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Very cool exercises for cultivating better descriptions.
Writing More Vivid Descriptions (Start by Leaving the Smartphone Off)
Enjoy!
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If you’ve struggled at all to write after graduating from the Professional Creative Writing Program, check this out:
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It’s a bit crazy to call Shaunta Grimes’ site “The Write Brain,” a site for “writing tips.” It’s much more robust than that, especially if you’re writing creative prose. Also check out her Ninja Writers thread. Shaunta delivers great advice, complex and useful thought-work, and overall good humor. Enjoy!
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A fine interview on being a “hyphenated writer.” Surely the best way to make a living by the pen! William Stafford called this “moving in the little ways that encourage good fortune.” Here’s wishing you all good fortune!
Six Things Quan Barry Learned from Being a Multi-Hyphenate Writer
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I can’t swear to the accuracy of the entries in the linked 2022 Guide to Manuscript Publishers, from Authors Publish. which includes close to 250 publishers who don’t require authors to submit through agents. Here is the link, which expires soon, so grab it while you can for free: https://authorspublish.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Final-The-2022-Guide-to-Manuscript-Publishers.pdf
Don’t be shy! Get your work out there! Best of luck, my friends….
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Another very useful piece, the text of a workshop talk given by the excellent writer C. M Mayo, called “On Seeing As An Artist: Five Techniques for a Journey to Einfühlung”: https://madam-mayo.com/on-seeing-as-an-artist-five-techniques-for-a-journey-to-einfuhlung/
Her insights remind me that I often tell students that they should read only for pleasure but read as writers when they’re doing it. Whatever your favorite escapist reads are (Simenon mysteries, Louis L’Amour Westerns, love-lost-and-found á là Danielle Steele, etc.), you should still make yourself aware of structure (sentences, paragraphs, scenes, plot) and the way characters are transformed by their desires and the inevitable blocking of those desires. Note-taking not required, but awareness—YES.
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Oooh, I can’t wait to dig into this. I love a good talk. It’s so true about reading as a writer; I think that even a good old trashy beach read teaches us about what compels us. Thank you for being so good at finding resources, like Sally says!
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I never got into reading “trashy novels,” although I’d pull a hamstring stretching for a definition of such things! I guess, for me, it would come down to formulaic writing, unrealistic characters and plots, etc. But “unrealistic”—what does that mean? I think about Lord of the Rings, or any non-trashy fantasy novel, and it seems like we’re talking about an “unrealistic” story made real by the force of its language. Take a very trashy concept–a middle-aged man becomes obsessed with a teenage girl, manipulates her into a sexual relationship, and finally commits murder in an effort to keep her from dumping him: the driving idea behind Lolita. Trashy idea, brilliant novel–thanks to the force of its language.
Not sure why I’m going on like this! All just to say that you’re right about learning from whatever we read, but we learