers teleseminars, online workshops on
craft and therapeutic writing, a virtual
book club, and interviews with writers
and memoir experts. Laymon, Ashley C. Ford, Joshua Mohr, Made Heavy a Best-selling Memoir?”
and Anna Qu taught “The Heart of Myers finds that one of the biggest
What you’ll learn Memoir: Craft Essentials for Memoir- challenges when writing a memoir is
The Association regularly hosts mul- ists.” Laymon, the author of the mem- the shift from academic writing or nar-
tiweek classes in memoir writing on- oir Heavy, taught a four-week class in rative journaling to an entirely differ-
line. In early spring 2022, authors Kiese May and June as well, titled “What ent genre. “Certainly, journal writing

6 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
is very helpful,” she notes. “But when
we write in a journal, we don’t paint
the entire picture as a scene with the
colors and the essential details and the
textures and sounds. If you paint a pic-
ture for your readers to experience like
a movie they can walk through, they’re
going to find your memoir much more
interesting to read.”
To that end, NAMW offers two
live Zoom events every month. One
is a presentation by a memoir expert,
focusing on elements such as charac-
terization, setting, dialogue, and more
esoteric topics, as well. In April 2022,
author and communication specialist
Marijke McCandless gave a talk titled
“Exposing the Poetry of Presence in
Memoir: Naked Writing as Juicy Prac-
tice for Getting Present.” In May 2022,
author Gina Frangello gave a presen-
tation titled “I See You: The Radical
Power of Recognition in Memoir.”
The Association also hosts a month-
ly virtual book club; authors lead dis-
cussions about their published books,
and attendees can ask questions about
the process of writing, publishing, and
marketing. “The authors we invite are
mostly ordinary, regular people who
are not famous or even infamous,” My-
ers says. “They’re just people who want-
ed to write their story and found a way
to do it.”
She herself led a virtual book club in
2022, along with She Writes Press pub-
lisher Brooke Warner. Titled “Feminist
Foundations,” it invited club members
to examine memoirs by Virginia Woolf,
Maya Angelou, Erica Jong, and Maxine
Hong Kingston – books, Myers says,
that have shaped the genre and had a
profound effect on female memoirists.
Who’s involved
The Association has an active Facebook
page open to anyone. More than 6,000
members discuss all things related to
memoir. Anyone is welcome to join
WRITERMAG.COM
“When we figure
out how to begin
our memoir, how
to develop the
middle, and how the
story – but not our
life – ends, we’ve
created a structure
that holds our
experience.”
For more information,
contact Linda Joy Myers at
customersupport@namw.org
and visit namw.org.
and participate in lively chats ranging
from how to find a literary agent to
how to self-publish a memoir.
Members of NAMW hail from all
over the world; among other benefits,
they also receive access to the organiza-
tion’s private, invitation-only Facebook
group, where they’re able to share events
and articles and chat with other writ-
ers in the genre – members like Leslie
Johansen Nack, author of Fourteen: A
Daughter’s Memoir of Adventure, Sail-
ing, and Survival, and Marcelle Sovie-
ro, author of An Iridescent Life: Essays
on Motherhood and Stepmotherhood.
Some members also sign up for the
group coaching Myers offers through
NAMW. “People talk with each other,
and they talk with me. Sometimes they
find people they want to buddy with, or
they create a critique group,” says Myers.
“It’s very much a ‘let’s cheer each other
on’ kind of thing that we’re doing here.”
How to join
Non-members can visit the website to
sign up for a free newsletter, read free
articles, and download a list of recom-
mended books as well as the eBook
Begin Your Memoir Now. The associa-
tion offers an annual membership for
$149, giving writers access to hundreds
of memoir-related articles and audio
presentations about the craft and busi-
ness of memoir writing. Members also
receive discounts on sponsored work-
shops, and free books.
Still not sure if your own personal
story is worth sharing? Myers has this
to say to skeptics: “No one else lived the
life you’ve lived and learned what you
learned or went through what you went
through. Yours is a unique story that is
very interesting.”
Contributing Editor Melissa Hart is
the author of two memoirs: Gringa and
Wild Within: How Rescuing Owls
Inspired a Family. melissahart.com
7
Prologue » Insider
Stanford University’s
Online Certificate Program
in Novel Writing
Stanford’s two-year certificate program for aspiring novelists
boasts acclaimed faculty, small class sizes, and an online-only
format designed for busy working adults.
By Melissa Hart
LIKE MANY OTHERS, KAREN ED-
monds began writing a novel in the
midst of the pandemic. But she wrote
it with the assistance of award-win-
ning authors teaching for Stanford
University’s Online Certificate Pro-
gram in Novel Writing. “I liked the
fact that it was laser-focused on nov-
el writing and geared towards debut
authors,” Edmonds says. “I liked that
it was all online, so you could do it
around your schedule.”
Her novel is a fictionalized account
of the occupation of the Malheur Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge that took place
near Burns, Oregon, in early 2016.
She studied with one cohort her en-
tire two years in the program, work-
shopping their novel chapters and
receiving critiques on her own rough
drafts. “You’re going through this ex-
perience with a whole group of people
who are all working on the same proj-
ect,” she explains.
The program accepts 60 students
from all over the world. Instructors are
published and accomplished novelists
and current or former Wallace Stegner
Fellows. Each class includes 15 students
who study together with one instructor
each term. Author Malena Watrous,
the program lead, appreciates the range
of student ages in the program – from
23 to 85 years old. “I love the wealth of
life experience,” she says. “People come
8 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
in, and they’ve lived. They’ve worked
in different jobs and can bring that ex-
pertise to their characters. They’re ea-
ger for education and camaraderie and
writing community – they’re a really
delightful, appreciative, hard-working
group of adults.”
How it works
The two-year program is asynchro-
nous with an optional hour-long
Zoom meeting once a week. Partic-
ipants complete a full-length novel,
working in contemporary fiction, mys-
tery, thriller, science fiction, historical
fiction, autobiographical fiction, and
young adult fiction. Requirements dif-
fer from instructor to instructor, but
in general, students submit approxi-
mately 1,000 words a week over a 10-
week course.
Watrous, who holds an advanced
degree in creative writing, notes that
in a typical Master of Fine Arts pro-
gram in creative writing, students take
Online Certificate Program
in Novel Writing.
Stanford Continuing Studies.
Stanford, California.
Contact Malena Watrous at
650-725-2650,
continuingstudies@stanford.edu.
continuingstudies.stanford.edu.
FICTION
EDITION
a workshop class and a literature class
each term. The Stanford program re-
quires one class a term, in which in-
structors blend writing, workshopping,
and reading.
“We’re working with working
adults and super busy people who
don’t have time to take two classes at
once, so we’re creating classes that look
at how novels are written by looking
at really great published examples,”
she explains. “There’s a majority com-
ponent of writing and responding to
each other, so a quarter of the course is
reading, and three-quarters is devoted
to writing.”
Edmonds wasn’t interested in pur-
suing a Master of Fine Arts degree in
creative writing; the Stanford program
gave her exactly what she needed. “It
actually isn’t the certificate that I was
after,” she says. “I was after the instruc-
tion about how to write a novel.”
What you’ll learn
Students in the program take five core
courses in sequence. In their first year,
they study novel forms and theories.
Watrous teaches this course with an eye
toward helping students to determine
whether their novel needs an inciting
incident, and if so, where in the story
should it occur. “We look at different
opening chapters of published novels
each week and how those beginnings

hook you,” she explains. “We study how
the beginning of a novel needs to raise
a question that interests readers enough
that they’ll keep reading the book and
how to do that.”
Writers also examine novel plot
and structure in their first year. The
following year, they examine theme,
language, and subtext. The fourth
course focuses on completion of the
novel manuscript. Participants must
also take one elective course – classes
such as memoir, poetry, specific fiction
genres, or craft elements.
“In a program like
this, the more
you put into it,
the more you’ll
get out of it.”
Students may also opt for the One-
on-One Tutorial after they complete
their manuscript. They’re matched
with an instructor in a similar genre
who reads the novel in its entirety and
makes line edits and developmental
suggestions, and then they spend a term
immersed in intense revision with that
instructor’s support. Instructors in the
certificate program include Samina Ali,
Deborah Johnson, Nami Mun, Ron
Nyren, Thomas McNeely, Jack Livings,
and others.
Several writers have completed the
certificate and gone on to publish their
books. Alumnus Tracey Lange pitched
her completed novel to an agent at
a writer’s conference, and the agent
WRITERMAG.COM
signed her immediately. Her novel, We
Are the Brennans, became a New York
Times bestseller. Jessie Weaver finished
the certificate and found an agent who
sold her debut YA thriller, Live Your
Best Lie. Other writers, Watrous notes,
have gone on to publish independently
or with a hybrid press.
How to join
Interested writers must fill out a formal
application, which includes a writing
sample of at least 3,000 words, along
with a paragraph of constructive feed-
back for revision on the first page of a
novel (supplied on the application).
Applicants must explain their goals for
the program and submit a description
of themselves as a person and student,
as well as a potential member of an ed-
ucational cohort.
“In a program like this, the more you
put into it, the more you’ll get out of it.
It’s all about what the student brings
to the experience and how much work
they do,” Watrous explains. “You’re led
by talented instructors, of course, but
the class grows as a group based on stu-
dents being excited about it and put-
ting in the work.”
She notes that she and colleague
Scott Hutchins created the certifi-
cate program for working adults who
might not have the time or money to
complete a traditional MFA program –
adults who have taken writing classes,
who have a basic understanding of nov-
el structure and grammar. “You don’t
have to have a perfectly-formed novel
outline,” she says, “But we’re here for
people who are ready to commit to a
manuscript, people who are hungry for
it. This kind of program is a real gift in
the life of a writer.”
Contributing Editor Melissa Hart
is the author, most recently, of the
middle-grade novel Daisy Woodworm
Changes the World. melissahart.com
» Opportunities
Wanderlust Journal: ‘On
the Road’ submissions
This travel journal seeks
prose from 1,000 to 1,500
words that fit the theme of
“On the Road.” “Have you
taken to the road in a vehi-
cle of some sorts? Where
are you now? What’s next?
Be specific. Be generous.
Take us with you,” editors
urge. Submit by Aug. 2.
wanderlust-journal.submittable.com
Grayson Books:
Poetry Contest
John Sibley Williams will
judge the 2022 Grayson
Books Poetry Contest, open
to manuscripts of 50 to 90
pages. Submit by Aug. 16.
graysonbooks.submittable.com
Book of Matches: Prose,
poetry, translations
Send fiction and nonfiction,
poetry, and works in transla-
tion to editors of this online
journal. While Book of Match-
es rarely publishes works
over 2,100 words, editors
say they will consider a lon-
ger work “if it really makes
us tingle.” Micro fiction
and nonfiction (100 to 500
words) will also be consid-
ered. Submit by Aug. 19.
bookofmatcheslitmag.com/submit
The Writer: 2022 Summer
Flash Contest
Submit entries in any genre
– fiction or nonfiction – for
consideration in our annu-
al flash contest. Entries
must be 1,000 words or
less in order to be eligible
for the $1,000 grand prize
and publication in a future
issue of The Writer. Second
and third prizes will receive
$500 and $250, respec-
tively, in addition to publica-
tion on The Writer’s website.
Submit by Aug. 29.
writermag.com/contests
9
Prologue » Literary Spotlight
The Keepthings
This Instagram journal is devoted to sharing “stories of
the things we keep to keep our dear dead with us.”
By Melissa Hart
A VCR TAPE OF JANE FONDA’S WORKOUT
from the 1980s.
An orange finger puppet in the
shape of an octopus tentacle.
A black and silver artificial larynx.
Visitors to the Instagram journal
The Keepthings can see and read about
all of these objects...plus so many more.
Deborah Way was an editor at O, the
Oprah Magazine for 15 years, until the
print magazine closed. In April 2021,
she launched The Keepthings with the
subtitle “stories of the things we keep
to keep our dear dead with us.” She
asks potential contributors to submit
the story of an object and the person
it’s connected to in 600 words or fewer,
along with photos of the object.
“I think of them as love stories told
through objects,” Way says. “Some of
them are shaped like classic stories,
some of them are more like prose po-
ems, but I’m continually surprised at
how unique and meaningful every sto-
ry is. Even though the details are always
different, the one constant is the deep
sense of human connection.”
Tone, editorial content
Way notes that the 600-word limit
doesn’t leave much room to be “writ-
erly.” “I aim for the tone to be conver-
sational, almost as if you were telling
someone your story while sitting at a
bar,” she explains.
George Singleton has a piece titled
“My Father’s Hip” (June 20, 2021) on
the site, illustrated by the photo of a sil-
ver replacement hip. The story begins:
“In October, 1963, during stormy seas,
my father fell 45 feet into the empty hold
10
NONFICTION
EDITION
of a merchant ship on her way to pick up Reading period:
lumber in the Pacific Northwest.” Year-round.
“How could you not be hooked Length:
from the very start?” Way says and 600 words.
describes how Singleton’s father dealt Genre:
with excruciating pain for the rest of Nonfiction.
his life, eventually founding a textile Submission format:
company to provide for his family. Online, via website.
“He compresses so much into a small
Contact:
amount of space,” Way says of the au- Deborah Way at
thor. “His tone is matter of fact – he deborarh@thekeepthings.
lets the drama of the events speak for com, thekeepthings.com.
itself – yet you feel how deeply he ad-
mired and respected and loved his fa-
ther. It’s very moving.”
Contributors
Jenny Shortridge contributed a piece ti-
tled “The Dickens Humidor” (April 13,
2021) to The Keepthings. It describes her
mother, fun-loving yet troubled by men-
tal illness, and an antique tobacco hu-
midor hand-painted with scenes from
Charles Dickens’ novels – an object
much like that belonging to the
alcoholic grandfather who raised
Jenny’s mother. Thirty years after
her mother’s death, the humidor
still has a place in the author’s chi-
na hutch.
GEORGE SINGLETON (HIP); JENNIE SHORTRIDGE (HUMIDOR)
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022

“It’s unusual and kind of lovely, but
that’s not why I keep it,” she writes.
“It doesn’t remind me of her, exactly.
I guess it reminds me that she loved
her grandfather without hesitation, as
mean as he was and as painful as their
relationship could be.”
Laura Buchwald’s piece “The Buffa-
lo Nickel” (not yet published) tells the
story of Tom, the author’s charismatic
and charming friend, who – among oth-
er interests – was passionate about what
Buchwald calls “bygone America.” In
the months before he died, Tom talked
with Buchwald about the ways in which
spirits might reach out to people back
on Earth. “She got him books on the
subject, and one of the things they read
about was coins,” Way explains. “Then he
died, and just a few days later, she found
a Buffalo nickel on the street. She has ab-
solutely no doubt that it came from him
in the afterlife. I was captivated by this
magical appearance of a keepthing.”
Way urges people who don’t consid-
er themselves writers to submit pieces,
noting that some of the most beautiful
stories she’s received come from people
who don’t write at all. From the website,
“What matters is that you have a trea-
sured object connecting you to some-
one who was important in your life.”
LISA WARD (CARD); LAURA BUCHWALD (COIN)
Lisa Ward didn’t consider herself a
writer, but she learned about The Keep-
things and thought about a Christmas
card mailed from her father to his best
friend on the USS Taconic in 1961.
Ward’s father died in 1975, when she
WRITERMAG.COM
was 8 years old, and his best friend – Un-
cle Larry – helped to raise her along with
his own children. The card, she explains
in her piece titled “The Buddy Card,” is
a beautiful expression of friendship be-
tween her father and her uncle, and be-
tween her uncle’s daughter and herself.
Advice for potential contributors
Way believes everyone has a story about
a beloved object from a deceased family
member or friend. She also believes ev-
eryone can tell a 600-word story, with a
little help. She edits all the submissions
she publishes, and she’s happy to work
with contributors on crafting their ini-
tial drafts. She urges potential contrib-
utors to contact her whether they have
a fully completed story or not. In some
cases, she adds, people have sent her
photos of an object along with a few
paragraphs but were unclear on how
to proceed. Way returned to them with
questions about their object and the
person they lost.
“Then we’d go back and forth over
email, fleshing out the story,” she ex-
plains. “I wouldn’t want to do that with
every story, obviously, but I believe
the stories people have inside them are
worth sharing. So if you need a little
help getting your story out, that’s what
I’m here for.”
Melissa Hart is the author, most
recently, of the middle-grade novel
Daisy Woodworm Changes the
World. melissahart.com
» Opportunities
Anthology magazine: An-
thology Short Story Award
Send short stories under
1,500 words that deal with
the theme of “courage” to
Anthology magazine to be
considered for its Short Sto-
ry Award. The winner will re-
ceive €500 and a one-year
subscription to the maga-
zine. Submit by Aug. 31.
anthology-magazine.com
Amazon.co.uk: The Kindle
Storyteller Competition
Amazon sponsors this con-
test for authors who have
published in English on the
Amazon.co.uk Kindle Direct
Publishing (KDP) platform
between May 1, 2022, and
Aug. 31, 2022. The grand
prize is £20,000, and all fi-
nalists will receive a Kindle
Oasis E-Reader. All genres
are eligible, but any book
that has been previously
published elsewhere will be
disqualified.
amazon.co.uk/b/12061299031
Grid Books: 2023 Off the
Grid Poetry Prize
Now in its 10 th year, the Off
the Grid Poetry Prize aims
to recognize the work of
poets over age 60 with pub-
lication and a $1,000 prize.
Eligible poetry manuscripts
must be unpublished as
a whole (individual poems
may have appeared else-
where) and at least 50 pag-
es in length. Garrett Hongo
will judge the 2023 compe-
tition. Submit by Aug. 31.
grid-books.submittable.com
PEN America: Socially en-
gaged fiction manuscripts
Established by Barbara
Kingsolver in 2000, the
PEN/Bellwether Prize for
Socially Engaged Fiction
awards $25,000 to a pre-
viously unpublished fiction
11
Prologue » Literary Spotlight
Solarpunk Magazine
Optimistic speculative fiction – plus poetry and nonfiction –
is welcomed with open arms at this bimonthly magazine.
By Melissa Hart
THE WORD “SOLARPUNK” REFERS TO
a genre of speculative fiction informed by
equity, community, optimism, and – fre-
quently – the natural world; think Frank
Herbert’s Dune and Octavia Butler’s Par-
able of the Sower. Solarpunk Magazine is
a bimonthly publication featuring ideal-
istic short stories, poetry, nonfiction, and
art. As editors write on the magazine’s
website, “the time has never been more
urgent for an explosion of utopian stories
to light a path forward out of the dark-
ness into which humanity has dug itself.”
This is a magazine about hope, in-
formed by its subtitle: “Demand uto-
pia.” Here, you’ll find stories about
blimps powered by chlorophyllectrics
(“Tillandsia” by Josie Kallo, Issue #2)
and harmonious settlements rich with
plant life (“The Last of the Mbahuku
Tribe” by Oyedotun Damilola, Issue
#1). You’ll also find nonfiction pieces,
including “Utopianism: An Interview
with Kim Stanley Robinson.”
Justine Norton-Kertson is co-edi-
tor-in-chief, along with Brianna Cast-
agnozzi. Norton-Kertson enjoys poetry
that captures the aesthetic of solarpunk
in a lyrical way and explores themes
“like radical hope and harmony be-
tween technology and nature.” They
prefer fiction populated by characters
compelling enough to fall in love with.
“A solarpunk aesthetic is important too,
but that’s the packaging for the juice,
which is the characters and thematic
threads,” Norton-Kertson explains.
Tone, editorial content
Editors at Solarpunk look for pieces
that depict cooperative, sustainable
12
FICTION
EDITION
communities and futuristic technol-
ogies that work in conjunction with
nature. They’re passionate about work
that dismantles the cultures of white
supremacy and patriarchy and depicts a
more balanced sharing of wealth.
The July 2022 issue is a celebration of
speculative fiction written and edited by
BIPOC creators. The issue includes Jer-
emy Nelson’s “Sweet Water from Salt,”
a story that Castagnozzi says captured
readers’ imaginations. “The main char-
“An online publication
acter is fleeing corporate seizure and a imagining a better world
wicked thunderstorm on his late parents’ through optimistic
boat, all while attempting to preserve its speculative literature.”
precious cargo: bees and beehives,” she Reading periods:
explains. “[The plot] joins heritage, in- See website for reading
heritance, rebellion, and entomology in periods and themes.
one fantastic survivalist story.” Length:
Norton-Kertson points to Brazilian Prose up to 7,500 words;
author Renan Bernardo’s story “Look poems up to five pages.
to the Sky, My Love” (Issue #1) as the Genres:
type of piece the editors like to publish. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry.
In one scene, the protagonist waits in
Submission format:
line with another character at a party. Through Moksha on
Bernardo writes: magazine’s website.
Payment:
While we waited in line, Alana Yes.
told me how thirty percent of
Contact:
all party-generated energy in
Co-editors Justine Norton-
Quadrilha da Perpétua came Kertson and Brianna
from the feet stomping on the Castagnozzi at info@
ground, all the frisking and solarpunkmagazine.com,
rhythm translated into energy solarpunkmagazine.com
COVER ART BY BRIANNA CASTAGNOZZI AND VU DANG
and dignity for all the surround-
ing communities. And she told
me how it could reach seventy
percent if the party itself was able
to trim its energy expenditure,
and how so many possibilities
could come from that.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022

Editors at Solarpunk look
for pieces that depict
cooperative, sustainable
communities and
futuristic technologies
that work in conjunction
with nature.
“The story does an excellent job of
capturing the spirit of hope and opti-
mism, particularly with its theme of the
power of celebration, that are the hall-
marks of solarpunk,” Norton-Kertson
explains. “As well, it illustrates the fu-
turistic, art nouveau, clean energy aes-
thetic of the solarpunk genre.”
Contributors
Past contributors include poets Gabri-
ela Avelino, Vanessa Jae, and Marisca
Pichette; fiction authors include Otan-
cia Noel, Sarena Ulibarri, and Endria
Isa Richardson.
Elizabeth Sutterlin has published in
the magazine – a nonfiction piece titled
“Solarpunk and She-Ra: How Netflix’s
She-Ra Reboot Invites us to Imag-
ine a High-Tech, Just, and Sustainable
Future” (Issue #3). Nina Munteanu’s
“Why Eco-Fiction Will Change the
World – from CliFi to Solarpunk” ap-
pears in Issue #1, as does Lindsay Jane’s
“Helping Your Garden Transition with
Climate Change.”
Castagnozzi is eager to publish T.R.
Siebert’s poem “Choice” in the Novem-
ber 2022 issue, devoted to lunarpunk
(think solarpunk but more spiritual
and introspective). In it, the poet de-
scribes a decision faced by the narrator.
“They may join their sisters in a beau-
tifully monstrous transformation and
live powerfully in the ocean, or they
WRITERMAG.COM
may continue to live as a human,” Cast-
agnozzi explains. “The imagery of the
starlit seas fits well with our visions of
lunarpunk, as does the narrator’s sense
of agency.”
Norton-Kertson notes that Solar-
punk looks forward to publishing the
magazine’s first solarpunk story for
middle-grade readers, written by J.
Dianne Dotson, in 2023. “It’s a really
sweet story that leans on into the lunar-
punk aesthetic and takes place in a uto-
pian world,” they say.
Advice for potential contributors
Check Solarpunk’s website for upcom-
ing themes; Issue #5 (deadline Sept. 13)
focuses on solarpunk labor, while Issue
#6 (deadline Nov. 8) focuses on lunar-
punk. The magazine hosts a monthly
microfiction contest with a monetary
prize for the best story of 250 words or
fewer, adhering to that month’s theme.
(Check the website regularly for an up-
dated list of contest themes.)
Editors would love to see more cre-
ative nonfiction submissions related to
solarpunk themes and the fight against
fossil fuels. They’re not interested in ac-
ademic pieces full of jargon or political
rants. “For fiction and poetry,” Castag-
nozzi says, “emphasize joyful, hopeful,
or otherwise positive endings.”
They’re committed to publishing
pieces by marginalized writers; they
encourage potential contributors to
identify themselves in a cover letter as
BIPOC, LGBTQIA, neurodivergent,
or disabled, for example. “We love to
amplify voices from marginalized com-
munities that are most impacted by
climate change and other global prob-
lems,” Norton-Kertson writes on the
magazine’s website. “In fact, it’s one of
the key characteristics of solarpunk.”
Melissa Hart is the author, most
recently, of the novel Daisy Woodworm
Changes the World. melissahart.com
» Opportunities
manuscript “that addresses
issues of social justice and
the impact of culture and
politics on human relation-
ships.” The winner will also
receive a publishing con-
tract from Algonquin Books.
Submit by Sept. 1.
pen.submittable.com
The Hunger: Short prose, po-
etry, and hybrid manuscripts
Send prose, poetry, and
hybrid manuscripts of 15
to 50 pages to The Hun-
ger Press for consider-
ation in its 2022 Tiny Fork
Chapbook Series Contest.
Grand prize is $100 and 10
copies of the printed chap-
book, but contest finalists
will also be considered for
publication at the press.
Submit by Sept. 1.
thehunger.submittable.com
EastOver Press: Stories by
rural writers of color
EastOver Press seeks short
stories from BIPOC authors
who live in rural or semi-ru-
ral areas; characters in
these submissions should
also live and/or work in rural
or semi-rural places. Stories
should be no longer than
7,500 words and previously
published either in 2020 or
2021. Payment is $100 to
$300. Submit by Sept 5.
eastoverpresscutleafjournal.
submittable.com
Diode Editions: Poetry
book & chapbook contests
Poets who write in English
are welcome to submit man-
uscripts for Diode Edition’s
Full-Length Book Contest
and Chapbook Contest.
Submission lengths are 25
to 46 pages for the chap-
book contest and 55 to 100
for the full-length edition.
Submit by Sept. 30.
diodeeditions.com/contests
13
Prologue » Off the Cuff
Shelved ambitions
How working at a library made me reevaluate
my long-term writing goals.
By Jenn McKee
FOUR YEARS AGO, I BECAME A PAGE
at my town’s library for a few reasons:
to get out of the house and counter the
social isolation that comes with being a
freelancer; to support a local communi-
ty institution I believe in; and to earn a
little extra money while talking about
books with fellow nerds.
What I didn’t anticipate was that
the job would, over time, spark a radi-
cal reset on my writing ambitions.
Now, the work of a library page is
as basic as it gets. I trundle a cart (with
one janky wheel) out to the drop box
to bring in materials and check them
in; I work the circulation desk and an-
swer phones; I shelve things; and when
it’s slow, I make sure the collections are
in order.
What does this have to do with my
writing life?
On the surface, not much.
14
But often when I’m shelving, I’ll
pause over a book’s cover, knowing that
the object in my hand was someone’s
dream they labored over for months –
maybe even years.
Then I’ll stare at our packed-
to-bursting shelves and see my li-
brary as a repository of thousands of
wishes-come-true.
A lovely notion, to be sure, but
there’s a limit on how many writ-
er-dreams my small-town library can
physically house at one time. Conse-
quently, a process called “weeding”
happens, wherein the librarians cull
older or seldom-circulated materials to
make room for the new ones published
each week, thus making the “here today,
gone tomorrow” nature of the publish-
ing world all-too-visible.
Seeing this firsthand reminded me
that, just like the phrase “they lived
happily ever after” rings reductive and
painfully simple in my adult ears, “she
published a book” often works similar-
ly for writers.
Yes, seeing a book you made out
there in the world seems exciting and
gratifying and fulfilling. But these
positive feelings are also often accom-
panied (or followed) by a lot of anxi-
ety and despair.
Authors with published books have
told me tales of checking Amazon
rankings obsessively; feeling jealous of
peers enjoying success and fame; ex-
periencing wall-punching frustration
when marketing efforts yield little to no
gain; enduring the pain of mean online
reviews; and suffering the humbling
awkwardness of reading your work to a
mostly empty room.
Just as marriage is far too complex
a relationship to be summed up in a
fairy-tale finish line, publishing a book
is hardly a guarantor of permanent hap-
piness and artistic legitimacy, either.
So despite the fact that I, like nearly
all writers, long dreamed of writing and
publishing a book, I’ve lately wondered
why. To prove my worthiness as a writ-
er (i.e., validation)? To take my shot at
fame? To make something (besides my
children) that might outlive me? To
beef up my professional bona fides? To
avenge old classmates who mocked me?
If I’m being honest, all of these
things probably contributed to my
book dreams.
But I’ll note here that what you
SURFSUP/SHUTTERSTOCK
don’t see on that immediate list is, “Be-
cause a book is burning inside of me,
and I can’t NOT do it.”
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 In fact, every time my freelance writ-
ing schedule gets clear for a while, and
my husband says, “You should use this
time to write a book,” I shrug and say,
“About what?”
There’s the rub, folks.
For this is simply the strange truth
of the matter: As much as I’ve want-
ed, since childhood, to publish a book
with my name emblazoned on it, there
just may not be a book in me.
And now, in middle age and in
mid-career, I’m finally coming to real-
ize that’s OK.
This feels like a liberating, weirdly rad-
ical confession. So many things – from
conference panels to personal coaching
pitches to craft books – focus on writing
manuscripts and proposals, getting an
agent, marketing your book (regardless
WRITERMAG.COM
of how you get it published), etc., that
there’s a built-in assumption that this is
the prize we’re all gunning for.
The idea so pervasive that I’d begun
to feel guilty when I found myself in-
creasingly uninterested and un-tempt-
ed by these offerings. Was I just lazy
and un-ambitious? Had I just given up,
after all these years of toil?
No. But I did determine, over time,
that the writing that gives me the
greatest satisfaction and joy comes in
the form of personal essays (like this
one). I love the freedom and flexibil-
ity inherent in this particular kind of
writing life – unglamorous and un-
celebrated by mainstream culture as
it may be – where I can dig in and
explore experiences or ideas as they
come to me; and readers are just as
likely, if not more, to find my essays
online than they would a book on my
library’s shelf.
So my recent goal recalibration
doesn’t stem from a sense of resignation
or some kind of personal or artistic fail-
ing. It comes from identifying precise-
ly what I want – versus what the world
may tell me to want – and letting that
guide me.
Yes, my writing career may forever
remain modest in scope, but letting go
of a dream that’s not really mine has al-
ready made my load lighter.
Jenn McKee lives in Michigan and has
published work in Good Housekeep-
ing, Scary Mommy, American Theatre
magazine, Your Teen magazine, Hour
Detroit magazine, and more.
15
Prologue » Breakthrough

What you can’t find in research –

and why it matters
Sometimes, the questions you can’t answer are
the ones that shed the most light on a story.
By Ellen Meeropol

FICTION WRITERS ARE TAUGHT

that if the background research required
to make a novel feel authentic is done
well, it’s rarely noticed. If the writer has
done their job, there are no anachro-
nisms that jerk the reader out of the sto-
ry. If the details feel historically accurate,
the reader puts themselves into the com-
petent hands of the author and enters
the narrative wholeheartedly.
There are various ways to proceed
with this research. Some novelists learn
as much as they think they’ll need about
the subject area of a novel before begin-
ning to write; others write a first draft
and then research the areas that are thin
on background material. But most nov-
elists are obliged, at some point, to go to
the library or search online or interview
experts before finishing a manuscript.
Novel research has taken me places I
never expected to go. For my first nov-
el, House Arrest, I interviewed a proba- Washington, D.C. amusement park. presented a different challenge. Some
tion officer to learn about house arrest It was surprisingly difficult to discover of the research followed my typical pat-
ankle monitors, and a friend helped me when portable toilets were first used at tern: A local police detective helped me
describe visiting nurse infection control demonstrations for Her Sister’s Tattoo understand the procedures followed
policies. Researching On Hurricane Is- and fascinating to interview a man who when a person is reported missing, and
land included braving a gun shop to feel had been on staff of the Senate commit- I devoured books about Jewish partisans
the weight of a pistol a character needed tee investigating COINTELPRO. Even in Polish forests during the Holocaust.
to use and delving deep into first-person the details that never make it onto the But I faced a big knowledge gap.
accounts and military manuals about page of a book add verisimilitude and The main narrative concerns an elder-
black site torture by U.S. security ser- richness to a story. ly woman who goes missing one No-
vices. I interviewed a professor who My usual process – followed in those vember morning. Her home is on the
studied plant diseases and a young wom- four novels – is to write a first draft of grounds of a decommissioned state
MACONDO/SHUTTERSTOCK

an who coordinated a university per- the manuscript entirely from my imagi- mental hospital, and her husband is
maculture garden for Kinship of Clover nation and then dig into the research to the former head psychiatrist of the
and studied old newspapers to unearth fill in the bald spots. But my fifth nov- hospital. The mental hospital is based
the details of the pickets to integrate a el, The Lost Women of Azalea Court, on a real place that closed in 1993, the

16 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
buildings torn down or repurposed,
although I changed some details. The
more I learned about the place, the
more I wanted to get that history right,
to honor the people who suffered there.
I couldn’t really begin to tell the story
without deep background knowledge.
But I had a steep learning curve. Un-
like my previous books, I had almost no
knowledge about the subject area – little
experience with mental illness or its treat-
ment and no prior experience with ar-
chival research. Luckily, both the public
library and the historical museum in my
town have extensive collections of state
hospital material and incredibly knowl-
edgeable and helpful staff. I was able to
dig into old records and photographs,
newspaper articles, and unpublished
testimony from former patients. Massa-
chusetts has digitized 140 years of annual
superintendent reports to the legislature
and made them available online. People
with firsthand knowledge – attorneys
and social workers and psychiatrists and
attendants and former patients – shared
their memories and tried to answer my
questions. Most importantly, they were
willing to discuss whether things could
have happened the way my story was un-
folding in my brain. So much primary
source information – and yet, why was it
hard to find what I needed?
Why couldn’t I discover for certain
exactly what it would take to commit a
woman to a state mental hospital in the
mid-1950s? Even with the help of experi-
enced librarians at the county law library
and attorneys specializing in this area,
I found the legal procedures remained
murky. And why was it so easy to learn
how many bushels of potatoes or pounds
of onions were harvested in any year
from the hospital farm fields but not a
word about how many women became
pregnant while patients at the hospital
and what happened to their babies?
Of course, I do know why. Some
state hospital practices were deeply
WRITERMAG.COM
harmful to patients. They were hidden steered the novel in a different direc-
because they were shameful. People tion, one that focused on those trou-
were confined because they were eccen- blesome questions.
tric or gay, because their husbands tired If I had been writing nonfiction –
of them, because they did not conform journalism or exposé – I would have had
to the behavior standards of the day. to either keep digging or acknowledge
Perhaps this situation creates an excep- defeat. But a pleasure of writing fiction
tion to the rule of research remaining is the opportunity to explore an import-
hidden as well. Maybe in some cases, ant but unanswered – perhaps unan-
excavated information – or the lack of swerable – question. To dig as deeply as
that information – must be brought to possible into the “what ifs,” with all the
light, highlighted even, to do justice to complexity and nuance one can muster.
the story. To honor the history, ugly as it is, and
In my novel, one psychiatrist had write a story that is as much about what
the power to commit a woman to the we don’t know as what we do.
hospital, but I couldn’t find anything Because sometimes, it’s the material
in writing to support that. Eventual- you can’t find that reveals the most.
ly, an expert on the legal issues about
mental hospital commitment told me, Ellen Meeropol is the author of five
“It could have happened the way you novels, most recently The Lost Women
imagine it,” and I decided that was close of Azalea Court and Her Sister’s
enough for fiction. But I found no an- Tattoo, a finalist for the Sarton Prize,
swers to the question of female patients and co-editor of the forthcoming
becoming pregnant and giving birth. anthology Dreams for a Broken
Pregnant by whom? What happened to World. Recent essay publications
those babies? The lack of available data, include Lilith, Lit Hub, Mom Egg
and the importance of the issue to me, Review, and Ms. Magazine.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN
Your story WRITING, LITERATURE
starts here. & PUBLISHING
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17
Broadening the CARIBBEAN
LITERATURE

Bookshelves
By Yi Shun Lai

Getting to know Caribbean literature

W
hen I was in college, I took a class on So I think that also we have this
sort of expansive notion of space and
French Caribbean literature. For a place in the region, and it’s seen by just
long time, then, that’s what Caribbean even defining the territory of what is
literature was to me: French. I’m a lot the Caribbean.
older now, though, and a long chat with Professor Tanya TW: So what I hear you saying is that
Shields at the University of North Carolina Chapel the Caribbean is now also being some-
what defined by its diaspora. Would
Hill has set me further straight. Her class, “Rahtid that be somewhat accurate?
Rebel Women: An Intro to Caribbean Women,” covers
everything from literature to cooking and was named TS: Sometimes those places, like let’s say
the coast of Venezuela, [are] very actual-
as one of Elle Magazine’s “63 College Classes That Give ly near Trinidad and Tobago. So there
Us Hope for the Next Generation.” We talked about was movement between those places,
intersectionality, women’s studies, and so much more. where people in Trinidad would go to
that coast, people would travel back.
So that question of diaspora becomes
a really interesting idea to consider be-
The Writer: Let’s start at the begin- retentions by these original inhab- cause, in some places, I think we think
ning. How do we define Caribbean itants. We have some of their oral sto- of diaspora as just “a group that moved
literature? ries, we have some of their art, their over and settled here.” But some people
petroglyphs, that kind of thing. And [say] you can’t be a diaspora until there’s
Dr. Tanya Shields: I think this defini- I think people are doing more and sort of two movements. So if you move
tional question is one that haunts the more research about this. The Carib- from the Caribbean to Britain and then
field, and I would say it haunts the bean [is also] not just the islands in someplace else, then you become a dias-
field of Caribbean studies, not even the Caribbean Sea. There is also what pora. But the move from the Caribbean
just Caribbean literature, because we call the greater Caribbean, or to Britain is not enough of one. I don’t
we’re always looking at issues of place the circum-Caribbean. So the coast subscribe to that. But that’s also part
and who has the right to speak, who of Venezuela, the entire countries of the critical conversation about what
gets to speak when. So if we think of of Guyana, Suriname, and French constitutes diaspora.
most of the Caribbean, these islands Guiana are thought to be part of the People talk about places like Lou-
were colonized and most of the Caribbean. Parts of Central America, isiana, Miami, New York as being ex-
Indigenous population decimated. like Belize, are seen as the Caribbean tensions of the Caribbean, and I think
And we don’t have a lot of written in Caribbean studies. that can be problematic because those

18 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
places are in the first world. You know,
we can talk about first world and Third
World and global south embedded
in global north. But all that to say:
These questions of definition plague
us and are not easily resolved and are
part of how we characterize and think
through, “what is the Caribbean, peri-
od, and then what are Caribbean stud-
ies, what is Caribbean literature?”
TW: Does that sense of squishiness
damage the study of Caribbean litera-
ture in any way?
TS: I don’t think it damages it, but I
think it definitely challenges us be-
cause, you know, we like neat catego-
ries. We like to categorize things. We
like to be able to put things in a box
and know that [they’re] safely in that
box. And so I think that the Caribbean
sort of ruptures that idea of being neat.
But I think Caribbean people have
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had to adapt to the kind of messiness
in their histories and their societies
because they are small societies that
have been linked to the global because
of colonial processes.
TW: Do you think it’s unique in that
regard?
TS: I think it was one of the earliest
globally cosmopolitan spaces in the
modern world. And if we think about
modernity as sort of starting in the 14th,
15th century, then I do think that we
have bodies that came from Europe. We
have Indigenous bodies. Yes. Many of
them were decimated, but they’re still
there. We have European bodies. We
have enslaved Africans, but we also have
indentured bodies that came from plac-
es like India and China. And later in the
20th century, we had Arab populations
from Syria and Lebanon and places like
that that also came to the region.
Guyana and Trinidad are two
Caribbean sites that have a 40-some-
odd percent African-descended
population and a 40-some-odd Indian
descended population…Then there’s
like 10% of mixed-race people, “other
others,” quote unquote. But other
places like Jamaica – though Jamai-
ca has a Chinese population and an
Indian population and a mixed-race
population – is an overwhelmingly
African-descended space, you know.
And then when we look out beyond
the English-speaking Caribbean
to include territories like Cuba…it
becomes a whiter Caribbean if we in-
clude the Spanish-speaking territories,
like Cuba, Dominican Republic.
TW: Related to this is the question of
what traditions these different popula-
tions bring into Caribbean literature.
You said that this multi-ethnicity chal-
lenges the idea of Caribbean literature
and how we can define it and how we
can think of it. Specifically speaking,
what form do you think those chal-
lenges take?
TS: When I’m thinking about the Carib-
bean, I feel, I don’t want to say pressure,
but – I feel like I must represent it in its
most holistic sense. So that means I can’t
just stay in the Anglophone Caribbean.
So [in my syllabus] I have to have text
from the Francophone and the His-
panophone and the Dutch-speaking
Caribbean as well. I probably have a
more cultural studies bent than a purely
literary studies bent. But I also feel that
reflects Caribbean experiences because
even Caribbean writers, they were rarely
just writers. They were often teachers,
and some of them were engineers, and
some of them were painters, and some
of them were politicians. So they are
these multi-dimensional people who
are interested in a wide variety of things,
19
B →B Caribbean Literature
and their writings reflected that. So
you’d have people who are poets and
playwrights and sometimes painters in
addition to writing a novel. And then
they taught high school, you know,
or elementary school. So these were
people who were definitely fashioned
and informed by a really broad un-
derstanding of what it means to be an
educated person.
I remember when I was in grad
school, I had this old Jewish neighbor,
she did everything, too. But she’s like,
“Is there such a thing? The Caribbean
has a literature?” This is a woman who
is very well read, really valued learning
about other people in other cultures.
But she could not conceive of this sun-
and-sand region as being also a place
that was a literary powerhouse.
TW: Are there places to learn more
about Caribbean literature?
TS: One of one of the resources that I
have found really useful from my perch
out here is the Bocas Lit Fest, a literary
festival that’s based in Trinidad and To-
bago. They have an archive. You can go
back and look at talks with scholars. Be-
fore Bocas, there was something called
CariFesta, which was about celebrating
the Caribbean across linguistic regions.
That [is] a mechanism for all types of
artists, not just writers, to get together.
So many people talked about CariFesta
as a way of learning about other people
in the Caribbean beyond your linguistic
group because I think that that’s also a
critical part of the Caribbean is that we
tend to be a, quote unquote, fragment-
ed place, fragmented by our colonial
experiences that led to linguistic differ-
ences that still live with us today.
[In the 1950s, during] this quest
for independence [from colonialism],
people started looking [for] “what
makes us, us?” And they start looking
20
at things like language, history, recu-
perating various paths. So there’s a lot
of recuperation of African pasts and a
lot of these works. Language becomes
a huge, huge thing because people are
like, we speak in what Edward Kam-
au Brathwaite calls “nation language,”
as he says. To call it a “dialect” or to
call it a “patois” diminishes its role
There was a real
tension between:
“Are you writing
in English, or are
you writing in
the colonizer’s
language, versus
the language that
you dream in or the
language that you
use at the market?”
as a language. And so he says, “Yeah,
people speak Jamaican, or they speak
Trinidad or Trinidadian, or they speak
Creole or whatever you want to call it.
But these are languages, and we need
to recognize them as languages.” There
was a real tension between: “Are you
writing in English, or are you writing
in the colonizer’s language, versus the
language that you dream in or the lan-
guage that you use at the market?” And
Merle Hodge, who is a Trinidadian,
has a great piece where she talks about
how critical it is to recuperate Carib-
bean languages and write in them and
valorize them because they have often
been seen as incorrect speech or wrong
speech. So I think that sort of exper-
imentation with language and how
language appears on the page impacted
genre and how we tell stories.
TW: In your syllabus, you ask your stu-
dents to make some recipes from the
Caribbean, and you have them watch
movies and films from and about the
region. Why touch on so many modes
of communication?
TS: I feel like, you know, like the writers
who are never just in one box, you can’t
just [understand the Caribbean] in a
singular way. It is really important to
bring in as much lived experience [as
possible], especially for an audience. It’s
interesting how many of [my Caribbean
students] know the Caribbean through
food because that’s the one thing that
their family retained. Especially if they
don’t travel back. I wanted them to have
a full Caribbean experience, which to
me means it can’t just be the written
word, or it can’t just be music. It has
to be as much of that [experience] as
possible. I also wanted to give students a
regional scope, which means I just can’t
stay in the Anglophone Caribbean, and
we have to, even when I don’t do it well,
I do want them to know these other
places exist, and they have complicated
histories because, again, we have a tour-
istic gaze when we think of the Carib-
bean. So part of my job is to rupture
that on as many fronts as possible.
Yi Shun Lai is the author of Pin Ups, a
memoir. She teaches in the MFA program
at Bay Path university and is a founding
editor of Undomesticated Magazine.
Visit at undomesticatedmag.com.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
Talk to the
Practitioner:
Celeste Mohammed

O
ver 20 years ago, a good
friend of mine told me, ap-
ropos of nothing, that he
thought the entire indus-
try of all-inclusive resorts was corrupt.
He said he’d been to a Sandals resort
in Jamaica and opted to go “outside the
gates,” as he called it, and had been hor-
rified by what he’d seen there. Poverty,
he said, was everywhere, but also, people
living a life quite apart from the resort.
This confused me at first. The line In any case, I haven’t been to an So when I went looking for literature
we’d been fed was that resorts like San- all-inclusive resort since then – it of the Caribbean, I was, despite my best
dals and Barefoot and Club Med fed was too obvious that we visitors were intentions, still operating from a very
into the local economy, hiring people just borrowing the scenery. But I also limited knowledge set. My interview
to work at their resorts and in general didn’t make any further attempts to with writer Trinidadan Celeste Mo-
contributing. The picture John painted get to know, as a responsible tourist, hammed, whose book of linked short
for me was very different. the Caribbean Islands my friends were stories, Pleasantview, came out in 2021,
It wasn’t until I finally went to an talking about traveling to: the Domin- took place against this intellectual back-
all-inclusive for myself that I actual- ican Republic, say, or Trinidad, or Ja- ground, and Mohammed quickly and
ly understood what he meant. The maica or the Bahamas. And, perhaps gently put everything in perspective.
multi-national resorts hired childcare even worse, I did travel there on multi- “It has always interested me over the
or waterskiing or parasailing instruc- ple disaster-relief efforts for an interna- course of my entire life and my many
tors from America or Europe; the local tional NGO I volunteer for: I’ve been trips to the U.S. how little Americans
people who did get hired on to work at to Haiti three times for earthquakes understand about their backyard,” she
these resorts were usually cleaners. You and hurricanes, and Dominica twice tells me. “We are your backyard, right?
didn’t really speak to them. for Hurricane Maria. And the thing is that, politically, your

WRITERMAG.COM 21
B →B Caribbean Literature
government understands very well how
important we are to your well-being.
That’s why they always intervene in
matters in the Caribbean…And if you
just go back, I mean, come on. Alexan-
der Hamilton was a Caribbean immi-
grant. So there’s so much that the Carib-
bean has done and it has fed into Amer-
ica. But Americans remain clueless as to
what constitutes the Caribbean. There
is this just one-dimensional view of the
Caribbean, established narratives of
what the Caribbean story should be.”
Mohammed tells me that this is one
reason she opted to get her MFA, which
she received from Lesley University in
Massachusetts. “I am not interested in
writing into those established narratives.
I am seated here, live and on location
and able to give you directly an inside
view as to what it is like to live here.”
Pleasantview takes place in a fic-
tional neighborhood of Trinidad that
is guided by everything from good in-
tentions to political corruption to co-
lonialism. Pleasantview’s people try
for the American dream, flying to New
York and leaving their entire fami-
lies behind. They try to put their own
stamps on their identities even as they
carry around the genes of their colo-
nizers. The women in Pleasantview do
their best to survive in a world that
22
does not value them. The young men in
the neighborhood are guided by every-
thing from power to the promise of a
better life, if only they will convert to
Islam. A good chunk of it is written in
Trinidadian vernacular.
And yet, despite all of this texture,
Mohammed says, “Seems like the pub-
lishing industry in America doesn’t real-
There’s so much
that the Caribbean
has done and it has
fed into America.
But Americans
remain clueless as
to what constitutes
the Caribbean.
ly want that. What you want is, you want
me to continue to support your view,
that of exoticism and eroticism and, you
know, the kinds of stories like, ‘oh, the
beautiful, Black, goodhearted slave, pre-
vailing or falling in love with the white.’
No, that’s – I’m not doing that.”
Mohammed began writing the sto-
ries in Pleasantview while she was in her
MFA (she’d also written and pitched a
novel in the meantime, and didn’t find
publication). With the stories in Pleas-
antview, she followed exactly the formu-
la that most writers are told will lead to
book publication: write the stories; get
them published in good literary mag-
azines; from there, trust in the system
and someone will pick it up. Moham-
med’s agent was sure this would hap-
pen, too. One by one, her stories were
published by magazines like the New
England Review; Kweli Journal, and the
Beloit Fiction Journal. They went on to
win awards: the PEN/Robert J. Dau
Short Story Prize for Emerging Writ-
ers, the Virginia Woolf Award for Short
Fiction. And yet, her agent came back
time and again with rejections.
Mohammed began to reconcile her-
self to the idea of self-publishing. “I be-
lieved in the book, and I believed that
Caribbean people would embrace this
book because I knew there was nothing
like it that was unapologetically telling
the truth. And I felt people would see it
and people would embrace it anyway.”
But one of her mentors at Lesley Uni-
versity had another idea: The mentor
sent the manuscript to IG Publishing,
who couldn’t believe the work was still
on the table.
Mohammed is very philosophical
about the whole string of events. She
prescribes part of the turn of events to
the pandemic: by the time March 2020
rolled around, she’d “failed twice,” as
she put it, in getting either a novel or
the book that would become Pleasant-
view accepted for publication. “I hadn’t
written anything since the news of that
rejection of the novel September the
previous year. I had come to a point
where I was like, ‘Listen, I’ve thrown
away my legal career. I’ve invested ev-
erything I’ve done, everything a person
could possibly do. And I failed twice.
So. I don’t know what I’m going to do.
I don’t know what I’m going to do with
my life.’ I was out of it, completely.
“In retrospect,” Mohammed says,
“perhaps the timing and all of those
rejections were all divinely strung to-
gether because, were it not for the pan-
demic, if this book had come out be-
fore, I’m not sure it would have been
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
received as it has been received. People
were trapped at home and hungry and
glued to social media. People are so
much more open to these virtual events
and meetings and whatever. A small,
little independent press like that, they
didn’t have any budget for marketing.
They couldn’t fly me and I couldn’t fly
me all over the place to attend events.”
Mohammed suggests that the tim-
ing was right for yet another reason:
her next book, slated for publication by
HarperCollins in 2023, is a children’s
picture book, about steel pan drums.
“If it weren’t for the pandemic,” she
said, “I would have never sat down to
write a picture book.”
Mohammed says this. But she is driv-
en by something much more tangible:
the need to show her daughter, who was
born in the mid 2010s, something that
is uniquely Trinidadian. “What I really
appreciate when [I’m reading] is I see
myself on the page, I see something I can
identify with. And I was buying all these
books for my daughter with brown chil-
dren and, you know, Black, brown, yel-
low, red, whatever kids. But my daughter
isn’t any of those things, right? She never
will be just like me. She can’t tick the box
that says ‘you’re this thing or that thing.’
Her father is Latino. She doesn’t know
what she is. But she does know that she’s
Trini. That’s the one thing she does know
that she is. And so I wrote that book try-
ing to show her that this is something
very Trinidadian. Trinidad gave the
world this musical instrument. It’s one
of the few actually invented in the 20th
century. And it came from somebody
taking what they had available and turn-
ing it into art. It’s an indigenous musical
instrument. And I really wanted her to
know that and be proud of that.”
I ask Mohammed about one more
thing that’s been on my mind since I read
Pleasantview: The book’s population is
mostly poor, or lower-class. Does she, as
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an upper-class Trinidadian, feel any pres- somebody who was not Indian. Similar-
sure to not write that point of view? ly with Black people, they feel comfort-
“I’m glad you’re asking the question able. So I get insight into certain things.
and that you’re asking it openly, because I’m pretty comfortable that everything
there’s some things that are uniquely I’ve written in Pleasantview comes from
American. And I feel like that’s a prob- firsthand experience, observed or lived.”
lem that tends to be a uniquely Ameri- Mohammed’s comments remind me
can problem. Americans are really good that, no matter how much I’ve learned
at labeling things, and a label to me is and read about other cultures so far, I
like a container, a discrete container for still carry the baggage of an American
something. And not everything can be perspective, where things fit neatly
poured neatly into those labels. And so, into labels and genres, where we some-
like in the Caribbean, Trinidad – I don’t times fail to see the long history that
want to speak for the entire Caribbean gives a writer perspective, just because
because that also is a myth that the Ca- it hasn’t crossed our minds to imagine
ribbean is a monolith and it isn’t. Every what such a perspective might endow
single Caribbean island is different and a writer with. But talking with her also
certain groups of islands they are differ- reminds me that there is are so many
ent depending and their very the his- more lives to be learned.
torical reasons that go back to slavery
and Trinidad. I can speak with a lot of
certainty about being a Trinidadian and
also being a student of history.” (Mo-
hammed’s great grandmother and great
grandfather were brought over from In-
dia to work on a British cocoa planta-
tion.) “The thing about it is, I grew up
not wealthy. I know what that is like. I
just talked to my grandparents, my aunts,
my mother. I know what that is like.
“Because of education and social
mobility, my present life may not be
that. And I may live among people who
don’t know that. But I knew it. I grew
up in a very Indian home. But I could
never be Indian enough because of that
that bit of Black. [Editor’s note: Mo-
hammed is bi-racial.] So I always saw
myself as Black. But Black people didn’t
see me as Black. I wasn’t Black enough
and I wasn’t Indian enough. And, so it
has allowed me to slide socially wher-
ever I can. And also it has allowed me
to sort of observe people in the wild. So
sometimes I would be seated in a group
of Indian people and they’ll feel com-
fortable to say certain things around
me that they wouldn’t say around
23
 Nightstand
Cuban-American writer Vanessa
Garcia is a literal tour de force.
Everything she touches becomes
something bigger than its original
implication. I know because
meeting her gave me the impetus
I needed to sign with the same
small press where she published
her debut novel. Being around her is like sitting in the eye
of a storm of projects, all of which are experiencing their
own moments of movement: her immersive experience,
Amparo, ran in Miami to great acclaim before moving
onto Instagram; her posts about Cuban independence
have been lighting up her social media feeds, and her
latest project is a picture book (What the Bread Says:
Baking with Love, History, and Papan), due out from
Cardinal Rule Press in October. Even after signing with
Cardinal Rule, Garcia wasn’t done; she convinced her
publisher to change paper suppliers in order to avoid
doing business with China, which has come under fire for
human rights violations.
We asked Vanessa to recommend five must-read
books by Caribbean authors.
24
Dancing in the Dark, Caryl Phillips.
Garcia helped Phillips with the
research on this biography of vaude-
villian Bert Williams, but that’s not
the reason she loves it. “[Williams
was] a Black vaudevillian who had
to wear Blackface, and the layers of
[the book] are just intense,” she told
me. Phillips’ own identity, she added,
adds to the complexity of the work:
“I think the first thing you see when
you meet him is a British writer,” she
said. “Then, two seconds later, after
a conversation, you realize like, no,
actually, hang on, he’s from Saint
Kitts. He’s doing the same layering
and layering himself. And then add to
that the United States, because that’s
where he is now. So he’s born in Saint
Kitts, raised in Britain, lives in the
U.S., with obviously deep roots still
in Saint Kitts and England.” Gar-
cia notes that this layering calls into
question, for her, what constitutes a
“real” Caribbean narrative and what’s
seen as real. “[Writers are] writing the
real narrative,” she says, “not what you
think is the Latin or Cuban narra-
tive. I’m still getting requests for ‘real’
stories, but the other day, I pitched
something, and they were like, ‘no,
we want the real story.’ OK, you want
me to cross the border and then have
a fiesta, eat a taco, and hit a piñata?
Obviously, I’m being obnoxious –
they don’t want the piñata anymore.
They get that part. [But they say] they
like the real; they actually don’t.”
Cocina Criolla, Nitza Villapol.
Published news stories often call Vil-
lapol the Julia Child of Cuban cuisine
– and it’s true, she did have her own
cooking show, Cocina al Minuto, for
decades – but Garcia refers to her as
the “Anthony Bourdain of Cuba,” –
she even continued her show even after
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022

Fidel Castro took power, even after the
fall of the Soviet Union, adapting end-
lessly to suit the ingredients Cubans
had to work with.
Cocina Criolla is Villapol’s first
book. Her second, named after her
show, she adapted time and again, in
flow with Cuba’s changing status. “So
many of these recipes are the recipes
I grew up with,” said Garcia. “I open
it, and it’s really Cuban food for me.”
Garcia’s copy of the book is the one her
mother used.
La Edad de Oro, José Martí.
Martí, says Garcia, “was the patriot
poet of Cuba. He essentially fought
for Cuba’s independence from Spain
WRITERMAG.COM
through writing, through his pen. And
he died in actual battle.” The volume
of children’s stories is the book form
of Marti’s periodical for children, La
Edad de Oro, which Marti published
in New York during his exile from
Cuba. “In Cuban families, this book
is passed down through generations,”
Garcia told me. “This copy was gifted
to my mother – the inscription is to
her – and then she passed it to me.”
The stories in these works are for chil-
dren, but Garcia notes that the morals
and values presented in the stories are
rooted in the real world, as opposed
to the fanciful fairy-tale offerings we
might first consider when we think of
stories for children. And Garcia notes,
“there’s no holding back on language,”
challenging the reader to pick up on
meaning and nuance.
Brother, I’m Dying, Edwidge Danticat.
Danticat’s memoir won the National
Book Critics’ Circle Award for Au-
tobiography and was a finalist for the
National Book Award. For Garcia, the
book resonates on a craft level: “It’s
not exactly a deadpan narrative, but
she just tells you the story she’s telling.
Some of those things just stated and
said are so powerful that you don’t
really need the commentary. It’s there
in the space.” It also, she said, calls
to mind the question of exile versus
immigration. “I always think about…
nobody wants to leave Cuba. Nobody
wants to jump in a raft to risk their
lives and possibly never come back
and join however many souls are at the
bottom of the sea, potentially. I mean,
that’s not what people want. Does a
country have a chance to be? Why
don’t we see that? All those things.
They strike home always when I’m
reading Danticat.”
A Brief History of Seven Killings,
Marlon James.
Garcia holds up her copy of her book
and waves it at me. “A couple reasons
I love this book. First of all, look at it.
I mean, it’s ambitious. It’s huge.” The
novel, a fictionalized version of the
events surrounding singer Bob Mar-
ley’s death, won the 2015 Man Booker
Prize for Fiction. Garcia also praised its
chiaroscuro effect (Marley is referred to
as “The Singer” throughout the book).
“This chiseling around of a character
until you see who he is; it’s like the defi-
nition of context, you know, it’s like,
why do these figures exist? Because of
a moment, because of everything that’s
happening at the time.”
25
MJGRAPHICS/SHUTTERSTOCK

26
 A successful beginning should both
invite readers into a story and make them eager
to stick around until the conclusion.
Here are five tried-and-true strategies
for writing your own.
By Sarah Van Arsdale

27
 emember parties?
Writing fiction is a
little like hosting a
party, with the read-
er as a new friend
you’re bringing into
your home. Your job, as the writer, is
to host the party: make sure everyone
is supplied with food and drink, show
them around, keep the conversation
going with snappy dialogue and in-
trigue, remind everyone there’s an end-
point, and then see everyone out the
door, satisfied.
But first, you have to get the guest
to want to come in the door. And that’s
where your first line – which can ex-
tend to the first paragraph – comes in.
It’s crucial to get the opening of a story,
whether it’s a 400-page novel or a 500-
word work of flash fiction, just right so
that the reader wants to stay in the fic-
tional world you’re creating.
Whatever the form, the first line of a
work of fiction needs to pique the read-
er’s interest, give them a reason to leave
their nice, comfortable “real” life. This
is often described as “catching the read-
er’s attention,” but what does that really
mean when you’re face-to-face with the
computer screen?
Wait a minute. Before you even
think about writing your opening,
I urge you to write the story or nov-
el. When you sit down to write, don’t
28
start with whatever you think is going
to be the beginning. Start with what-
ever scene is the most compelling to
you. Work your way forward from that
point, and don’t worry about writing it
chronologically. Once you’re satisfied
with how the plot moves, go back and
write your opening.
In this way, you can bring to the
opening whatever you need. It’s only
once you know how the story will
turn out that you can properly pre-
pare the reader with the right kind of
opening. And you’ll only know how it
will turn out by writing it. In working
on a story, and especially a novel, you
may discover that you need to begin
days, weeks, or even years before the
first moment you’d originally thought
of. Or you may develop another char-
acter as you work, who then needs to
make an appearance in the opening.
Or you may realize that you need to
plant some seeds for the reader, so
they’ll have the hints about who the
murderer is.
In other words, consider how the
party will go before you lay out the
glasses and appetizers. You have to
know how many people are coming
and what fireworks may be going on
between them. Some party hosts even
consider how they’ll get everyone to
shove off by midnight before even
sending out the invitations.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 STRATEGIES
FOR OPENINGS
1
Bring the reader into
the fictional world
This strategy is more frequently
used in novels, where you have more
room to spread out the setting for
the reader, than in short stories. Of
course, the choices you make describ-
ing the setting matter; if it’s too dry,
you’ll lose the reader, but if you allow
yourself some poetic range in your lan-
guage, and if you focus on important
details, you’ll be offering the reader a
context into which you can then bring
the characters.
When starting with setting, consid-
er the mood you want to evoke. Will
you be using a humorous tone or a
poignant tone? Do you want it to feel
gloomy and threatening or bright and
cheerful? Is your narrator distant and
cold or warm and accessible? Even in
third person, you can illustrate who the
narrator is and hint at where the story
will go by carefully calibrating the tone
of the opening.
You can also sound the first notes
that will echo later in the book. This
can be subtle: open the novel in a living
room with a blue sofa, and close with
a character wearing a blue sweater. The
subconscious of the reader will pick
up on this, and this will contribute to
their satisfaction when they close the
book. You can also think of this as bal-
ancing beginning and end: For exam-
ple, in my novel Grand Isle, I opened
and closed with a party scene, so there’s
a feeling of balance between the two,
and the reader can see how the group
of friends has changed over the course
of the novel.
Even when you start with setting,
be sure to consider where the tension
or drama is. Can you describe a setting
and infuse it with adrenaline that will
keep the reader pulling along? Some-
times, this may take a full page or two
before the character shows up, as in
WRITERMAG.COM
the novella Last Night at the Lobster
by Stewart O’Nan, which begins: Mall
traffic on a gray winter’s day, stalled.
That “stalled” may seem like a small
thing, but it sounds a note of tension,
especially set off on its own and finish-
ing the sentence.
He goes on: Midmorning and the
streetlights are still on, weakly. Scattered
flakes drift down like ash, but for now the
roads are dry. It’s the holidays – a gar-
bage truck stopped at the light has a big
բ
The first line of
a work of fiction
needs to pique
the reader’s
interest, give
them a reason to
leave their nice,
comfortable
“real” life.
wreath wired to its grille, complete with a
red velvet bow. The turning lane waits for
the green arrow above to blink on, and
a line of salted cars takes a left into the
mall entrance, splitting as they sniff for
parking spots.
In this way, O’Nan sinks us deep-
ly into a setting that is far from filled
with holiday cheer. We feel there’s
something off, with the “stalled” traffic
and the snow, not sweet darling flakes
but “like ash.” And then there’s a gar-
bage truck. The opening paragraphs
are infused with a kind of dread, even
before we meet the protagonist on the
second page.
You can also evoke the setting and
the feeling of the story in just the
first line. In Paris, in the spring of our
times…begins Love of Seven Dolls, a
novella by Paul Gallico. But consid-
er how that opening sentence ends:
…a young girl was about to throw her-
self into the Seine. The next sentences
describe the girl, gaunt with hunger
and the misery of failure. So we move
quickly from setting to character, and
we get the conflict between the light-
ness of spring in Paris and the des-
peration of the suicidal girl, and im-
mediately we’re concerned about this
protagonist.
2
Raise a question about
a situation
One way to think about open-
ings is to consider presenting the read-
er with a question: why, or what hap-
pened to create this situation, or what is
this strange world we’re entering, or who
is this character? The question also can
pull the reader forward into the future
of the story, making us wonder what
will happen next.
One of the greatest works of specu-
lative fiction, George Orwell’s 1984,
starts with an unforgettable line: It
was a bright cold day in April, and the
clocks were striking thirteen. With no
direct explanation, which could de-
tract from the immediacy of this line,
we know something is terribly wrong
in this world, and we’re driven to find
out what.
It isn’t just speculative fiction that
can start with a compelling question.
Adam Thompson starts “The Old Tin
Mine,” a story in his collection, Born
Into This, with a situation that raises
questions: It wasn’t my first survival
camp. But when I struck at the damp
flint and gouged another piece of flesh
out of my knuckle, I swore it would
be the last. This raises the question
of what this character is doing in a
29
survival camp, and why he was swear-
ing it would be his last. There’s also
a heightened sense of danger and vi-
olence here, even though it’s just a
knocked knuckle.
This threat is seen also in the open-
ing of ZZ Packer’s “Brownies:” By our
second day at Camp Crescendo, the girls
in my Brownie troop had decided to kick
the asses of each and every girl in Brown-
ie Troop 909. We want to know why
there’s this Brownie troop rivalry as
well as what will happen. We want the
backstory, and we want to know what
the future holds for this narrator; no
matter how pacifist a reader might be
in real life, we’re drawn into a story that
promises some ass-kicking; more im-
portantly, we’re guessing that the nar-
rator will have some conflict to resolve
about this.
3
Raise a question about
the character
Consider this line from N.K.
Jemisin’s collection of speculative fic-
tion How Long ‘til Black Future Month?
Her story “The Brides of Heaven” starts
with No one realized the extent of Di-
hya’s madness until she was caught sab-
otaging the water supply. What is this
world, where apparently water is a big
concern, and who is this Dihya, and
what drove her to this?
Some stories start with a slow, in-
tense focus on a character, such as Viet
Thanh Nguyen’s “The Other Man” in
The Refugees: Liem’s plan was to walk
calmly past the waiting crowd after he
disembarked, but instead he found him-
self hesitating at the gate, anxiously scan-
ning the strange faces.
We don’t even know Liem. But im-
mediately we know that something has
changed in him to alter his plan. We
also learn that he’s in a strange place
and that he’s anxious, so we want to
know why. Why is he anxious, why has
he changed his way of disembarking,
and where is he going?
In the next sentence, we learn more,
30
but without being told too much: In
one hand he held his duffel bag, and in
the other he clutched the form given to
him by Mrs. Lindemulder, the woman
with the horn-rimmed glasses from the
refugee service.
We don’t need a lot of background
because the writer has so thorough-
ly immersed us in the character; we
feel his anxiety, just from the way he
“clutched” the form, and we know now
he’s a refugee, a situation loaded with
conflict and tension.
բ
The reader,
generally
speaking,
needs much less
information
than you’d
think.
4
Take the long view
Sometimes, you’ll want to
start a story with a wider
lens, giving the reader even more of
the setting and situation of the story
right up front. Consider Yaa Gyasi’s
opening to her novel, Homegoing: The
night Effia Otcher was born into the
musky heat of Fanteland, a fire raged
through the woods just outside her fa-
ther’s compound.
Again, we’re asking why and how
did this happen, and what does this
mean for these characters? And: What
will happen next? Gyasi stays with the
setting here in the next sentences: It
moved quickly, tearing a path for days. It
lived off the air, it slept in caves and hid
in trees; it burned, up and through, un-
concerned with what wreckage it left be-
hind, until it reached an Asante village.
There, it disappeared, becoming one with
the night.
She doesn’t immediately get us into
the character, but soon enough, we
learn that the protagonist, Effia Otch-
er, and her story will be influenced by
her fiery birth. Gyasi’s language is unde-
niably poetic, and that keeps the reader
engaged, even though we don’t see the
characters start to form until the sec-
ond paragraph.
5
Foreshadow what’s
to come
As mentioned earlier, another
purpose of the effective opening is to
foreshadow what’s to come or to echo
themes that you’ll be touching on in
the book. A classic example of this is
Tolstoy’s opening to Anna Karenina,
as translated by Constance Garnett:
Happy families are all alike; every un-
happy family is unhappy in its own
way. The novel goes on to describe in
great detail, with passion and misery,
the lives of some very unhappy fami-
lies. But beyond that first line, which
makes up the first paragraph, we don’t
stay in the abstract mode. The second
paragraph begins, quite specifically,
Everything was in confusion in the Ob-
lonskys’ house. The wife had discovered
that the husband was carrying on an
intrigue with a French girl, who had
been a governess in their family, and she
had announced to her husband that she
could not go on living in the same house
with him.
So we leap from the diving board
of that first line right into the thick of
a compelling situation, with the ques-
tion of who are these people, why is the
husband fooling around with a French
governess, and what will happen to this
rather unhappy family. But that initial
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
statement continues to hang over the
entire book.
The foreshadowing can also take a
more subtle form, as it does in Alexan-
dra Chang’s novel Days of Distraction.
The first paragraph isn’t terribly dra-
matic but piques our curiosity by offer-
ing an intimate look into the narrator’s
inner world:
People think I’m smaller than I
am. For example, my feet. In fact,
I wear size 8.5 or 9. According to
Google, these are the most com-
mon sizes for American wom-
en. Average is good, I reason. It
means that wherever I end up
in this country it will be easy to
find someone whose shoes I can
borrow.
As the novel proceeds, the question
of the narrator’s identity as an Asian
American woman gradually dominates
the story, and the novel includes quotes
from texts about foot-binding in Chi-
na and a scene in which the narrator,
at a party, considers stealing someone
else’s boots, left in the shoe pile by the
door. The reader may not have noticed
the first paragraph consciously, but it
remains lodged in the subconscious,
and, like Tolstoy’s opening line, lends a
feeling of great coherence to the novel
as a whole.
A FEW CAUTIONS
Writing the beginning after you’ve writ-
ten the whole story also helps you avoid
the “whiplash effect.” This is when you
start the story with a compelling, inter-
esting opening moment and then shov-
el in a load of backstory. Just when the
reader is engaging in the story, you ask
them to go back in time so you can fill
in some blanks.
Instead, stay in the present moment
of the story as long as you can; if you
find that impossible, try beginning the
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story much earlier, say, at the start of
the backstory you want to bring in.
But you may not need that infor-
mation; the reader, generally speaking,
needs much less information than you’d
think. This gets back to the old “show,
don’t tell” rule of fiction writing.
Starting a novel with a sound or
with dialogue can be done, but it’s
tricky because the reader doesn’t know
where we are. One exception to this is
Christopher Bram’s opening of Lives of
the Circus Animals, a novel set in the
world of the theater.
“You want strangers to love you?”
There was another long pause.
“No,” he said. “I just don’t want
them to hate me.”
“And who do you think hates you,
Kenneth?”
“Oh, everyone.”
She laughed, much to his sur-
prise. Her laughter was thin and
professional, but not unfriendly.
This is an example of starting en me-
dia res – in the middle of the action,
which this time is spoken. The read-
er is dropped into a session between
an actor and his psychologist, with no
background apart from what emerges
in the dialogue, and yet the dialogue is
so compelling, we’re swept up into the
characters. Bram starts off talking about
love and hate, and who isn’t interested
in that? And as the dialogue continues,
we get some details about the room
they’re in, and we move more deeply
into the characters’ inner worlds.
Similarly, starting with a sound, or
the description of a sound, disorients
the reader and doesn’t offer enough
context for the reader to care about
the sound. Yes, a gunshot is an atten-
tion-getter, but consider how much
more interesting it is if we already
know something about the characters
and their situation.
Of course, rules are made to be bro-
ken, but you have to have a good rea-
son for breaking them. Consider Max
Shulman’s opening to his novel Sleep
till Noon.
Four shots ripped into my groin,
and I was off on the greatest ad-
venture of my life…
But first let me tell you a little
about myself. My name is Harry
Riddle, and I am a sensitive, re-
tiring person. Even as a boy this
was true.
Shulman, clearly, is using this to
comic effect. If you seriously begin a sto-
ry with a wildly dramatic moment and
then peddle back into the past, you’ll
lose the reader, unless you provide them
with other reasons to continue moving
forward – such as humorous, elegantly
written sentences, as Shulman does.
SITTING DOWN TO START A STORY
or novel isn’t easy; sometimes, it can
even feel harder than throwing a par-
ty. But leaving the opening for last will
allow you to avoid that situation at the
end of a party when you think of all the
things you wish you’d done at the start,
like why didn’t you have music playing
as the guests arrived, and why did you
sit Aunt Marion next to you mother?
But if you plan the opening well and use
the strategies at your disposal, it’s bound
to be a good time for everyone.
Sarah Van Arsdale is the author of six
books, including the novels Toward
Amnesia (Riverhead, 1995) and Blue
(winner of the 2002 Peter Taylor Prize
for the Novel). Her most recent is a book
of poems, titled Taken. She teaches in the
Antioch/LA low-residency MFA pro-
gram, at New York University, and with
Maine Media Workshops and College.
31
 MINISIDE/SHUTTERSTOCK
The art of

32
 “Storytelling is about
two things; it’s about
character and plot.”
— GEORGE LUCAS

Novelists share their best tips for

creating a strong narrative that engages
readers from beginning to end.
By Jack Smith

33
 Then you ask some key questions:
“‘What happens? Why does it happen?’
If your characters are properly devel-
oped, the reader will see parts of them-
selves on the page and therefore be in-
vested in the outcome – that’s a good
plot,” says Davis.
Be sure you have enough conflict
and tension, states Adrianne Finlay,
author of two YA speculative fiction
works. What is at stake for your pro-
tagonist? “What must the protagonist
risk in order to meet her goals in the
story – or prevent a terrible event from
happening? If a story doesn’t have
enough conflict and tension, we must
raise the stakes for the protagonist.”
That doesn’t mean they should be a
matter of life and death, she says, “but
they must be multi-layered, simultane-
ously furthering the thematic tension,

W
the emotional tension, and the plot
itself.”
riting a novel is a huge challenge. Not For mystery writer Elizabeth Spann
only must you create relatable, compelling Craig, “A good plot, like good cooking,
consists of good ingredients.” Among
characters who grab readers, but you also these, she includes conflict, pacing, and
need to nail down a storyline that does the what she calls “character management.”
same thing. Readers want adept storytelling, Conflict, both internal and external,
with scenes that move, lives that change – is essential to plot movement as well
as to your protagonist’s character arc,
and they want to know why. In short, they Craig says. “If your protagonist is the
want a plot. Plot is the causal connection between story events. same at the end of the story as he was at
One thing leads to another, causes another. Plot is hooked the beginning, that may indicate a plot
problem.”
right into your protagonist’s character arc. Pacing is important in driving the
But how do you create a plot that fully engages readers? plot. “If the plot is lagging, if readers
That pulls them in and won’t let them go? are spending too much time in a char-
We turned to six well-published novelists for their ideas acter’s head, it’s going to be tempting to
lay the book aside.” On the other hand,
and suggestions. says Craig, don’t speed through all of
your scenes; your reader will want to
slow down and savor some of them.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD PLOT ? ARE children and live on a farm? Our desires The third element, character man-
there any essential features? drive us and so should our characters’ agement, comes down to two things:
According to historical novelist desires. Our desires form the plots of developing your various characters
Stephanie Cowell, a rock-bottom re- our lives.” and avoiding “a cast of thousands.” If
quirement is the protagonist wanting For Lauren B. Davis, author of the you have too many characters, many
something, having a specific goal, and acclaimed novel Our Daily Bread, you of them will end up being names only.
facing various obstacles in the pursuit should approach your fiction writing in “Try combining two or more to make
of that goal. the following way: “You take two (or one well-developed character display-
Concentrate on your protagonist’s more) people, give them each some- ing different facets.”
desires, whatever they are, says Cowell. thing to yearn for and/or an opposing There’s another aspect to a good
“Does the hero want to find the mur- set of beliefs, and then you challenge or plot – the emotional component. Ac-
derer, become a movie star, or have six thwart those yearnings or beliefs.” cording to Carlos Allende, author of

34 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love, a good
plot provides “a series of challenges that
provoke distress, then joy as these chal-
lenges are overcome.” The sooner read-
ers “experience empathic distress, the
sooner they will engage.”
The protagonist’s goal is essential,
but choose carefully, says Allende.
“We use stories to manage our mood
and learn vicariously from others.
Hence, we gravitate toward relatable
goals, toward stories that promise to
make us feel the way we want to feel
and that will either teach us some-
thing new or will call attention to
what’s important.”
Good novels “mix the inner and
the outer,” says Grant Tracey, author
of several mysteries as well as works
of literary fiction. The former is the
protagonist’s emotional and psycho-
logical dimension, the latter the ac-
tions that make up the plotline. In a
mystery, he states, “the detective solves
a killing and navigates a treacherous
world of double-crosses, mayhem, and
murder, but he also makes a personal
connection with some of the charac-
ters, the world, and what the investi-
gation does to him (pyrrhic in the best
crime stories).”
As a reader, Tracey wants “a thrilling
plot but also a character who undergoes
some kind of change or realization.”
WHAT’S THE RIGHT WAY TO PLOT A
novel? Should you do a lot of planning,
or should you discover your plot in the
writing? Should you develop an outline
or just write your way into the novel?
One way to draft your novel is the
discovery method. “I never plot nov-
els,” says Cowell. “They all start with
a few lines of character and place so
PHOTOS BY (TOP TO BOTTOM): JAMIE ORR, JESSE COWELL, HELEN TANSEY
WRITERMAG.COM
rough, I hope no one ever sees one!” As
she writes, she comes upon other char-
acters and conflicts, and her writing be-
comes a work of the imagination. Any-
TIPS
thing can happen. A character might from the
PROS
“meet a stranger on the stair, and every-
thing changes” – including the plot.
Realize, says Cowell, that your role as
a novelist includes shaping and forming
what your imagination has produced.
“We step in and tidy an attic or cut out
subplots that don’t work. And then,
guess what? That doting granny you cut
out on page 40 who wanted your char-
acter to marry turns into a grumpy gro-
cery store clerk who hates marriage, and
the plot goes on and on…until it stops,
and you have a book cohesive enough to
send to your first readers.” ADRIANNE FINLAY
She adds, “After what seems like “Give your characters tough
endless revisions, scenes thrown out, choices that challenge
retrieved, rearranged, reconceived, sud- their personal life, their
denly I have a plot and a book. After identity, and their worldview,
preferably all at once.”
one year or after 20 years.”
Davis also writes by the discovery
method. For her, a plot outline would
be like Paint-by-Numbers – a project
with no surprises. And as a writer, she
needs those surprises, and she wants
those same surprises for her readers.
She avoids sticking too closely to out-
lines because following an outline tends STEPHANIE COWELL
to block her characters’ natural growth “Listen to your characters
and development. and let them do as they
“I begin with my obsession/theme. wish. Follow them. Their life
I write about what obsesses me, what’s journey will make your plot.
really bugging me. Then I create char- The plot grows out of who
acters who embody opposing aspects they are and will thus be
of that theme and toss them into a few utterly real.”
scenes. Soon, I see where they’re head-
ed and what collisions await.”
When she gets to about page
100, Davis suddenly comes up with
a final scene, almost “like magic.” At
that point, she’s clear on her novel’s
LAUREN B. DAVIS
“Trust your characters
to shape your plot. Plot
unfolds because of who
they are, what they yearn
for, why they can’t get it, and
what happens when they
either attain their hearts’
yearning or fail to attain it.”
35

TIPS
from the
PROS
GRANT TRACEY
“Always look for the inner
story. What does your lead
character want? What are
they willing to do to get it?”
ELIZABETH SPANN CRAIG
“If your protagonist is the
same at the book’s end as
he was at the beginning,
you might have a plot
problem.”
CARLOS ALLENDE
“Find direction first. You
know the saying, ‘The end
justifies the means?’ I say,
‘The goal procures the
means.’ If you know where
you are going, you can figure
out how to get there.”
36
direction because of the strong emo-
tion in this scene. This particular emo-
tion, she says, is “the bell’s chime I want
the reader to hear long after the book’s
been closed.” With this just-right tone,
she starts “arcing toward that, zig-zag-
ging with obstacles, reversals, and reve-
lations along the way.”
“Writing a good plot is like walking
through a house,” says Tracey. “Each
scene is a room, and in each room, you
open a window or door and close a win-
dow opened in a previous scene. Even-
tually, you open and close enough win-
dows and doors to have a good story.”
According to Tracey, you’ll have
a plot problem “if you opened the
wrong window and walked through
the wrong door.” In that case, he says,
“Go back and choose a different door,
a different window.”
Tracey does follow certain structur-
al forms. “I borrow a master narrative
from film: three-act structure and two
major turning points. So I know I have
that scaffolding under my novel, but
I don’t know where I’m going in the
writing process, but I’ll eventually get
to these two key deflections.” Doing so,
he says, “will spin the protagonist in a
new direction.”
Craig trusts outlines. Early in her
writing career she followed “a more or-
ganic approach,” but doing so caused a
real problem when, just before a dead-
line, she “ended up with a massive plot
hole.” Since then, she’s outlined her
books fully, with outlines running as
much as 35 pages and taking a week
or more to write. For mysteries, she’s
developed a template. She says this in-
cludes “the opening and ending scenes
(I like to tie those together), informa-
tion about the mystery’s victims, sus-
pect interviews, and the moment of
danger toward the end of the story be-
fore the book is resolved.”
For early-stage writers, Craig rec-
ommends some initial brainstorming.
“Then corral your thoughts by creating
your back cover copy – that’s right, I
recommend doing that before you even
start the story. Then take the book,
scene by scene, in your outline. If that’s
too much to tackle, try doing mini-out-
lines where you jot down at the end of
your writing session what you want to
write the next day. That may lead to
longer outlines later.”
Allende also plans ahead. “I start by
choosing the mood and tone,” he says,
“defining how I want my readers to feel
throughout the journey.”
Once he’s decided on which scenes
will result in certain feelings on the
part of his protagonist, he’s ready to
identify the protagonist’s goal and his
main challenges. He begins outlining.
Yet he doesn’t write from his outline –
its only function is to give him a general
sense of direction for his novel, includ-
ing character, plot, and theme.
If he gets stuck at some point, Allende
says, “I create smaller outlines inside each
chapter, and this time I stick to them.”
WHAT ARE SOME MAJOR PLOT PROB-
lems you can encounter, and how can
you solve them?
According to Davis, one serious
problem is not having enough conflict
and action. “I don’t necessarily mean
PHOTOS BY (TOP TO BOTTOM): MITCHELL D. STRAUSS, KAREN DUNN PHOTOGRAPHY, TERRY MCFADDEN
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
car chases and shoot-outs, although
if that fits your story, fair enough, but
there must be compelling internal and
external conflicts against which charac-
ters struggle and transform or refuse to
transform. Characters must do things,”
she says.
For Finlay, “It’s important never to
lose sight of a character’s emotional
journey in the fulfillment of story and
plot.” Neglect that, and you’ve got a
problem: “Character motivation must
remain clear at all times; otherwise, the
story becomes simply one thing after
another: this happens, then that hap-
pens. What happens, however, is not
the main focus of the plot. What’s im-
portant is why any of it matters.”
Ask yourself what your protagonist
fears or desires and how these fears and
desires determine their actions, says
Finlay. “If a plot is particular enough, it
details what happens while also asking
us to explore the very nature of the hu-
man condition.”
Plots can always go wrong, but there
are usually fixes, states Craig. “One
common problem is dumping backsto-
ry on readers. An easy fix is to cut the
backstory out, paste it in a new doc-
ument, and thread that information
throughout your story.” In following
that strategy, she says, “you’re providing
readers with clues about a person, set-
ting, or situation.”
A second problem, says Craig, is
“the sagging middle.” This can happen
when “writers lose steam and mean-
der around trying to figure out their
direction.” You can easily avoid this
problem by “creating another chal-
lenge for your protagonist, just when
it’s starting to look like he’s making
progress on his goal. I always like to
drop a second victim right in the mid-
dle of my mysteries.”
A third problem is what she calls the
“backseat protagonist.” This happens
when a secondary character “hogs the
spotlight.” Make sure, Craig states, that
your hero isn’t passive. “Read through
your book and make sure it’s your pro-
tagonist who’s calling the shots,” not a
minor character – one with a support-
ing role.
WRITERMAG.COM
According to Allende, one ma-
jor problem is the lack of plausibility.
“Most events in a story must be pre-
dictable so that readers can connect
cause and effect and create a coherent
mental narrative. Just a few important
incidents should come as a surprise.
Still, these should be unpredictably
predictable.”
What does he mean by this oxymo-
ron? “Contrary to common belief, we
do not enjoy uncertainty,” states Allen-
de. “What we enjoy is reducing uncer-
tainty. Part of the enjoyment of reading
a novel comes from identifying cues
that suggest progress or new challenges
because that satisfies our need for com-
petence.” As readers, we are motivated
to read on when we suddenly “have to
create a new prediction after a predic-
tion error.”
“READ THROUGH A second major problem, he says, is
getting off track. Every plot develop-
YOUR BOOK ment should relate to the main plot or
central thrust of the novel. If your novel
AND MAKE SURE is an episodic one, it’s going to call for
IT’S YOUR
“new goals as previous ones are real-
ized.” On the other hand, events that
PROTAGONIST
“take your characters in a different di-
rection without providing some form
WHO’S CALLING
of resolution first” will sidetrack your
plot and ruin your story, says Allende.
THE SHOTS.”
“It would be like Frodo suddenly de-
ciding to forget the ring and become a
dentist,” he says.
WHEN YOU’RE WRITING A NOVEL,
go for a plot that hooks readers. You’ll
need a character who pulls readers in,
involving them in the events of the sto-
ry, and this means plenty of conflict
and tension. You should follow the pro-
cess that works best for you, not only in
drafting but also in working out prob-
lems during the revision stage. There
are a host of plot problems you can face
as a novelist but keep in mind that they
all relate in some way to the growth and
transformation of your main character,
your protagonist.
Jack Smith is the author of six novels,
four books of nonfiction, and numerous
reviews, articles, and interviews.
37
38
How learning to filter the
feedback I received made
me a better writer.
By N. West Moss

39
 I
was in my 40s when I became aware that I wanted
to write for an audience beyond just myself. I had
stories and books I wanted to create, but was
unable to accomplish what I was able to envision.
That’s when I decided to get my MFA. The good
news about being in an MFA program at that age is
I was completely committed to the hard work of learning
every bit of craft I could. The downside of being in my 40s
(I graduated at 49) was I was much older than all of my
classmates, several of whom made it clear they resented
my presence in the classroom.
The workshops were sometimes exhilarating I would leave workshops on those evenings
and sometimes gut-wrenching. I would polish feeling sick, humiliated, and exhausted. I was not
and polish and polish my little stories, hoping yet at all secure about my work, and for a while, I
someone would see promise there, hoping I had tried to figure out what my detractors wanted me
begun to crack the code of well-crafted writing, to do in my writing. I added in stuff that was sexy,
even though I was a novice, like everyone else. It’s violent, gimmicky, or derivative to try to entertain
hard enough, I think, to be in your 20s and writing them with the hopes of making them hate me less.
crappy, beginner-level stories, but there was some- I listened to their notes because maybe they knew
thing about being in my 40s and writing terrible more than I did. But even when I wrote for that
fiction that was humbling. very specific audience, Mr. Red Pen still struck out
That some of my classmates sort of hated me, huge passages and then threw his notes down on
well, I couldn’t completely blame them. What the table without even looking at me or saying a
twentysomething getting their MFA wants to be word. It was awful.
in a class with a middle-aged woman who’s writ- Until it finally wasn’t.
ing about the vagaries of married life, her fertil- Two things happened that turned my classroom
ity issues, her miscarriages? I imagine to sever- experience around for me. The first was when
al of them, it felt like their mother was in class my professor read a revision of one of my work-
with them. While many of my fellow students shopped stories and asked, “Why did you change
were encouraging, others were brutal. When the restaurant’s name? The name you had before
it was my turn, I would read my work out loud, was much better.” I said that a classmate had told
and several would visibly roll their eyes at one an- me to change it, and he said, “Oh, West, don’t lis-
other. One guy regularly used a red pen to cross ten to her!” It hadn’t occurred to me that I could
PREVIOUS SPREAD AND THIS PAGE: NEW AFRICA/SHUTTERSTOCK

out huge sections of my stories. He would write
things like “NO!” in red next to the crossed-out
title of a story without explanation. There was an-
other guy who clearly didn’t even read my work
before workshop, as he was supposed to do, and
would nonetheless expound endlessly on its flaws
in a way that seemed like he was trying to impress
someone with how much more he knew about
writing than I did.
choose to ignore feedback that didn’t feel right.
The second thing that happened was I spoke
with a friend (who is also a writer) about my
struggles in workshop. I said I wanted to remain
open to feedback, I wanted to become a better
writer, but I couldn’t figure out how to cope with
mean-spirited feedback that was so unhelpful it
sometimes made me want to quit. She said with
her writing, she tried to be “semi-permeable:”

40 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 She would listen to feedback but gave it different
weight depending on its usefulness. She listened
to and sat with feedback, and then decided what
she would, and wouldn’t, act upon.
This was a revelation and has informed much
of my writing since. Right away in class, I stopped
reading any of the notes from the red pen guy.
Weeks before, I needed a full day or more to
recover from their spitefulness. They were bru-
tal and offered nothing helpful, no suggestions
about what might work. Now, when everyone
handed me notes on my stories after workshop, I
would wait until I was alone, and then I’d throw
his notes out unread. I simply bypassed them.
What a relief. Ever since
then, I don’t read notes that
are mean-spirited or that
I deem unhelpful. I’ve be-
come like Teflon around
that kind of toxicity.
The often-unfriendly set-
ting in grad school ended up
being great for my writing.
First, it forced me to double
down on the stories I had to
tell. What else could I do but
tell MY stories? I was mar-
ried. I was middle-aged. The
stories I had to tell were in-
flected by my life experience,
so my battles in the class-
room caused me to commit
to and embrace my stories. I have never again tried
to pander to a hostile audience. I write knowing a
lot of people won’t like my work but trusting my
books and stories will find their audience, even if
that audience is a small one.
Learning to navigate the workshop environ-
ment helped as I slowly became a professional
writer and had to work closely with editors. Ex-
cept for one notable exception (a copy editor gone
rogue), I love working with editors. I crave their
ideas and feedback and love the collaborative way
a fine editor can help me figure out what is not
working and how to make a piece of writing sing.
I understand now that I don’t have to take any
edits I disagree with, but I’m also aware enough
to know all ideas should at least be considered. I
can listen, take in what they’re suggesting, mull it
over, and make a decision about whether or not
to make the suggested change without becoming
upset or wanting to quit, as I had in those early
WRITERMAG.COM
days. I trust the editors I work with love the work,
and they are doing their best to shepherd it to be-
come its best self.
This semi-permeability is helpful when I read
reviews of my work as well. I’m interested in how
my work hits readers. It’s not that I will change my
writing based on a review, but I am curious to hear
what worked and didn’t work for them. I don’t ob-
sess about reviews. No. I take them in, see what I
can learn from them, and then let them go.
I don’t know if I’ll ever again be in a workshop
situation where I have to listen to writers I don’t
already know and trust, but the big insight I got
from the hostility that came from those fellow
writing students was this:
Writing requires loads of
faith. We have to believe in
our own work, often over
many drafts and long peri-
ods of time. If we don’t have
almost relentless faith, it is
unlikely our work will ever
see the light of day.
As I publish more, my
fear is this – I’ve read some
of my favorite authors who,
once they got “big,” seemed
to stop taking notes from
anyone, and their work suf-
fered because of it. Perhaps
they trusted their initial
instincts too completely.
I don’t want to become that and hope I never
turn out something that causes readers to think,
“She could really have used an editor.” For now,
I remain semi-permeable, meaning open to all
feedback, but also on the lookout for notes that
might be counterproductive. I take it all in and
reject what I need to reject to keep going with the
piece. Writing is the great passion of my life, and
I evaluate and wall off anything that threatens to
ruin it for me.
N. West Moss’s memoir, Flesh & Blood:
Reflections on Infertility, Family, and Creating
a Bountiful Life, is out now from Algonquin. Her
short story collection, The Subway Stops at Bryant
Park, was published by Leapfrog, and she has a
middle grade novel called Birdy forthcoming from
Little, Brown. Her work has appeared in the New
York Times, Salon, McSweeney’s, the Saturday
Evening Post, and elsewhere.
41
PRODUCTIVITY &
FOCUS
Cold Turkey
Most distraction blockers (programs
that prevent you from visiting
predesignated sites) come with built-in
workarounds. Not Cold Turkey, which
allows users to “lock the block” for a
set amount of time or circumstances.
Choose to only be able to unlock the
extension by restarting your computer,
for example, or by typing in a set
series of randomized characters,
ranging in customizable length from
one to 99 characters. In other words,
if you want to unlock this distraction
blocker, be prepared to work for it.
FREE FOR BASIC USE; $20 FOR
PREMIUM.
getcoldturkey.com
Freedom
What if you’ve learned the quickest
way to get around any distraction
blocker on your desktop is to pick up
your phone, tablet, or laptop? Free-
dom allows you to block websites
and apps on all your devices, pre-
venting you from taking yet another
“five-minute” phone break that quick-
ly turns to 15.
PLANS START AT $8.99/MONTH;
FREE TRIAL ALSO AVAILABLE.
freedom.to
Inbox Pause
Constant emails are the death of pro-
ductivity. This tool, by the developers
at Boomerang, allows users to “fight
back against email overload” by stop-
ping new messages from arriving in a
user’s inbox until a designated time.
Users can also utilize auto-responses
44
explaining the temporary pause or
create “delivery exceptions” that still
allow certain addresses (your boss,
your editor, your spouse, etc.) to
come through.
FREE FOR BASIC USE; PREMIUM
PLANS START AT $4.98/MONTH.
inboxpause.com
ACCOUNTABILITY &
GOAL TRACKING
Beeminder
Beeminder bills itself as “reminders
with a sting,” aka “goal-tracking with
teeth.” Set a graphable goal, such as
“write for 30 minutes each day” or
“complete two research tasks each
week.” If you derail too far from your
goal, you break your “commitment
contract,” and Beeminder will charge
your credit card the pre-agreed-upon
amount of your choosing. Users
can automatically import data from
Draft, Trello, Toggl, Duolingo, and
other websites and tools or choose
to self-report via email, text, or the
Beeminder dashboard.
FREE WITH BASIC USAGE; PREMIUM
PLANS START AT $8/MONTH.
beeminder.com
Focusmate
Many writers tout accountability
partners as the secret for ensuring
drafts actually get written. But finding
one is easier said than done – and
not everyone wants a long-term
accountability partnership. Enter
Focusmate, where you can sign up
for a time that works for you and be
paired with someone for a 25- to
50-minute “virtual coworking” session.
Although each session is on camera,
Focusmate founders promise users
“no chitchat and no collaboration” –
you just say hello to your assigned
partner, announce what you’ll be
working on, and get to work – and then
are free to go your merry separate
ways when time is up.
FREE FOR UP TO THREE SESSIONS PER
WEEK; $5/MONTH FOR UNLIMITED.
focusmate.com
Timecap
Do you measure your goal in minutes
(reading for 30 minutes), count (write
300 words each morning), or comple-
tion (research one new journal every
day)? Timecap lets you easily track
all three. With a click of a button, you
can start a timer, log a count, or sim-
ply check off a task once completed.
Timecap also allows users to create
to-do lists, get reminders when they’re
falling behind on their goals, or limit
behaviors they’re trying to quit, such
as doomscrolling or sitting too long
without a break.
FREE FOR BASIC USAGE;
PREMIUM PLANS STARTING AT
$2.49 FOR ONE MONTH.
timecap.app
Timeliness
If you struggle with time manage-
ment, especially when on deadline(s),
Timeliness may help. When you add
a task, the app will ask you for both
a due date and an estimate of how
much time it’ll take you to complete.
For each due date, Timeliness will
schedule “do dates,” or dedicated
blocks of time to complete each task.
Best of all, it’ll sync with your cal-
endar to find pockets of availability
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
and avoid existing appointments and
meetings.
$2.10/MONTH OR $21.08/YEAR;
FREE TRIAL ALSO AVAILABLE.
timeliness.app
Ultraworking
With the right equipment, price
point, and instructors, many find gym
memberships to be an effective way
to encourage regular exercise hab-
its. Now, “work gyms” are offering
similar services for productivity. At
Ultraworking, users log into a group
video call, led by a moderator, to
join a 30-minute “Work Cycle.” When
the cycle is up, participants take a
10-minute break to relax, recharge,
and interact with one another before
the next cycle begins.
and set of soundscapes (café, fire-
place, lava, ocean, or rain); you can
also link your Spotify playlist via a
widget.
FREE.
lifeat.com
ORGANIZATION &
RESEARCH
chill subs
“There are too many magazines out
there, and that’s pretty damn over-
whelming,” explains chill subs’ web-
site. By providing search tools and
some helpful details about each
publication, chill subs aims to help
writers “find the right home for your
writing (without wasting too much
energy, losing your shit, and hating
yourself for being unproductive).”
Filter publications by genre, submis-
sion method, response time, theme,
or “vibe.”
FREE.
chillsubs.com
DoMarks
Do you collect articles to read like a
magpie as you peruse the internet
– only to forget to read them? Keep
better track of your online TBR with

$49/MONTH FOR MEMBERSHIP.

ultraworking.com
JOURNALING &
INSPIRATION
Day One
Journal on the go with this award-
winning app, which boasts more than
15 million downloads from users
around the world. Enhance each day’s
log with photos, videos, or audio
recordings or submit entries via email
or SMS. Other features include an
optional Instagram importer, custom
journal prompts, and a variety of
editable entry templates. Worry you’ll
miss the analog version of a diary?
Users can also opt to print their
journal entries into a physical book,
which starts at $15.
FREE FOR BASIC USE; $2.92/MONTH
FOR PREMIUM.
dayoneapp.com
In search of more diverse imagery
Many writers rely on stock imagery to illustrate their blogs,
newsletters, articles, etc. But stock libraries are often
heavily dominated by images of cis white straight people
without disabilities. These resources can help writers
populate their words with imagery that better reflects the
diverse society we live in:
• Black Illustrations offers a set of 30+ digital designs
of Black people, all of which are free for personal and
commercial use, although content creators can also
donate any amount of their choosing to receive the
illustrations and support Black Illustrations. Premium
illustration packs (starting at $9) and subscriptions
(starting at $89/quarter) are also available.
blackillustrations.gumroad.com
• After releasing a report that “found that stock image
libraries often use unrealistically positive or negative
depictions of people in later life,” the Centre for Ageing
Better released the first free stock library of images that
portray “positive and realistic” images of older people.
ageingbetter.resourcespace.com

• CreateHER Stock was launched by Neosha Gardner

LifeAt
LifeAt offers “personalized virtu-
al workspaces” for users, allowing
them to transform their desktop into
a breezy palm-filled beach, a cozy
plant-filled café, or an NYC pent-
house at sunrise. There’s even an
option to “study with pets,” offering
users the chance to work alongside
a snoozing cat named Daisy or a
hamster named Cheris. Each space
comes with a built-in Pomodoro timer
in 2015 to provide “authentic stock photography that
featured melanated women.” Subscriptions start at $10
per month; a set of annual freebies are also available.
createherstock.com
• Vice’s Gender Spectrum Collection is an image library
featuring non-binary and trans models “that go beyond
the clichés.” All images in the collection available for
use through a Creative Commons license.
genderphotos.vice.com

WRITERMAG.COM
DoMarks, which converts any links
you find into a to-do list. Carve out
some free time in your schedule and
enjoy the satisfaction of checking
them off one by one.
FREE.
domarks.app
Mediaopoly
Who owns the news you consume on
social media? Wealthy private owners,
a government-funded source, private
equities? Simply enter your Twitter
account, and Mediaopoly will break it
down for you.
FREE.
ground.news/mediaopoly
Radiooooo
Want to know what your character
was hearing on British airwaves in the
1930s? How about Argentina in the
1980s or Romania in the first decade
of the 2000s? Radiooooo, billed as
a “musical time machine,” allows
listeners to choose internet radio
stations based on decade and/or
geographical location instead of genre.
Users can also filter their experiences
by listening specifically to slow, fast,
and/or “weird” songs or opt to take a
“musical road trip” through a number
or countries or eras.
FREE FOR BASIC USAGE;
PREMIUM PLANS STARTING AT
$4.99/MONTH.
radiooooo.com
TRANSCRIPTION &
SUMMARIZING
Alice
Aiming to be “a word processor for
audio,” this voice recorder and tran-
scription service is designed by jour-
nalists, for journalists. Either upload
audio clips to the website or record
audio right from the Alice app. The
latter aims to be used “eyes free,”
with a simple swipe motion to pause
recording and one tap to “bookmark”
key quotes mid-interview, which will
then be highlighted in the resulting
transcript. Alice may also be an at-
tractive option for sensitive subjects
or stories, since no transcripts are
saved internally on Alice’s servers, no
46
Fun, free work breaks
Surely by now you’ve heard of Wordle, the word game that
became such a sensation it was bought by the New York
Times for a cool $7 million. But have you heard of Phrazle,
which asks players to guess a common phrase in six tries,
or Octordle, in which a user tries to solve eight Wordles at
once? For a bigger challenge, try Semantle, an impossible
(and addicting) game that asks players to guess the word
of the day based on semantic similarity, or Redactle, which
has users guess the title of a common Wikipedia article by
filling in the “redacted” words in the article’s text.
If your TBR pile feels stale – or you’re just always hungry
to find new titles – check out Shepherd (shepherd.com),
which features hyper-specific book recommendations from
authors, such as “the best novels about the complexities
of being Black in America” by Brit Bennett, author of The
Vanishing Half, or “the best novels with descriptions of
food that will make your mouth water” by Sarah Moore
Fitzgerald, author of The Apple Tart of Hope. Interested in
submitting your own list (and promoting your own book
while you’re at it)? It’s free to join Shepherd’s Author
Program at forauthors.shepherd.com.
Typatone (typatone.com) puts short notes to music via a
series of tones, while JazzKeys (jazzkeys.plan8.co) does
the same thing with a jazz piano. Try seeing what your first
sentence of your current project sounds like.
The literature clock (literature-clock.jenevoldsen.com)
will automatically note your local time and deliver a short
passage from a work of literature that features that
particular minute. For example, visit at 3:14 p.m., and you
might find, “I shall be back at exactly THREE fourteen, for
our hour of revery together, real sweet revery darling” from
Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
user names or locations are required,
and credit cards are not stored in
Alice’s databases.
RATES RANGE FROM $9.99/HOUR
FOR ONE TO TWO HOURS TO
$2.99/HOUR FOR 100 HOURS;
FREE TRIAL ALSO AVAILABLE.
aliceapp.ai
Otranscribe
Doing your own transcription? You
might enjoy this free web app, which
allows you to type, pause, rewind,
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
and fast forward all from one screen
without taking your hands off the key-
board. Either upload an audio or video
file or enter a YouTube video URL.
FREE.
otranscribe.com
Wordcab
Need a quick summary of a longer
conversation – a podcast, perhaps, or
a long meeting? Wordcab will automat-
ically generate a bulleted summary of
any audio file or text transcript. Users
can also create “Focused Summaries”
to home in on specific subjects or key-
words within a file.
FIVE FREE SUMMARIES EACH MONTH;
PREMIUM PLANS STARTING AT
$20/MONTH FOR 30 SUMMARIES.
wordcab.com
DRAFTING &
NOTE-TAKING
750words.com
Many writers are fans of the “Morning
Pages” writing exercise created by
Julia Cameron, which involves free-
writing on three sides of paper first
thing each morning. 750words.com
aims to be the digital version of the
analog exercise (250 words equals
roughly one page of writing). The site
tracks your word count and alerts
you when you’ve hit the magic 750-
word mark, but it also gives you some
helpful statistics you won’t get from
your trusty Moleskine. You’ll learn not
only how much time you spent each
session but also how many minutes
you spent actually typing during that
time as well as how many breaks you
took. You can also see your writing’s
general emotion, mindset (positive,
uncertain, etc.), or concerns (money,
work, home, relationships, etc.).
$5/MONTH; FREE TRIAL ALSO
AVAILABLE.
750words.com
Gingko Writer
Trying to write with one eye on your
transcription notes, one eye on your
three-page outline, and one eye on
your first draft? You’ll quickly run out
of eyes. Instead, transition from note
to outline to first draft entirely on the
same screen with this handy tool.
Everything is organized in one single
view, allowing you to switch seam-
lessly from one to the other without
wasting time.
PLANS STARTING AT $9.75/MONTH;
FREE TRIAL AVAILABLE.
gingkowriter.com
Minimal
Minimal’s creators say it is inspired by
meditation, attempting to produce a lu-
cid, clear space to write with no distrac-
tions. While it contains many formatting
and publishing tools, they’re designed
to stay out of the way until the writer
needs them, allowing for a clutter-free
workspace to think and write. Users
can also easily invite collaborators to
work on projects together within the
app. Note: Minimal is designed to work
exclusively with Apple devices.
$4.99/MONTH OR $49.99/YEAR;
FREE TRIAL AVAILABLE.
minimal.app
Novelize
If you’re looking for an alternative to
Scrivener or Ulysses, consider the
web-based app Novelize, which is de-
signed specifically for novel drafting.
In this minimalistic app, documents
are automatically organized by chap-
ters and scenes, with specific areas
to include scene notes, chapter de-
scriptions, or novel outlines.
$65 PER YEAR; FREE TRIAL AVAILABLE.
getnovelize.com
Ommwriter
Are you a minimalist? Prefer to
write in a natural environment sans
distractions? Ommwriter may be just
the ticket, offering a concentration-
friendly experience with soothing
soundscapes and nature-inspired
backgrounds that will gently shift as
time passes.
MINIMUM PRICE OF $7.78; USERS CAN
GIVE MORE IF THEY CHOOSE.
ommwriter.com

Tangent
Your brain naturally goes down
tangents. Why don’t you follow them?
The Tangent notes app for Mac and
Writing resources delivered Windows allows users to organize
their thoughts as a visual horizontal
to your inbox linked path versus the vertical one of
a traditional outline, branching from
For regular doses of digital tools like the ones found here, one idea to the next with ease. After
consider subscribing to Jane Friedman’s helpful Electric a lengthy brainstorm session, writers
Speed newsletter (janefriedman.com/electric-speed) – free can back up and see a top-level view
since Friedman started it in 2009 – or Jeremy Caplan’s of their thoughts and paths with the
excellent Wonder Tools newsletter, also free and found at Map View. The app also includes a
wondertools.substack.com. Other considerations include “Minimalist Focus Mode” for users
the Society of Professional Journalists’ The Journalist’s to work within a distraction-free
Toolbox (journaliststoolbox.substack.com) or Creativerly workspace.
(creativerly.com/tag/newsletter).
CURRENTLY FREE; MAY BE
PAID IN THE FUTURE.
tangentnotes.com

WRITERMAG.COM 47
48
 By Charity Marie

49

My husband says after all this time, I
should be teaching writing instead of
studying it, but I know I’ll study it for the
rest of my life, always seeking new insights
and ideas. It’s part of the writing life, to
read about craft daily. I’ve read countless
books about writing over the years, so
many I can’t remember them all. Some of
these books are outstanding. (On Writing
by Stephen King and Writing Down the
Bones by Natalie Goldberg changed my
writing forever.) Some books are not. But
the biggest mistake I made was allowing
authors’ well-intentioned advice to become
“rules” for how I must write. We all seek
answers to our writing questions – how to
write better, faster, more often; how to sell
what we produce. But those rules – those
answers I sought – ultimately turned into
chains that imprisoned my creativity. If
you, too, feel trapped by your own set of
rules that stifle your creativity instead of
sustaining it, here’s how to break free.
50
1
Don’t write every day.
One of the biggest pieces of advice we
hear is “write every day.” It’s implied
this should be done no matter what.
Apparently, you’re not allowed to have
sick days or feel too tired or have a fam-
ily emergency. It’s also implied that if
you don’t do it, you’re failing as a writer.
I internalized that for years.
Then I realized that’s garbage.
Here’s why: Name something you
do every single day without fail. If your
first thought was sleep or eat, OK,
you’d be right. Our minds and bodies
need rest and fuel. After that? There’s
not a long list of things we do each and
every day. Some of us exercise (not on
my list), drink coffee (also not on my
list), and work a day job (I’m fortunate
to be a self-employed author and entre-
preneur). Even then, we take days off
to rest – weekends, holidays, vacations.
Why? Because life is variable.
We have the power to choose how we
want our life to look. That includes our
writing life. We decide what we’d like to
focus on, what’s important to us. Best of
all, we can change our focus and goals –
and the strategies we choose to achieve
them – anytime we want. If something
isn’t working, we can try something else.
Avoid the trap of thinking you must do
something a certain way because some-
one told you to do it, no matter how suc-
cessful they are. All brains are different.
Just because it works for them doesn’t
guarantee it will work for you. Writing
PREVIOUS SPREAD AND OPPOSITE PAGE: MARIE MAERZ/SHUTTERSTOCK
advice is just that: advice. Take it, leave
it, or tailor it to fit your needs.
If the COVID-19 pandemic taught
us anything, it’s that life is uncertain.
Things happen that can throw a monkey
wrench into all your fine writing plans.
Life on this planet requires flexibility, as
we must adapt to new information and
situations. Why shouldn’t writing be the
same? Why shouldn’t it be flexible?
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 Granted, I don’t mean “don’t write as
much as possible.” I do mean to create
a routine that works for you and your
lifestyle. The most important lesson
I’ve learned: There’s no one-size-fits-all
solution in writing. For me, when I was
working a day job, writing after work
was impossible. I was too exhausted.
For many years, I didn’t write at all be-
cause my priority was on other things,
namely my family while my children
were younger, and I was just exhausted
by life. I’ve learned, after years of guilt,
that this was OK, too. Now, my children
are grown and leaving the nest, and I’m
gaining my time back for writing.

2
Avoid guarding your writing time
like a dragon guards gold.

I realized if I got up a little earlier every

day, I could squeeze in several hours of
writing time before work. The house is
quiet and peaceful before the sun is up.
The energy is just different. At first, this
was so hard for me. It felt impossible. My
mind and body hated me. I kept at it be-
cause writing is important to me. It got
easier. Eventually, I began getting up at
5 a.m. every day and writing. I made sure
I went to bed at a time where I would
get eight hours of sleep (yes, this means I
went to bed at 9 p.m. every night).
Best of all, my writing became more
cohesive and stronger than it had been
when I was forcing myself to write at
night, exhausted. I no longer dreaded
sitting down to my computer. My writ-
ing flowed easier, and I looked forward
to sitting at my keyboard every morn-
ing. Create a routine and schedule that
works for you and feels good. Writing
should feel like fun, not torture.
I usually write for at least two hours
every morning but sometimes as long as
six hours. Maybe for you, a 20-minute
race against the clock is better. Maybe
you write best with a deadline and the
Life will throw pressure that brings. Or maybe you’d
relish writing on your lunch break. Try
you curveballs; different times of day, session lengths,
the only or locations. Whatever works for you,
do that deliberately – but stay flexible.
predictable thing Life will throw you curveballs; the only
about it is its predictable thing about it is its unpre-
dictability. Expect your precious writ-
unpredictability. ing time to be derailed from time to
time. Forgive yourself when other pri-
orities get in the way. Life is messy. If,
right now, yours is too busy, or you just
don’t feel like writing, that’s OK, too. It
will pass, whatever you’re dealing with,
and you will feel like writing again.
The great thing is, writing will al-
ways be there, like a loyal friend, wait-
ing for you to return. I’ve learned no
matter how long of a break I take (days,
weeks, even months), writing comes
back to me as if I never left. Writing
doesn’t know I took a break. Now that
I’m self-employed, I write whenever I
want, but that early-morning routine is
still with me – and I don’t sweat it if I
miss the occasional 5 a.m. session.

WRITERMAG.COM 51
 3
Accept creative burnout &
replenish your inspiration
Recently, I finished my first draft of a
literary novella called Cherry Blossom
Tree. From start to finish, it took me
three weeks to write 16,000 words. I
spent a week on the outline. I cranked
out thousands of words a day in a
rush like a waterfall of words onto the
page. My fingers could barely type
fast enough to keep up. After such a
high-energy, high-octane period of
creativity and effort, I was both deliri-
ously excited from the writing high and
massively drained. I felt depleted. Emp-
ty. Nearly two months passed without
writing a word. I stopped blogging. I
52
couldn’t find the energy, interest, or
motivation. Then one day, out of no-
where, I woke up and wrote three blog
entries and an article in three hours.
My creativity was refilled. The break
was exactly what I needed. Trust your
instincts – if you don’t feel like writing,
don’t. It could be precisely what your
body and mind need. Forcing yourself
will make the writing feel forced.
That doesn’t mean you can’t learn
from your dry spells, including how to
better guard against them in the future.
When I finished my story, there was no
plan for what to do next. I’d never writ-
ten that way before. I expected the story
to take me six months, not less than 30
days. After all the intensity, I felt empty
and adrift. This taught me to have plans
for lots of projects at once. Keep notes
on potential projects you can pick up
later. I use Scrivener and have a dedicat-
ed project for story ideas. I read a lot all
the time, and I listen to audiobooks to
help boost creativity in leaner times.
I learned I need always to have a way
to refill the creativity well inside me.
How do you replenish yourself creative-
ly? Because that’s important to know.
For me, it’s painting, coloring, and
reading. Enjoying movies, blogging,
and getting my nails done. Taking long
showers and listening to music. It’s the
magazines I subscribe to, convenient-
ly delivered every month (it’s the only
time I’m happy to open my mailbox).
It’s book tours to promote my work.
Or random writing prompts that some-
times hit the sweet spot and fire up my
brain. This very article was inspired
by another article I was reading about
writing essays. I wasn’t looking for in-
spiration. But I had only read a para-
graph of the article when this essay idea
popped into my head like a beautiful
gift. Inspiration can come from any-
where if you keep yourself open to it.
4
Be flexible when your source
of inspiration changes
Your sources of inspiration can shift,
too. I used to find inspiration in the
news, but that no longer works (likely
because it’s too depressing). I do, howev-
er, have countless short stories inspired
by prompts, which remain a reliable
source of inspiration for me. The key to
creativity and inspiration is to find what
works for you, but don’t expect it to stay
constant forever. You’ll change as a per-
son and a writer over time. It’s OK if
someone’s method doesn’t work for you,
even if everyone else you know swears
by it. Figure out what you need at this
MARIE MAERZ/SHUTTERSTOCK
point in time. Take the time to experi-
ment and try new things, or, alternative-
ly, try things that didn’t work for you at
one point in your writing career but may
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
You can develop your own rulebook,
the things you can’t compromise
on in order to thrive.
work for the kind of writer you are now.
What happens might surprise you.
Outlining and planning a book se-
ries has given me inspiration and cre-
ativity I never expected. I had been a
pantser for over a decade before I start-
ed outlining my work. I found a whole
new level of joy in writing because of
outlining, where I found myself diving
deeper into my characters and plots.
The result: richer stories.
The more I try to write, the more
I am writing. And not just fiction but
nonfiction, blogs, essays, articles, and
short stories. Creativity is literally
bursting out of me every day. Because
of all this, I’m also thinking about writ-
ing differently now and planning my
writing in more detail.
5
That said, some rules still
can’t be broken.
The one area where rules are important
is craft. It is an area where you should
never compromise on being the best
writer you can be. Your skills will change
with time. Your writing will evolve and
develop only through practice. We
can only learn some aspects of writing
through the actual act of writing.
Your writing voice is a perfect ex-
ample of this. Your voice is like your
DNA; it’s 100% yours. Presenting your
voice on the page with confidence and
WRITERMAG.COM
strength is a skill you can learn. You
learn that by reading other writers’
work, analyzing it, and then writing
your own work. It’s an organic learning
process, one you can continually im-
prove throughout your life.
You can also develop your own rule-
book, the things you can’t compromise
on in order to thrive. One element of
that is how you choose to organize your
ideas, whether on paper or in your head,
before you sit down to write or some-
thing done as you go. It’s not easy, but
it’s critical to figure out what works best
for you. For example, I’ve learned out-
lines can be flexible, living documents
to help me bring cohesion to my story.
They should work for you in the way
that suits you best (no roman numerals
required, I promise). I’ve also learned
you can do an outline and be a pantser
at the same time; they are not mutual-
ly exclusive. My short and long fiction
has a loose outline of scenes that detail
action, reaction, and conflict. I need to
plan my stories before I write them, and
I still create organic and dynamic con-
tent. Outlines are only stifling if you
make them that way, and if you inter-
nalize that feeling. Creating conflict in
a story isn’t automatic for me; it needs
deliberate focus and planning.
Lastly, no matter how you choose to
go about it, it’s essential to understand
editing is as critical as the writing itself.
It’s what develops your writing. The
initial draft of your work allows you
to find a way to tell the story. Editing
helps you hone that until the piece is
cohesive, strong, and brilliant. Never
skip this step, no matter how ready you
think a piece is. My work goes through
multiple editing passes, until I’m satis-
fied (and there are still things I miss!). I
have readers I trust to provide me with
feedback. This article alone had a dozen
readers and several hours of revision. I
use the Hemingway App and ProWrit-
ingAid to find issues in my drafts and fix
them (but only in the editing phase).
Throwing out the rules
Amazing things happened when I
threw out all the rules I’d created, all
the advice I’d heard. My mantra was,
“Just write and see what happens.”
Writing became a glorious adventure,
and I started naturally writing every
day because I was excited to do so. I be-
came so excited to write that I had to
write. I made a promise to myself that
I would try to write every day, but also
that I would feel OK if it didn’t hap-
pen. I gave myself permission to be flex-
ible and open. To enjoy the writing pro-
cess but to take time to enjoy life, too.
Once I did, I finished two books
in three months (a middle grade chil-
dren’s book and a literary novella) plus
countless blogs and articles. It has been
incredibly freeing. My creativity surged
in ways I never could have predicted.
So if you find yourself feeling stifled,
blocked, and uninspired, you probably
are. You should try throwing out your
rules, too, and see what happens.
Charity Marie is the award-winning
author of Jason & Lizzy’s Legendary
Adventures, a fantasy children’s series,
as well as numerous nonfiction articles
published over a 25-year period. She
lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her
family and a pack of canine companions.
Visit her at charitymarie.com to connect
and learn more.
53
 CRAFT
SECRETS
FROM
10
WRITERS
BOYKO.PICTURES/SHUTTERSTOCK

54
 AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN
FROM THEM ABOUT WORD CHOICE,
PLOTTING, PACING, AND MORE.
By Toni Fitzgerald

55
 NO
matter what genre
a writer specializes
in – suspense or
fantasy, plays or
picture books – they
all have something
in common: devotion to craft. Writing
craft serves as a catchall for the
elements involved in creating a story.
We bake craft into every decision we
make as writers, and yet so few hard-
and-fast rules exist to guide us. Craft
becomes what you make of it, from
developing characters to refining a
turn of phrase to speeding up the pace
of a critical scene. You can hone your
craft for decades and still have things
to learn. Yet you can also bask in the
momentary contentment of switching
out an adverb for an adjective to make
a sentence sing.
We wanted to learn from authors
who excel at their craft, so we reached
out to 10 of them at varying points in
their careers. One just published her
first book; a couple recently switched
gears to new genres; several have
written for decades. Each imparted
hard-earned lessons from their
own careers to help beginning to
experienced writers.
56
MYSTERY
Kellye Garrett, a veteran TV writ-
er, married her Hollywood insider
knowledge with a knack for writing
witty women in the critical and com-
mercial hits Hollywood Homicide and
Hollywood Ending. Her newest book
(Like a Sister) branches from mys-
tery to thriller territory. Despite all
her success, she says writing has nev-
er come easy to her; her email signa-
ture for the past 15 years has been the
Dorothy Parker quote, “I hate writing.
I love having written.” Garrett excels
at humor, from zingy one-liners to
laugh-out-loud interior dialogues that
build depth to her characters.
Garrett’s secret to steady
improvement
“I’ve taken classes. I’ve taught classes.
I’ve been a mentee in the Pitch Wars
program. I’ve been a multi-time men-
tor in Pitch Wars. I’ve written books.
I’ve read books – both other mysteries
and craft books. I’ve been a journalist, a
TV staff writer, a technical writer, and,
most recently, a communications writ-
er. Each of those things has helped me
improve my craft in some way.”
Garrett’s secret to writing dialogue
“I have an MFA in screenwriting from
USC’s film school. I also spent eight
years working in TV in Hollywood. I
always say it should sound how some-
one actually speaks but better. There
are no ‘uhhs’ and ‘ahhs.’ We don’t need
the small talk unless it’s because they’re
avoiding some bigger issues they’re not
talking about. One hint is to read the
dialogue out loud. It’ll help you see if
it sounds natural and what you might
stumble over.”
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 SPECULATIVE
Jewelle Gomez, a self-described au-
thor and activist, has published specu-
lative short stories, plays, poetry, and
criticism. Her 1991 debut novel, The
Gilda Stories, which follows a Black
lesbian vampire through two centu-
ries of eternal life, won two Lamb-
da Awards. In the book’s anniversary
edition foreword, she notes that when
she began writing Gilda, long before
the vampire renaissance of the 2000s,
some people suggested “connecting
the idea of vampires with vulnerable
communities was too negative.” But
she continued to write that way, po-
sitioning vampires as a metaphor to
empower those communities. Gomez
excels at worldbuilding and setting
scenes through descriptions evoking
all five senses.

Gomez’s secret to developing

characters
“You can think about ‘OK, how am I
going to get the spaceship to go from
here to there’ or ‘what happens when
vampires have to cross the street?’ I
do. You should think about all those
things. But it’s the reasons that these
things have to happen that’s interest-
ing. You have to be in their heads to
help people understand what they do.”
Gomez’s secret to using language to
build new worlds
“I do love stories that have their own
language. And if a writer can create
that language and steep in it enough,
you come to understand it over time.
At one point in the future, Gilda’s at-
tacked by someone who tries to capture
vampires. And he uses a narcodart. If
you say ‘narcodart,’ it sounds like what
it is. I just pasted together words. You
put one thing with another. And if you
keep it almost recognizable, people are
comfortable when they get it. But it re-
ally has to be specific enough to cover
what you mean.”
FANTASY
Lizz Huerta published her first fantasy
novel, the YA tome The Lost Dream-
er, in the spring. Entertainment Week-
ly published an excerpt of the Bread
Loaf fellow’s work, a dual narrative that
follows female seers in a Mesoameri-
can-informed world before European
contact. Huerta worked construction
for two decades before landing a con-
tract for the two-part series, which she
wrote on and off for 10 years. The fi-
nal version evolved considerably. She
pitched Dreamer as a trilogy and had
to rework it into a duology during pan-
demic lockdown. Huerta excels at cre-
ating new spaces with a very specific
vision and infusing her characters with
hidden depths.
Huerta’s secret to revision
“I went through a full grieving pro-
cess of having to cut entire storylines
and characters and still try to hold
on to the richness of that world.
And I think there is just a period of
time where I was just like, ‘OK, I’ve
gotten through the mourning pro-
cess. Now, it’s just time to be brutal.
What are the bare bones that I need
on the page in order to have the nar-
rative throughline?’ And once I got it
down to bare bones, I was able to kind
of weave back in things that my head
couldn’t let go of.”
Huerta’s secret to characterization
“I think every character on the page is
some sort of aspect of self. You know,
I placed myself in these characters, the
good and the bad and who I hope to be.”

WRITERMAG.COM 57
 DRAMA
Dorothy E. King, a retired assistant
professor of sociology at Penn State
Harrisburg, began writing plays as a
response to seeing Black people like
her depicted “in more of a buffoonish
way” in theater and on screens. “Peo-
ple often complain about what they
see. They don’t like this play. They
don’t like this movie,” she says. “And
my response is, well, then do some-
thing about it. If you don’t like it, then
write something you do like.” And so
she did. King founded a theater troupe
and since 1999 has written an annual
play for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
She excels at creating research-based
plays that entertain and inform.

King’s secret to revision

“I want the words to set the mood. I
want the words to be heard. The move-
ment is kind of secondary unless it’s
something that is particular to a scene.
We end up changing stage directions
all the time. And the actors will some-
times say, ‘I don’t think I would say
it that way, I think I would say it this
way,’ and I’m always open to what they
want to say because they’re presenting
it. I might say, ‘I don’t agree with you. I
think it should still be this way, but do
it your way,’ and the official script will
reflect how I feel.”
King’s secret to refining her craft
“I don’t read books about how to
write. I just write what comes to me.
I don’t think it’s wrong to read books.
That’s just not my orientation. I’m not
a trained writer, my degrees are not in
English or in literature and writing. So
I write from how I feel and the research
that I’ve done.”
ROMANCE
Taj McCoy recently published her
debut, Savvy Sheldon’s Feeling Good
As Hell, a funny (and hot!) romance
about a woman who embarks on an
unexpected affair after a breakup.
McCoy says she’s always trying to
“I always think of that fairy tale
‘Hansel and Gretel.’ I leave enough
breadcrumbs for the reader to find
their way back home.”
improve: “I’ve tried writing prompts, McCoy’s secret to revision
taken a fast-drafting course, tried some “The opening scene to Savvy Sheldon
of the exercises in craft books like Feels Good As Hell changed at least four
Story Genius. I’ve also gone through times that I could remember. Each of
screenplays of rom-coms to dissect im- them was meant to introduce Savvy
portant structural elements and read sort of minimizing herself to fit the
the stories of my peers to study the relationship that she was in at the be-
ways that they continue to hit those ginning of the story, but the scene that
major plot points in fresh and creative ended up in the book was most effec-
ways.” She excels at building chemistry tive because it showed the dichotomy
between characters and penning the between the flaws in her that are devel-
pulse-pounding bedroom scenes es- oped throughout the story and some of
sential to a good romance. her most endearing qualities. The other
versions of the opener fell short because
they either told too much too soon or
didn’t give the reader enough of an in-
tro to the main character.”
McCoy’s secret to finding the right
point of view
“I initially wrote Savvy in first per-
son, but as I went through revisions

58 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
with my agent, we agreed that the
story read better in third. The voice
remained strong, but the flow felt
smoother. The transition was painful,
but I actually really love it in third
person and wrote my second book in
third as a result.”
THRILLER
Wanda M. Morris has joked her “over-
night sensation,” as some media outlets
have dubbed it, took more than a de-
cade to write. The 2021 thriller All Her
Little Secrets, a Good Morning Ameri-
ca book club selection, follows corpo-
rate lawyer Ellice Littlejohn, a Black
attorney whose carefully hidden past
threatens to catch up with her after
her boss is murdered at work. Morris
blends flashbacks to Ellice’s past with
her present as the police eye her as the
top suspect. The book also addresses
corporate America’s rampant racism
and sexism, often portrayed as harm-
less good ole’ boy fun. Morris excels
at presenting heart-pounding action
scenes and fleshing out even the most
minor characters.
questions and not only raise them but
answer them, too. Readers aren’t going
to follow you if you don’t answer some
questions, and then answering them
can raise another question, too. ‘Oh,
that’s why she did that.’”
YOUNG ADULT
Kelly McWilliams wanted to write
about the concept of “passing” (when
a person of color “passes” for white
because of their light skin) for years.
Her recent YA novel Mirror Girls fol-
lows twins ripped apart at birth; one
of them can pass, while the other can-
not. She drew inspiration in part from
her family’s experience with colorism,
or discrimination against people of
color with darker skin. Mirror Girls is
McWilliams’ second novel; the first,
a dystopian YA, follows a girl who es-
capes from a cult. She excels at employ-
ing language in gorgeous and unexpect-
ed ways.
McWilliams’ secret to solving plot
problems
“An earlier draft of Girls ended really
unhappily, and I didn’t want that for a
YA audience. But it was hard to get the
ending I wanted in a believable way. I
usually outline and sort of take my best
guess by blueprinting what the new arc
should be. I choose difficult situations
to put my characters into. I tried a cou-
ple things, made some huge changes in
plotting. That doesn’t always work, but
I finally hit the right one, and I kept go-
ing through it in passes and layering in
new things.”
McWilliams’ secret to finding the
right words
“For a long time, I focused way too
much on language. It really bogged
me down and took forever to make
drafts. It was very precious and usually

Morris’ secret to writing dialogue

“I think dialogue comes to me the eas-
iest because I tend to be on the nosy
side. I’m eavesdropping on conversa-
tions when I sit in a restaurant or wait
in a line at stores. I think it’s just kind
of the nature of the work I do as a law-
yer. I’m in meetings, and I’m listening
to the way people talk and interact
with each other. I don’t have this kind
of woo-woo ‘people talk to me in my
head’ thing. When I’m writing, I do
hear people talk to each other, and I try
to be the vessel to capture that.”

Morris’ secret to building suspense

“I always think of that fairy tale ‘Han-
sel and Gretel.’ I leave enough bread-
crumbs for the reader to find their
way back home. This method leaves
enough questions and red herrings
and clues along the way for the read-
er to go where you want them to go.
I try in every chapter to raise some

WRITERMAG.COM 59
LIKE Jewell Parker Rhodes and
Kelly McWilliams share
McWilliams says. “She
was always out there doing
That is such a great piece
of wisdom.”

MOTHER, more than just a talent

for words and storytelling.
that.” Of course, mother
and daughter have differ-
The daughter remem-
bers accompanying her

LIKE They are a mother and

daughter who have both
ing styles. “My mom never
had much tolerance for the
mom when the latter was
researching a book on the

DAUGHTER published books to ac-

claim. McWilliams says her
mother has been “a source
of constant guidance and
mentorship” who encour-
aged her to read widely as
a child.
“It was never a question
for me of, ‘oh, can women
write books, can Black girls
grow up to write books?’”
mushier aspects of being a
young writer,” McWilliams
laughs. “She writes politi-
cal books, activist books.
I’d be like, ‘what about this
flowery phrase or image?’
And she’d say, ‘Honestly, it
doesn’t matter. You write
because you can act on
the world, tell the truth,
and make real changes.’
Tulsa race riots. McWilliams
began to recognize the
power that books had to tell
necessary stories. “I was
maybe 9 or 10,” she says.
“We saw a Klan rally when
we were there, and my mom
said, ‘I’m so glad you’re
here to see this.’ It was the
strangest experience. It
was really powerful.”

overdone, and when it was just right,
it took a lot of time. It made me very
grumpy. Now, I think the language is
something that is, of course, super im-
portant, but it doesn’t have to be per-
fect the first time through.”
MIDDLE GRADE
Finally, you get to this point where
you know it’s going to burst. It’s like
blowing up a balloon and letting the
air out, and everyone is waiting for it
to pop. You’re taking the reader on a
roller coaster, and after 18 books, I
know how to do it. You should see me
at my computer – I laugh, cry, act out
all the parts.”

Jewell Parker Rhodes, the author of
the New York Times bestselling middle
grade novel Ghost Boys and many oth-
er books for kids, tells stories that she
feels passionate about. Her characters
are drawn so precisely, you can almost
hear their voices in your head as you
read. Rhodes’ most recent book, Par-
adise on Fire, tackles climate change
and racism, among other key issues.
She connects the themes to things
kids can understand, such as present-
ing environmental disaster through a
raging wildfire. Rhodes excels at me-
ticulously researching and presenting
topics in a way that appeals to 8- to
12-year-olds.
Rhodes’ secret to perfecting pacing
“You have to build tension and release
tension. Every time you release it, you
decide for how long, and then you’re
inspired to build it even further.
Rhodes’ secret to writing dialogue
“I think of the way our family talks at
home. The way the community tells
stories. I marry that with what I was
taught in school and with the African
American oral storytelling tradition.
I’m trying to give my dialogue a sense
of orality. I want kids to hear voices the
way I heard my grandmother talk and
tell stories on the porch.”
PICTURE BOOKS
Kyle Lukoff has published pic-
ture books as well as middle grade
novels. His 2020 Stonewall Book
Award-winning picture book, When
Aidan Became A Brother, tells the sto-
ry of a transgender boy who welcomes
a younger sibling and how his family
helps him navigate his excitement and
nervousness. His latest picture book,
If You’re a Kid Like Gavin, recounts
events that led to a landmark Supreme
Court decision on trans rights. Lukoff
worked as a children’s librarian for
years, and back then, he read books
to his elementary-aged classes, which
helped him learn what stories and lan-
guage resonate with young children.
He excels at clarifying concepts for
kids using simple, relatable explana-
tions they can understand.
Lukoff’s secret to revision
“With picture books, revision tends to
look like tinkering with one word or
one sentence or making sure that you
don’t repeat these two words or mak-
ing sure that you do repeat these two
words. I really like condensing and
crystallizing into the purest and most
refined form that a story can take. I
describe picture books like putting to-
gether a watch where every single tooth

60 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
of every single gear has to perfectly in-
terlock, and if there’s like one part that’s
missing, then it jams.”

Lukoff’s secret to plotting

a picture book
“For me, the hardest thing in picture
books is the conflict. When I’m writing
a novel, I usually know what the prob-
lem is that’s trying to be solved. Where-
as in picture books, I usually have like a
cool idea. But I don’t have a plot, really.
I generally have the story in my head,
and then I write it down and then the
rest of the work is organizing it into
page numbers and making sure that it
flows and making sure that each ele-
ment is well described.”

GRAPHIC NOVELS
Last spring, popular YA fantasy author
Roseanne A. Brown published her first
graphic novel, Into the Heartlands, a
prequel to Marvel’s Black Panther fo-
cused on Wakandan siblings Shuri
and T’Challa as kids. If you are one of
Brown’s more than 22,000 followers on
“I’d ask, ‘What is the most
Twitter, you know she writes magnifi- important thing that needs to
cent short, pithy takes. She embraced
the new opportunity to use illustra- come across to the reader at this
tions to help tell a story. Combining
the visual and the verbal helped Brown
moment? And how do I say that in
flex literary muscles she didn’t know the least amount of space?’”
she had, and she notes the need to lim-
it her words ultimately improved her
writing in other genres, too. Brown ex-
cels at using storytelling to create high
emotional takes.

Brown’s secret to showing, not telling

“I was definitely someone who, be-
fore writing a graphic novel, leaned
heavily on narration and pretty words
and pretty prose, which is not a bad
thing. That’s still a good skill to have.
But my dialogue and character inter-
action chops weren’t as strong as they
could be because I didn’t work in that
muscle for so long. And since I could
not lean on that for the graphic nov-
el, I had to really step up the charac-
ter interaction and showing who the
character is right off the bat and with
actions and demonstrations that make
that clear.”
Brown’s secret to writing short
“When any character in a graphic
novel speaks, they’re saying maybe
25 to 30 words max. Working in this
medium made me realize how many
words are actually in a sentence be-
cause at first, I was like, ‘OK, that’s a
lot,’ and then I started writing, and I
was like, ‘Oh wait, that’s actually not
a lot.’ I realized I needed to get to the
heart of the matter in each panel in
the script. I’d ask, ‘What is the most
important thing that needs to come
across to the reader at this moment?
And how do I say that in the least
amount of space?’ It definitely made
me realize how wordy I am. But it was
a good skill to practice.”
Toni Fitzgerald is the copy editor for
The Writer. She also edits books for
self-published and querying authors.
Find her online: tonifitz76.com.

WRITERMAG.COM 61
HOW TO COMBINE
LIVED EXPERIENCES
WITH RESEARCH TO CRAFT
A MEMOIR THAT COVERS
NEW GROUND.
By Melissa Hart

63
A
uthor and journalist
Amy Ettinger never
expected to get car-
jacked in Milwau-
kee while reporting
on frozen custard
for her researched memoir about her
lifetime love of ice cream. “When I set
out to write my book, I imagined a lot
of eating and talking,” she says. “That
turned out to be the case, but I also had
adventures that were both scary and
thrilling.”
Ettinger initially planned to write
a memoir about growing up in Sili-
con Valley in the 1980s as the young-
est child in a dysfunctional family, a
kid who felt like an outcast at school.
When she realized she didn’t have
enough material to fill a book, she
changed her focus. “I noticed all these
artisanal ice cream shops opening up,”
she says. “I’d read Steve Almond’s Can-
dyfreak – which is a blend of memoir
and reporting – and I thought that I
wanted to do something similar with
ice cream and bring out the rich history
of the dessert in this country.”
The result was Sweet Spot: An Ice
Cream Binge Across America, a re-
searched memoir that weaves the au-
thor’s childhood experiences with ice
cream as emotional solace into anec-
dotes about ice cream truck turf wars
and brutal competitions among arti-
san ice-cream makers and the history
behind the country’s adoration of this
frozen dessert.
Writer and professor Susan Shapiro
has been writing book-length memoir
for two decades. She’s the author, most
recently, of The Bosnia List: A Memoir
of War, Exile, and Return, co-written
with Kenan Trebinčević, as well as The
Forgiveness Tour: How to Find the Per-
fect Apology. She tried for 10 years to
write the latter book as a memoir about
dealing with a bitter personal betray-
al by a trusted advisor before realizing
she needed to expand the book into an
exploration of how to forgive someone
who refuses to apologize. She ended up
interviewing religious leaders for their
views on forgiveness as well as victims of
sexual assault and genocide, a Holocaust
survivor, a mother who spent eight years
apologizing to her son, and a man who
lost his family to a drunk driver.
A veteran teacher of memoir, both
short and book-length, Shapiro be-
lieves research adds depth to memoir,
offering readers insight into a top-
ic beyond the author’s own story. A
glance at this year’s bestselling titles
confirms the popularity of researched
memoirs, among them Danyel Smith’s
Shine Bright: A Very Personal History
of Black Women in Pop; Imani Perry’s
South to America: A Journey Below the
Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of
a Nation; and Danica Roem’s Burn the
Page: A True Story of Torching Doubts,
Blazing Trails, and Igniting Change.
Intrigued about how to blend your
personal narrative with research, inter-
views, and boots-on-the ground inves-
tigation? Read on!
Invoke the reader’s memory with
your own
Ettinger found herself leaning heavily
on her master’s degree in journalism
when she considered how to structure
her memoir. “There was the trend sto-
ry of artisanal ice cream. But there were
also the newsy stories of ice cream truck
wars and extreme flavors like foie gras
that I wanted to incorporate as well,”
she explains. “I included stories of soda
fountains and little-known novelties.”
She knew that she had to tap into
readers’ own nostalgia around ice cream
if she wanted her book to be successful.
“I wanted to share my childhood mem-
ories, but I wanted the book to invoke
the reader’s memory, too,” she says.
In the service of her readers, Etting-
er enrolled in an ice cream boot camp
and visited Milwaukee, the unofficial
“Frozen Custard Capital of the World,”
where custard is made in a machine so
large, it’s nicknamed the “iron lung.”
It was here that she got carjacked, just
weeks after signing her book contract.
“It was one of the most frightening
moments of my life and one I decided
that I needed to include in the book,”
Ettinger says. “I made a decision to keep
reporting the book the way I originally
envisioned, and so within the month, I
traveled across the country again.”
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
Offer insight into little-known
stories
Chef and cookbook author Kaumudi
Marathé grew up in India and Cana-
da, surrounded by stories. Both of her
parents were professors of English lit-
erature; her mother told tales of living
in India, and her father acted out his
childhood stories along with the books
he read to her and her brother.
Marathé began compiling her fam-
ily’s narratives in a friend’s cottage
on Lake Michigan, writing down the
amazing anecdotes she’d heard from
her mom for decades. “But when I
wrote the first one down, it was just
two paragraphs,” she confesses. “I real-
ized I had to do something in order to
flesh out the story.”
Like Ettinger, Marathé has a back-
ground in journalism. She began to
research the stories she’d grown up
with. “I talked to my father and talk-
ed to my mother and delved into the
family archives,” she says. The result
was her memoir Shared Tables: Family
WRITERMAG.COM
Stories and Recipes from Poona to LA.
Along with family stories and In-
dian myths and legends, Marathé also
wanted to teach readers about the his-
tory of India before and after it gained
independence in 1947. “I discovered
that in my family, there were freedom
fighters and activists fighting to pre-
vent child marriage and to encourage
widow remarriage. Women used to be
married very young to much older men
and widowed by the age of 16,” she
says. “I’m hoping my storytelling will
provide insight into how my ancestor
helped change that history that wasn’t
known before.”
Because Marathé works as a chef,
she also incorporated a wealth of food
details and recipes from her grand-
mothers and great-grandmothers. “I
wanted to introduce Americans to real
regional Indian food,” she says. “People
generally lump Indian food into one
category, which there isn’t in India. My
state, Maharashtra, is the size of France.
So if you imagine the diversity of the
food in France, that’s what you have in
my state, times 10.”
Make a big story palatable
and interesting
Keith Mason, author of the memoir
Please Stand Up, never intended to
write a personal history. He started
out as a newspaper journalist, then
worked in public relations and non-
profit development. And then, five
years ago, he discovered something
that compelled him to put his person-
al story down on paper.
“Some people seek out the memoir
form, and others have memoir thrust
upon them,” Mason says, referring
to the moment he was idly scrolling
through the results of some keywords
on his basement computer and dis-
covered YouTube footage of the fa-
ther he’d never known, in a clip of the
long-running game show To Tell the
Truth from 1961.
“He’d left before I was born, and I
was raised by my single mom and my
65
grandparents,” Mason says. “I knew
only a little – that he was a deep-sea
salvage diver who searched for treasure
and bodies on sunken U-boats, but I
never wanted to dignify this man with
my curiosity.”
That all changed when he saw his
father on the vintage video. He spent
three years investigating the man and
uncovered his journalist grandfather’s
murder, his father’s seven marriages,
and eight siblings he’d never known ex-
isted, including a brother who worked
as an Ohio homicide detective.
“I was living through this process
and furiously scribbling notes,” Mason
says. “I said to myself, ‘Well, I’ll give
it three months and come up with 12
pages, and some magazine will buy
it.’ And that turned into four or five
months and 20 pages, which turned
into a short story, which turned into
a year and a half and a novella length
and then became a four-year experience
of research, meeting relatives, living it,
and writing it day by day.”
He tracked down his father’s div-
ing colleagues and interviewed them
about their work in New England in
the 1960s. “They gave me what I need-
ed to illuminate a new world for myself
“If you’re trying to River: A Memoir About a Very Open
Adoption, did just that. She wrote a
and the reader: what a diver’s solitary figure out what short personal essay for the parenting
life was like, the water pressure and the section of the New York Times, titled
equipment to deal with it, the sharks should be in your “The Birth Parents Move In.” In it, she
and the fatalities,” he says. “They de- memoir, write down described how she invited her daugh-
scribed what they did when they got ter’s birth parents to move in with her
past 30 feet in the North Atlantic and the stories that you after they became homeless.
you couldn’t see your hand in front of
your face.”
tend to tell at a “It felt like something people hadn’t
seen much before,” McGrady explains
Mason ended up telling his story dinner party or the of the memoir that took her five years
in a non-linear style, jumping between to research and write. “There’s a lot
various time frames to illuminate his
stories that come of misinformation about who birth
father’s life and work, his grandfather’s up in your family parents are and why people choose
as a crusading reporter, and his own. “I to place their children for adoption.
did my best to take this huge story and over and over again.” One common misconception is that
make Please Stand Up interesting and they don’t love their children. That is
funny for your average reader,” he says. so patently, ignorantly false because it’s
such a heartbreakingly loving choice
Start small and expand as needed to make, to realize the limits of your
Shapiro advises that if you’re not sure own capacity and to hand the child to
whether your story would be appeal- somebody else.”
ing as a book-length memoir, pub- Her memoir takes a deep dive into
lish a three-page version of it and see the lives of her daughter’s birth par-
whether it resonates with readers. Va- ents. She shares insights into what it
nessa McGrady, author of Rock Needs means to be homeless in Los Angeles,

66 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
explaining how her daughter’s birth
mother tried to get a job at a super-
market or fast food restaurant, but no
one would hire her. Readers learn that
most shelters ask residents to leave ear-
ly in the morning with their suitcases
or backpacks. “You can’t go to a job
interview like that,” McGrady notes.
“There are so many systems that need
to change.”
The narrative in her memoir is also
informed by details about open adop-
tion – that is, an adoption in which
birth parents and adoptive parents and
the child all know one another. “Adop-
tion is everywhere. It’s in every epic sto-
ry, it’s in every epic myth,” McGrady
points out. “But I don’t think people
always have a mature understanding of
what open adoption means.”
She hoped her blend of research and
personal anecdote would offer readers
insight into the motives of someone
placing a child up for adoption. “There
are so many systems that work against
new parents in this country,” she says.
“I hope my readers will become more
compassionate around the idea of
birth parents and more compassionate
around adoption in general. It has so
much nuance.”
Read, research, and write
Mason suggests that writers embark-
ing on a book-length memoir learn
as much as they can about the art of
constructing real life for readers. For
him, that meant seeking out perspec-
tives that helped him improve on his
prior short-form storytelling skills, in-
cluding Rebecca McClanahan’s Word
Painting: A Guide to Writing More
Descriptively and Roy Peter Clark’s The
Art of X-Ray Reading: How the Secrets
of 25 Great Works of Literature Will
Improve Your Writing.
“Maybe you grew up on a farm
and had an interesting life. Maybe you
went to Madagascar and learned how
to make pottery. To relate that in ways
that will help the reader care, you have
to bolster your own insights and devel-
op your writing skills as much as pos-
sible,” he says. The attention to craft,
he adds, separates a person writing for
WRITERMAG.COM
oneself from a memoirist writing for
MORE other people with the goal of creating a
RESEARCHED remarkable story.
Marathé urges writers to keep copi-
MEMOIRS ous notes about their lives. “If I read a
TO EXPLORE journal entry, it brings back smells, mu-
sic, the tastes of what I’m writing about,”
American Gypsy: a Memoir
she says. “I can remember my grand-
BY OKSANA MARAFIOTI
mother’s skin just by looking at a journal
◆◆◆ entry that I once made about her.”
The Cooking Gene: Marathé also suggests writing at least
A Journey Through African 500 words a day. “If you’re trying to fig-
American Culinary History ure out what should be in your memoir,
in the Old South write down the stories that you tend to
BY MICHAEL W. TWITTY tell at a dinner party or the stories that
come up in your family over and over
◆◆◆ again,” she says. “Those stories with vis-
Flying Free: My Victory ceral memories are probably visceral for
Over Fear to Become a reason. Don’t worry so much about
the First Latina Pilot on how the story will progress at first. Just
the US Aerobatic Team get the scenes down.”
BY CECILIA ARAGON Ettinger points out that memoir-
◆◆◆ ists spend a lot of time alone with their
manuscripts. “The great thing about
A Honeybee Heart Has immersive journalism,” she notes, “is
Five Openings: A Year of that it forces the writer to talk to oth-
Keeping Bees er people and engage in conversations
BY HELEN JUKES with the world. I always tell writers to
◆◆◆ start there, even though it can feel scary
to call up a stranger.”
The Master Plan:
Calling up strangers led her to one
My Journey from Life in
of the most thrilling moments of re-
Prison to a Life of Purpose
porting her memoir – riding on the
BY CHRIS WILSON
back of an ice cream truck in Benson-
◆◆◆ hurst, Brooklyn, with “Maria the Ice
Old in Art School: Cream Truck Girl.” “It was a childhood
A Memoir of Starting Over dream come true,” Ettinger says, “but
BY NELL PAINTER also nothing like I expected, which
made for great writing.”
◆◆◆ She found that people across the
Once I Was You: country were eager to talk with her
A Memoir of Love and Hate about their passions – in this case,
in a Torn America frozen desserts. “I started Sweet Spot
BY MARIA HINOJOSA by spending the day with a fascinat-
◆◆◆ ing ice cream maker in my hometown
who didn’t hold back on his opinions
Tastes Like War about the dark underbelly of the ice
BY GRACE M. CHO cream world,” she says. “Find those
◆◆◆ people and give them a chance to tell
you their stories.”
Uncovered: How I
Left Hasidic Life and
Contributing Editor Melissa Hart is
Finally Came Home
the author of two memoirs: Gringa and
BY LEAH LAX
Wild Within: How Rescuing Owls
Inspired a Family. melissahart.com
67
 My book took me 30 years to finish –
and I’m glad it did. Here’s why.
By Susan Ito

68
My memoir in essays, detailing my life as an adopted, biracial Japanese American, began as
my MFA thesis back in the early ’90s. My plan was to take a year post-graduation to polish
up the manuscript, send it out to agents, and have it snatched up by a publisher. If you had
told me then that my book wouldn’t be published for another 30 years, I’m not sure what I
would have done.
Perhaps I should have listened more carefully to my thesis advisor, Sheila. After congratu-
lating me on the successful completion of my 90-page manuscript, Sheila offered, gently, that
perhaps the book “wasn’t ready to be out in the world yet.” I vaguely recall her using words
like “premature,” “needs time to marinate,” and “distance.” I was indignant. Furious, actually.
“Maybe you’re too close to the story to be able to write about it right now,” Sheila suggest-
ed. “Or maybe the full arc of the story isn’t complete yet.” I vehemently disagreed. I’d searched
for and met my birth mother over 20 years earlier, and the roller coaster of our reunion al-
ready seemed to contain a thousand arcs.
Of course, Sheila was right.

The story was incomplete – until now.
I had no way of knowing it at the time, but the
long arc of understanding the nature of family and
identity would be many more years in the making.
It took the deaths of several important relatives,
as well as the birth of a grandchild, before I fully
grasped what the circle of life was all about. These
elements focused my adoption story into crucial
perspective and gave my book the depth and layer-
ing it really needed.
When I began my book, I was starry-eyed about
my birth mother. I had located her by stealing the
medical records from my birth out of an unsus-
pecting gynecologist’s office and then using sever-
al pre-internet sleuthing methods – including por-
ing through hundreds of tissue-paper-thin pages
of phone books. Even though she’d initially been
taken aback at being discovered, my birth moth-
er eventually warmed to me, and we became pen
pals with occasional visits. I was largely a secret to
most of her family. But I felt hopeful that eventu-
ally, my existence would be shared with more peo-
ple in her circle. The decades since then have in-
cluded hurt, outrage, multiple estrangements, and
fragile reconnections. I learned that a simple word
like “reunion” wasn’t a one-time thing and wasn’t
sufficient to encompass the complicated nature of
meeting ambivalent biological kin.
Since the first book draft, I have grieved the losses
of both of my adoptive parents, given birth to two
of my own children, experienced two very different
abortions, and welcomed a grandchild into my life.
My definition of family and my beliefs about repro-
ductive choice have also deepened and expanded in
every direction and given me more appreciation for
the nuance of my birth mother’s life and choices.
Back when my book was in its earliest stages, I
was impatient to just get it done. I eyed those cov-
eted “30-under-30” lists (and then 35 and eventu-
ally 40). But those literary accolades slipped away
as I blew out more candles on more cakes. My hus-
band, trying to console me, once murmured, “But
honey, look at Frank McCourt. He was in his 60s

69
when he published Angela’s Ashes. There’s no hur-
ry.” I almost threw a book at him. I yelled, “Don’t
talk to me about Frank McCourt! He’s ancient!”
Now that I am edging close to the age that Frank
McCourt was with his first book, I see him as a kin-
dred spirit, not as a symbol of imminent mortality.
I am a better writer than I was when
I first started.
This might seem obvious, but when I look back on
some of the things I wrote decades ago, I experi-
ence more than a little cringe. I was fresh out of an
MFA program and felt like I was a real writer! I was
an expert at my craft! Such naïve confidence. Many
years of practice have not only improved my sen-
tence-level skills, but I have had countless opportu-
nities to hone my writing, often through teaching.
I have learned from my hundreds of students as
well as from talented and generous colleagues, and
my work is better for it. When I have the chance to
take a class from another writer whose work I ad-
mire, I jump at it. I have taken brief as well as lon-
ger workshops on everything from point of view
to voice to the issues of writing about family. Each
one of these has enriched my sense of craft.
I now have a much more established
network and community of writers.
While writing is a solitary activity, a writer’s life
depends so much on community – and that’s
something I’ve built up over decades. Back in the
early ’90s, before I became serious about writing, I
worked primarily as a physical therapist and an or-
ganizer in a health-related nonprofit. I didn’t per-
sonally know other writers. I remember scribbling
excitedly in my journal, “I’ve met a real writer!!!!”
after my husband and I had brunch with one of
his co-workers and their partner Jane, who had a
byline in a local weekly newspaper. When I recog-
nized Jane’s name in print, I leaped out of my chair.
“I know her! I know her!” with the fervor of a dev-
otee. I knew a WRITER. Someone whose words
and name were actually printed in the newspaper.
70
When my own first short story was published a
few years later, I didn’t hold back. It was a self-pub-
lished, little-known anthology that I’d discovered
in the back of a writing magazine, but it didn’t mat-
ter. There was no byline too small or unimportant.
My name was in print. I invited everyone I knew
to come over for champagne and cake, and I read
my story to everyone assembled in my living room.
It was a milestone I never thought I’d accomplish.
I started signing up for writing classes wherever
I could find them, from the local university’s ex-
tension program to writers’ living rooms. Sharing
bits of our souls on paper was shockingly intimate.
Until I started meeting with other writers, I didn’t
realize how deeply personal it was. After several
years, I gathered enough courage to apply to grad-
uate school. Eventually, my MFA cohort became
some of my closest friends. My writing circle ex-
panded from casually being acquainted with one
writer to a larger and ever-growing community.
In 2012, I joined the Writers Grotto, a writing
community and co-working space in San Francis-
co, and my sense of connection and community
grew even more. This bustling hub of journal-
ists, novelists, poets, and other freelancers was
electrifying as we gathered in the lunchroom to
talk about our current projects. In the entry hall,
framed covers of books that had been written in
the Grotto made a stunning mosaic on the wall.
An annual tradition celebrating all the published
books of the year involved all 100-plus members
crowding into the conference room to cheer and
the lauded authors climbing onto a coffee table to
speak a few words and raise their books in the air.
Every time it happened, I murmured, “I want my
coffee-table moment!” and others would assure
me that it would come. (Alas, the Grotto had to
vacate its prior space due to the pandemic, and
that coffee table ended up at the dump.)
It was at the Grotto that I began to truly under-
stand what it meant to be a literary citizen – inte-
grated into a hive of other writers who were there
to encourage, support, attend each others’ book
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 launches, champion each other on social media,
read and give feedback on works in progress. I am
infinitely grateful that my book will be launched
when I have this invaluable community to sur-
round me on the figurative coffee table of honor
and to help me navigate the daunting channels of
publication, publicity, and events.
Speaking of social media – there was no
such thing when I began my book.
Thirty years ago, many publishers spent big bucks
sending authors out on tours. It was often hit or
miss that a bookstore in another city would attract
an audience. Today, with social media, podcasts,
and Zoom, books can be targeted to specific au-
diences – e.g., the adoptee community – and au-
thors can connect directly with readers.
I had the opportunity to co-edit an anthol-
ogy in 1999, and the modest book tour that my
co-editor and I organized was a sad and laughable
(or weepable) effort. We were invited to one book
event in a city on the day of a blizzard, and we sat
on a stage in a 500-seat auditorium with a dozen
audience members. Although we had discussed
the event on a radio show that morning, and it had
been featured in a tiny clip in the Entertainment
section of the local newspaper, the snow seemed
to have scared everyone away. And so our little
book tour debut simply came and went. There was
no way to broadcast the event over Zoom or to
post details on social media. We had no Twitter,
Facebook, or Instagram. Now, it has taken a long
13 years (Twitter just told me about my Twitter-
versary), but I have amassed a solid 7,200 follow-
ers, many of them writers, readers, and others who
are interested in adoption, reproductive justice or
multiracial experience, and I hope that some of
WRITERMAG.COM
them will share the news when my book enters
the world. I enjoy interacting with others on so-
cial media and have built relationships there. I am
relieved not to be starting out just months before
a book launch. When asked when a writer should
join social media, a panelist at a writers’ confer-
ence I attended answered, “Ten years ago.”
Finally, I am 30 years more mature
as a human.
Thirty years ago, even though I thought I was, I
wasn’t emotionally ready to be a published author
sharing a vulnerable story. Not only did the outer
story need completion, but so also did my inner
journey. Now, I am ready to have this story out in
the world, and I feel prepared to weather the storm
of what it might mean to share such an intimate,
vulnerable, and personal part of myself. I also feel
like it matters less. I don’t need the book to be a
bestseller (although I wouldn’t mind!). I have ful-
filling and meaningful work as a teacher, and I’m
not relying on book sales for financial survival. Be-
ing a writer is important to me, but it’s not all of my
identity, and my definition of “success” is different
than what it was decades ago. At this point, if I am
able to connect with and move even a modest num-
ber of readers, I will feel successful.
My 30-years-ago self would never have believed
it if I had told her that waiting this long for my first
book would have been acceptable, or even prefera-
ble. I understand the frustration that many writers
feel when it seems that their literary dreams are tak-
ing forever. “Better late than never” for me has re-
ally been a case of “better late than earlier.” It’s sad
that I won’t be able to invite my MFA mentor Sheila
to any of my book events; she advised me well, but
she didn’t live to see this moment. In a beautiful full
circle, though, I’m now teaching and mentoring stu-
dents in the same MFA program, and some of my
other prior professors are now treasured colleagues.
I’m scouting around at garage sales for a sturdy
coffee table to climb on next year to celebrate this
book that came when its time had finally arrived.
Susan Ito is the author of The Mouse Room.
She co-edited the literary anthology A Ghost At
Heart’s Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption. Her
work has appeared in Growing Up Asian Amer-
ican, Choice, Hyphen, Hip Mama, Catapult,
The Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere. She
teaches at the Writers Grotto, Mills College and
Bay Path University. Her theatrical adaption of
Untold, stories of reproductive stigma, was pro-
duced at Brava Theater. Her memoir in essays is
forthcoming from the Ohio State University Press.
71
 Join us!
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
More Than Words Books
Boston, Mass.

Sponsored by
 Submit a 10-page fiction or
nonfiction manuscript to receive a
written critique from one of our staff
members. We’ll include in-depth
Located in Boston’s feedback on what’s working well in
beautiful South End, your draft and what perhaps needs
More Than Words some improvement. All participants
Books is a nonprofit will receive their critique onsite in
organization and their conference registration packet.
bookstore that serves
as a job training
and development
program for system-
involved youth.

We have secured a special discounted

rate for conference attendees at the AC
Hotel by Marriott Boston Downtown,
located just five minutes from the
More Than Words Bookstore.

8:30 A.M. REGISTRATION BEGINS

9:00 – 9:40 WELCOME & WRITING WARM-UP

FINGER ON THE PULSE: A BOOKSELLER’S PERSPECTIVE

9:40 – 10:20 ON WHAT MAKES BOOKS FLY OFF THE SHELF
If you’re working on a story and
it’s going nowhere, the problem
PIXELS TO PLATFORM:
10:30 – 11:20 MARKETING FOR CREATIVE PEOPLE may lie with your protagonist,
and not with your plot. In
this generative session, join
11:20 – NOON PANEL: WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN author, editor, and The Writer
columnist Yi Shun Lai for a
deep dive into your characters’
12:00 – 1:00 LUNCH personalities, their motives, and
their backstories – and learn how
those can drive your plot in true
1:00 – 2:15 FICTION & NONFICTION TRACKS: SESSION 1 page-turning fashion.

2:30 – 3:45 FICTION & NONFICTION TRACKS: SESSION 2

4:00 – 5:00 PANEL: HELP! I NEED SOMEBODY

5:00 – 6:00 COCKTAIL HOUR

Learn more details or register
to secure your spot at
*This schedule is subject to change. writermag.com/twc
 The following conferences, retreats, and festivals are a small
sampling of what the industry has to offer. You’ll find more market
listings at writermag.com. Some conferences have been postponed
or moved online due to the pandemic. The information here was
current when we went to press. Be sure to check organizations’
websites for the very latest updates.

THE MONTHS AHEAD

KATSIARYNA PLESHAKOVA/SHUTTERSTOCK; ANYAPL/SHUTTERSTOCK

Aug. 2 Aug. 8 Aug. 9 Aug. 14

American essayist, novelist, poet,
and playwright James Baldwin is
born on this day 98 years ago.
In honor of “Sneak Some Zucchini
Into Your Neighbor’s Porch Day” –
which, yes, is apparently really a
thing – write a cozy mystery story
featuring summer’s most prolific
vegetable.
It’s National Book Lovers Day! Happy 75th birthday to novelist
Leave an online review of one Danielle Steel, the fourth-best-
of your favorite recent reads to selling fiction author of all time.
celebrate.

74 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 Writing Conferences
Information in this section is provided to The Writer by the individual markets and
events; for more information, contact those entities directly.
ARIZONA
ALTA Conference
Virtual, April-November. The 45th
annual ALTA Conference will be held
virtually with sessions each month,
with the theme “Values.” Two Thurs-
days each month feature panels and/or
roundtables. Bilingual readings will take
place the last Tuesday of each month,
followed by a social hour. Workshops
will take place in August. Pitch ses-
sions will also take place in September.
Check the event website for special
programming throughout September
and October.
Contact: American Literary Translators
Association. The University of Arizona,
Esquire Building #205, 1230 N Park Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85721. Communications &
Awards Manager Rachael Daum,
rachaeldaum@literarytranslators.org
literarytranslators.org
CALIFORNIA
La Jolla Writer’s Conference
San Diego, Nov. 4-6. Learn about the
art, craft, and business of writing with
lectures and workshops. Offers approx-
imately 80 classes. Faculty includes
authors, agents, publishers, and
publicists.
Contact: La Jolla Writer’s Conference.
lajollawritersconference.com
Litquake
San Francisco, October 6-22. The
largest independent literary festival on
the West Coast, this multi-day event in-
cludes panel discussions, cross-media
events, and hundreds of readings, plus
the now-famous Lit Crawl through the
Mission District.
Contact: Litquake. 342 Rome St., San
Francisco, CA 94112.
415-440-4177.
info@litquake.org
litquake.org
Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference
Mendocino and Fort Bragg Aug. 4-6.
The 32nd Annual Mendocino Coast
Writers Conference will feature morn-
ing workshops and afternoon events.
Karen Tei Yamashita will deliver the
keynote address.
JESADAPHORN/SHUTTERSTOCK
Contact: Mendocino Coast Writers
Conference, P.O. Box 2087, Fort Bragg,
CA 95437.
info@mcwc.org
mcwc.org
WRITERMAG.COM
Strength
in numbers
Writing conferences, retreats,
and festivals are some of the
Monterey Writer Retreat best places to hone your craft
Monterey, April (date TBA). Author-agent and learn from some of the top
professionals offer one-on-one sessions names in the field, but they also
with writers, including line editing and offer the unique opportunity to
mentorship of short stories or novel
meet fellow writers. In what can
manuscripts.
often be a solitary career, it’s
Contact: Algonkian Writer Conferences.
2020 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Suite 443, important for you to network
Washington, D.C. 20006. and get feedback on your
info@algonkianconferences.com writing. Here are three perks you
montereywritersretreat.com should take advantage of at any
conference:
Southern California Writers’
Conference – Los Angeles MAKE A FRIEND.
Irvine, Sept. 16-18. Devoted to writers of Finding a like-minded, or maybe
all levels and limited to 150 attendees, not-so-like-minded, writer to
the SCWC features dozens of interactive bring into your inner circle can
troubleshooting and read and critique be priceless. You can each
workshops. The event has facilitated
help each other brainstorm, get
some $4 million in first-time authors’
through rough writing patches,
book and screen deals since 1986.
and read new work.
Contact: Southern California Writers’
Conference. Michael Steven Gregory,
executive director.
msg@writersconference.com LEARN A LOT.
writersconference.com/la Attend workshops that speak to
you – and as many of them as
COLORADO possible. Getting advice from
Colorado Gold Writers Conference writers who have been in your
Denver, Sept. 9-11. This annual three- shoes and learning the methods
day conference hosted by the Rocky
that work for them can make
Mountain Fiction Writers features a vari-
your entire conference experi-
ety of workshops, panels, pitch session,
ence worthwhile.
and networking with authors, editors,
and agents.
Contact: Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.
P.O. Box 711, Montrose, CO 81402. WRITE.
website_liaison@rmfw.org The whole point of attending a
rmfw.org conference is to discover more
about your own writing style. Use
Women Writing the West the energy surrounding the event
Oct. 20-22. Explore writing and publish- as inspiration and maintain that
ing’s new frontiers while celebrating the
momentum once you get back
pioneering spirit of the West. Three days
home and are back to the lonely
of inspiring, learning, and networking
task of working solo.
while telling the stories of the women’s
West. Theme for the 28th annual confer-
ence is “Red Earth Voices: We All Have a
Story to Tell.”
Contact: Women Writing the West, Attn:
Administrator Alice Trego, P.O. Box 1886,
Durango, CO 81302.
www2trego@gmail.com
womenwritingthewest.org
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Library of Congress National Book Festival
Washington, D.C. Sept. 3. This annual
event, hosted at the Walter E. Wash-
ington Convention Center, is free and
75
open to the public. This year’s theme is
“Books Bring Us Together.” A selection
of programs will also be livestreamed,
and video of all presentations can be
viewed online after the in-person festi-
val concludes.
Contact: National Book Festival, Library
of Congress, 101 Independence Ave.
S.E., Washington, D.C. 20540.
202-707-5000.
blogs.loc.gov/national-book-festival/
2021
GEORGIA
AJC Decatur Book Festival
Decatur, Oct. 1. The independent book
festival also includes a keynote the
night before the event on Sept. 30. The
festival will highlight selected authors
with new fall publications, featured in
15 sessions and presented in three
tracks: adult fiction, adult nonfiction,
and children and youth.
Contact: AJC Decatur Book Festival,
500 S. Columbia Dr., Decatur, GA
30030.
info@ decaturbookfestival.com
decaturbookfestival.com
FLORIDA
Sanibel Island Writers
Conference
Sanibel Island, Nov. 3-5. Open to writers
in all stages of their careers. The event
offers workshops in fiction, poetry, song-
writing, children’s literature, journalism,
screenwriting, and creative nonfiction;
panels in publishing and editing; and
readings, keynote addresses, and
concerts.
Contact: Sanibel Island Writers
Conference, Reed Hall 242, Florida Gulf
Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd. S,
Fort Myers, FL 33965. Tom DeMarchi,
director.
fgcu.edu/siwc
THE MONTHS AHEAD
Sept. 3 Sept. 4
The two-day Library of Congress The winners of the 2022 Hugo
National Book Festival kicks Awards will be announced at a
off at the Walter E. Washington ceremony at Worldcon in Chicago.
Convention Center in Washington,
D.C., today.
76
KENTUCKY
Kentucky Book Fair
Lexington, Oct. 29. A full day of programs
and more than 150 authors on-site to
meet-and-greet and sign books. Check
website for additional information.
Contact: Kentucky Book Fair. 206 E.
Maxwell St., Lexington, KY 40508.
859-257- 4317.
kybookfestival@gmail.com
kybookfestival.org
Kentucky Women Writers Conference
TBD. No decision had been made at
press time about the conference,
which did not take place in 2021 due
to COVID. A women’s literary festival
at the Carnegie Center for Literacy
and Learning featuring workshops for
writers, evening readings, and events
that are open to the community. Past
featured guests include Jami Attenberg,
Mahogany L. Browne, Bridgett M. Davis,
and more.
Contact: Kentucky Women Writers. 232
E. Maxwell St., Lexington, KY 40506.
kentuckywomenwriters@gmail.com
womenwriters.as.uky.edu
LOUISIANA
Louisiana Book Festival
Baton Rouge, Oct. 29. Free and open to
the public. Features author readings and
an exhibit hall of booksellers, publishing
houses, and scholarly programs.
Contact: Louisiana Book Festival. Robert
Wilson, Assistant Director, 701 N. Fourth
St., Baton Rouge, LA 70802.
225-219-9503.
lbf@state.lib.la.us
louisianabookfestival.org
MASSACHUSETTS
New England Crime Bake
Dedham, November, 11-13. Hosted by
the New England Chapters of Sisters in
Sept. 6
The Booker Prize shortlist
picks are scheduled to be
released today.
Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
Features manuscript critiques, agent
pitches, master classes, and plenty of
opportunities to meet with other mystery
writers and fans.
Contact: New England Crime Bake.
contact@crimebake.org
crimebake.org
Viable Paradise
Martha’s Vineyard, Oct. 16-21. A one-
week residential workshop in writing and
selling commercial science fiction and
fantasy. Features extensive time spent
with award-winning authors and profes-
sional editors in the field, both one-on-
one and in group sessions. Must apply
for admission through June 1.
Contact: MVSFA, 351 Pleasant St., Suite
B157, Northampton, MA, 01060.
contact@viableparadise.com
viableparadise.net
The Writer’s Conference
Boston, September 17. Join The Writer
for a day of craft and camaraderie in
Boston’s historic South End. Choose
from fiction or nonfiction tracks featuring
classes taught by Kerrie Flanagan, Toni
Fitzgerald, and Gabriela Pereira or opt to
attend Yi Shun Lai’s Fiction Masterclass.
Optional 10-page manuscript critiques
are also available.
Contact: The Writer.
conference@madavor.com
writermag.com/the-writers-conference
MISSOURI
American Christian Fiction Writers
Annual Conference
St. Louis, Sept. 8-11. Network with liter-
ary agents and Christian publishing hous-
es. This conference allows attendants
the opportunity to interact with other
writers and present their ideas to agents
and editors.
Sept. 14-16
The longlists in the National
Book Award categories will be
announced during this time.
IRINA STRELNIKOVA/SHUTTERSTOCK
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
Contact: Robin Miller, Conference Direc-
tor, ACFW, P.O. Box 101066, Palm Bay,
FL 32910.
director@acfw.com
acfw.com/conference
MONTANA
Montana Book Festival
Missoula, Sept. 15-18. Features authors
with readings, panels, exhibits, demon-
strations, workshops, and receptions.
Contact: Montana Book Festival.
montanabookfestival@gmail.com
montanabookfestival.com
NEVADA
Las Vegas Book Festival
Las Vegas, Oct. 22. A celebration of the
written, spoken, and illustrated word.
Offers a wide range of programs built
around sharing resources, develop-
ing audiences, advancing the craft of
writing, and sharing the joys of reading.
Most events are free and open to the
public.
Contact: Las Vegas Book Festival.
Email from website.
vegasvalleybookfestival.org
NEW JERSEY
Murphy Writing Conferences
Various dates. The program run through
Stockton University now includes in-
person and online-only events. Check
website for schedule.
Contact: Murphy Writing of Stockton
University. 2200 Fairmount Ave., Atlantic
City, NJ 08401.
609-626-3594.
info@murphywriting.com
murphywriting.com
NEW MEXICO
Green River Writers Memoir
Writing Workshop
Las Vegas, July 16-17. Writing-intensive
program using memoir as a starting
point. For experienced and beginning
writers. Focus on the crafts of writing
and storytelling, and the evolving world of
publishing.
Contact: Green River Workshops. Alice
Carney, Director.
916-947-0983.
carney.aw@gmail.com
greenriverwritersworkshop.com
NEW YORK
Brooklyn Book Festival
Brooklyn, Sept. 24-Oct. 3. The largest
free literary event in New York City,
featuring national and international
authors.
Contact: Brooklyn Book Festival.
Email from website.
brooklynbookfestival.org
WRITERMAG.COM
Summer Fishtrap 2022
Enterprise, July 11-17. Choose a week-
long nonfiction workshop focused on your
favorite genre: fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
memoir, short story, or children’s liter-
ature. Aspiring and established writers
welcome.
Contact: Fishtrap, Inc. PO Box 38,
Enterprise, OR 97828.
541-426-3623.
Email from website.
fishtrap.org
Southampton Writers Conference
Southampton, July 6-10. Offers intensive
workshop sessions led by distinguished
authors as well as readings, lectures,
panels, and discussions. Focuses
include novels, short stories, poetry, cre-
ative nonfiction, memoir, and children’s
literature intensive.
Contact: Southampton Arts, Stony Brook
Southampton, 239 Montauk Hwy.,
Southampton, NY 11968.
631-632-5007.
christian.mclean@stonybrook.edu
stonybrook.edu/commcms/writers/
about.php
OREGON
Portland Book Festival
Portland, November, date TBA. No
decision had been made on this year as
of press time. Portland’s famed literary
community thrives during this one-day
event (formerly called Wordstock) that
includes author events, workshops,
readings, concerts, a book fair, and
more.
Contact: Literary Arts. 925 SW
Washington St., Portland, OR 97205.
503-227-2583
la@literary-arts.org
literary-arts.org
Willamette Writers
Portland, Aug. 5-7. Happening in person
and online. Tracks for fiction, nonfiction,
genres, screenwriting, and young adult.
Consultations with agents, editors, and
film producers available.
Contact: Willamette Writers.
Email from website.
willamettewriters.com/wwcon
PENNSYLVANIA
Highlights Foundation Workshops
Honesdale and online, dates vary.
Workshops geared toward authors
interested in writing and illustrating for
children. Intermediate and advanced
levels led by children’s publishing
professionals, including editors,
writers, art directors, publishers,
and agents. See website for list of
workshops.
Classifieds
READERS: Use caution when entering into any
legal contract with a literary service offering
agenting-type assistance or publishers who
charge for publication. If you have any con-
cerns regarding the advertiser’s commitment or
claims, please contact the advertiser directly.
ADVERTISERS: We do not accept ads from
agents or businesses that charge a reading or
marketing fee. For our private records, please
provide us with a street address and contact
telephone number. The Writer reserves the
right to reject or cancel any advertising which
at its discretion is deemed objectionable, mis-
leading, or not in the best interest of the reader.
SEND YOUR AD TO: The Writer, Sales Account
Manager, 35 Braintree Hill Office Park, Suite
101, Braintree, MA 02184 or call (617) 706-
9089. Email: teunice@madavor.com. Major
credit cards accepted.
CONFERENCES
CAPE COD WRITERS CENTER
59th Annual Writers Conference
Hyannis, Cape Cod
Virtual: August 4-6, 2022
www.capecodwriterscenter.org
CONTESTS
Call for entries: 2023 Colorado Prize for Poetry.
$2,500 honorarium and book publication. Submit
book-length collection of poems by January 14, 2023.
The $25 entry fee includes one-year subscription
to Colorado Review. Obtain complete guidelines by
sending SASE or visiting website. Colorado Prize for
Poetry, Center for Literary Publishing, 9105 Campus
Delivery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
80523-9105. https://coloradoprize.colostate.edu.
EDITING/CRITIQUING
PROFESSIONAL EDITOR, Award-winning Author
(Bantam, Berkley/Ace, others) offers extensive
critiques, respectful in-depth editing. Fiction,
non-fiction, juvenile/YA. Carol Gaskin 941-377-7640.
Email: Carol@EditorialAlchemy.com or website:
www.EditorialAlchemy.com
EDITORIAL AND COACHING SERVICES From a
nurturing but whip-cracking, well-connected author
(Bang the Keys, The Great Bravura, Jazzed) who will
help you unleash the true fabulosity in your projects
and bring them to fruition in the world before depres-
sion or drink destroy your nerve! Fiction, nonfiction,
scripts, poetry, theses. Ten percent discount if you
mention Writer ad. Email: jilldearman@gmail.com.
www.jilldearman.com.
SERVICES
MANUSCRIPTS TO GO / BOOK & AUTHOR SERVICES
Word Processing | Editing | Book & Cover Design |
Kindle Direct/Amazon assistance & more!
Cris Wanzer, www.ManuscriptsToGo.com,
spuntales@gmail.com
WRITING RESOURCES
It’s possible to learn to be funnier.
Visit www.ThinkingFunny.com humor-writing resources,
workshops, free contests. getinfo@thinkingfunny.com
 Contact: Highlights Foundation, 814 and writing retreat for women entering
Court St., Honesdale, PA 18431. the crossroads of their lives –
877-288-3410. professionally, artistically, personally
Email from website. – the perfect time and place to inspire
highlightsfoundation.org creative change. Featuring special
guest Roxanne Swentzell, a renowned
HippoCamp sculptor.

GET
Lancaster, Aug. 12-14. Hippocampus Contact: Page Lambert.
Magazine’s creative nonfiction Email via website.
writing conference features notable pagelambert.com/river-journeys
speakers. Also included are attendee-
led breakout sessions in four VERMONT

SOCIAL
tracks, interactive panels, readings, Brattleboro Literary Festival
social activities, and networking Brattleboro, Oct. 13-16. A four-day cele-
opportunities. bration including readings, panel discus-
Contact: HippoCamp. sions, and special events with emerging
Email from website. and established authors. All events are
hippocamp22.hippocampusmagazine.com free and open to the public. Also offers
workshops for a fee.
SOUTH DAKOTA Contact: Brattleboro Literary
Follow us on South Dakota Festival of Books Festival, P.O. Box 1116, Brattleboro, VT,
Facebook, Twitter, Brookings, Sept. 23-25. Features
well-known authors participating in
05302.
802-365-7673.
and Instagram book signings, presentations, panel vtbookfest@gmail.com
discussions, and readings on topics brattleboroliteraryfestival.org
that include fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
children’s/young adult, history/tribal, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
writer support. Middlebury, Aug. 17-27. Participants will
Contact: South Dakota Humanities learn skills in fiction, poetry, and nonfic-
Council, 1215 Trail Ridge Rd., Suite A, tion. Magazine editors, agents, and other
Brookings, SD 57006. professionals will also offer their feed-
@TheWriterMagazine 605-688-6113. back and expertise.
info@sdhumanities.org Contact: Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference,
sdbookfestival.com 204 College St., Middlebury College, Mid-
dlebury, VT 05753.
TENNESSEE 802-443-5286
Southern Festival of Books blwc@middlebury.edu
Nashville, Oct. 14-16. Free and open to middlebury.edu/bread-loaf-conferences/
the public. Features readings, panels, bl_writers
performances, and book signings with
@TheWriterMag approximately 200 authors in a wide VIRGINIA
range of genres. Fall for the Book
Contact: Humanities Tennessee, PO Box Fairfax, October, 12-15. Celebrate lit-
60467, 807 Main St., Suite B, Nashville, erature at this literary festival held at
TN 37206. George Mason University and other loca-
615-770-0006. tions in Northern Virginia, Washington,
info@humtn.org D.C., and Maryland. All events are free
sofestofbooks.org and open to the public.
@TheWriterMag Contact: Fall for the Book, Inc., 4400
TEXAS University Dr., Fairfax, VA 22030. Kara
Texas Book Festival Oakleaf, Festival Manager.
Austin, Nov. 5-6. Free and open to the 703-993-3986.
public. Includes sessions, book signings, kara@fallforthebook.org
and an evening lit crawl. Some events fallforthebook.org
may be virtual.
Contact: Texas Book Festival, 1023 James River Writers Conference
Springdale Rd., Bldg. 14, Unit B, Austin, Richmond, Oct. 7-9. Offers meetings
TX 78721. with agents, lectures, panel discussions,
512-477-4055. first-page critiques, a “pitchapalooza,”
bookfest@texasbookfestival.org and more.
texasbookfestival.org Contact: James River Writers, 2319 E.
Broad St., Richmond, VA 23223.
UTAH 804-433-3790.
Page Lambert’s 21st Annual River Email from website.
Retreat to the River jamesriverwriters.org/
Moab, Sept. 18-24. A six-day rafting conference2022

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 Hampton Roads Writers 14th Annual
Writers’ Conference
Virginia Beach, Sept. 22-24. One evening
and two full days of workshops, best-
selling keynote speakers, first 10 lines
critique sessions, workshops, and agent
pitches. Writing contests, social events,
and open mic sessions.
Contact: Hampton Roads Writers. P.O.
Box 56228, Virginia Beach, VA 23456.
Email from website.
hamptonroadswriters.org/
2022-conference-home
WASHINGTON
PNWA Conference
Renton, Sept. 23-25. The conference
features seminars, forums, and appoint-
ments with agents and editors. Partici-
pants can practice pitching.
Contact: PNWA, Writers’ Cottage 317
NW Gilman Blvd., Suite 8, Issaquah, WA
98027.
425-673-2665.
pnwa@pnwa.org
pnwa.org
LiTFUSE
Tieton, Sept. 23-25. A poets’ workshop
that combines writing, exploration, im-
provisation, meditation, camaraderie,
natural beauty, and readings to ignite
your muse. Offers master classes and
breakout sessions. Will feature poet Kim
Addonizio. Open to poets of all ages and
styles.
Contact: LiTFUSE. P.O. Box 171, Tieton,
WA 98947.
Email from website.
litfuse.us
WISCONSIN
Wisconsin Book Festival
Madison, October 13-16 and year-round.
Features local literary talents alongside
national voices, with events incorporating
literature, film, art, and performance.
Free to attend. Currently presenting
online year-round as well as in-person in
October.
Contact: Wisconsin Book Festival.
608-266-6318.
bookfest@mplfoundation.org
wisconsinbookfestival.org
INTERNATIONAL
Swanwick Writers’ Summer School
Swanwick, Alfreton, Derbyshire, En-
gland, Aug. 13-19. Also referred to as
“Swanwick,” this is a week-long program
for writers of all ages, abilities, and
genres featuring courses, workshops,
panels, and one-to-one sessions.
Cost includes full board and evening
entertainment.
Contact: The Writers’ Summer School.
The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick,
Alfreton, Derbyshire, DE55 1AU.
Email from website.
swanwickwritersschool.org.uk
The Vancouver Writers Fest
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,
Oct. 17-23. The 33rd Vancouver Writers
Festival will offer a forum for authors
to connect with readers in a vibrant
exchange of ideas and conversation.
Celebrates authors, poets, spoken word
performers, and graphic novelists. A
helpful event for teachers as well.
Contact: Vancouver Writers Fest, 202-
1398 Cartwright St., Vancouver BC, V6H
3R8.
604-681-6330
Email from website.
writersfest.bc.ca
VIRTUAL
Pacific Coast Children’s Writers Novel
Workshop & Retreat
Sept. 29-Oct. 2. Limited attendance
makes for an intimate and focused
setting in workshops, panels, classes,
and more. Enrollees read peer
manuscripts in advance, then compare
their conclusions with those of editors
and agents in a collegial, open-clinic
format. The conference also features a
teen workshop.
Contact: Nancy Sondel, founding director.
Email from website.
childrenswritersworkshop.com
Poets on the Coast
TBD for 2023. A weekend writing retreat
for women with Kelli Russell Agodon and
Susan Rich. Designed for writers of all
levels with sessions on creativity, gener-
ating work, publication, a master class
workshop, one-on-one mentoring, and
morning yoga.
Contact: Poets on the Coast, Susan
Rich, P.O. 16037, Seattle, WA 98116.
poetsonthecoast@gmail.com
poetsonthecoast.weebly.com
Power of Words Conference
Oct. 13-16. Offers workshops, perfor-
mances, talking circles, celebrations,
and more, featuring writers, storytell-
ers, performers, musicians, community
leaders, activists, educators, and health
professionals.
Contact: Transformative Language Arts
Network. TLA Network, P.O. Box 873,
Lansdowne, PA 19050.
tlan.wildapricot.org/POWConference
Write on the Sound Writers’
Conference
Oct. 7-9. Choose from a variety of top-
ics, with Zoom breakout rooms also
available.
Contact: Edmonds Arts Commission,
700 Main St., Edmonds, WA 98020.
425-771-0228.
wots@edmondswa.gov
writeonthesound.com

THE MONTHS AHEAD

Sept. 17 Sept. 18 Sept. 19 Sept. 22

Join us for craft and camaraderie
at The Writer’s Conference, our
first-ever in-person event, which
will be held at the More Than
LULUS BUDI SANTOSO/SHUTTERSTOCK
It’s the first day of Banned Books Happy birthday to award-winning On this first day of fall, write
Week, billed as “an annual cele- American sci-fi and fantasy something from the point-of-
bration of the freedom to read.” author N. K. Jemisin. view of a decidedly autumnal
Check bannedbooksweek.org for object, whether it’s an apple cider

Words bookstore in Boston’s a list of supportive resources and doughnut, a warm puffy vest, or a
South End. 2022 programming. pumpkin spice latte.

WRITERMAG.COM 79
Gigi
Will Know
Complexity is part of a book’s voice,
and so, yes – your ensuing books in the
series will have to be as complex.

Dear Gigi,
I’ve got two questions.
1. I’m setting up what appears to be quite a complex novel that
is the first in a series. I was wondering: in making it so complex, am
I setting reader and editor expectations accordingly for the following
books? Do they have to be as complex?
2. I am thinking of writing some pieces of flash fiction about the
above-mentioned series. I don’t think I will include these smaller piec-
es in the series itself, but if any of them get published, would it be OK
to use them in the series proper if I change my mind, or would they be
regarded as previously published and therefore untouchable?
—A LITTLE CONFUSED AND WARY

Dear Confused and Wary, from a great many characters within a

Have a query about craft?
Need some clarification on
an aspect of the publishing
industry? Looking for career
You don’t need to be either con-
fused or wary just yet. You are wayyyyy
ahead of yourself. Here, have a cookie
and some hot, milky tea.
Okay?
Breaaaaaaaaaaathe.
All right, here we go. You say you are
writing what appears to be a complex
novel. You don’t say how far along you
are in this work. I’m going to suggest
that it feels like you’re at the first-draft
stages, and here’s why: I think a lot of
your complexity will fall out in the revi-
sion. You will begin to see that there is a
certain amount of complexity that will
work in any narrative work and that too
much complexity will either not suit
your personal style, or it will not work
within the container of one book.
You’ve already started to see this
because you say you know it is part of
a series. Some of this complexity can
narrative work, you can introduce some
of them on a cursory level in book one
and then delve more into them in book
two, where you introduce still more
characters, whose arcs you can then re-
solve in book three.
However, your question was about
whether or not your follow-up books
would have to be as complex. I’d say
that complexity is part of a book’s voice,
and so, yes – your ensuing books in the
series will have to be as complex. They
will have to read in the same voice.
Your second question was about
short stories stemming from the main
work. No, you do not have to wor-
ry about them being unpublishable.
They’d fall under the same rule as short
stories being published in literary maga-
zines before being gathered into a book
of short stories that is later published.
Still, don’t put your cart before your
ILLUSTRATION BY YI SHUN LAI

advice? Email your queries
to tweditorial@madavor.com
with the subject line “Advice
Column.” We can’t wait to read
your questions!
probably be fanned out over a couple of horse. Write for now. Remember that
books, so as to not dump all of the com- revision is a key part of any writing.
plexity on your reader all at once. For And have another cookie.
instance, if the complexity is stemming —Gigi

80 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2022
 GE T
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OUR CRITIQUE
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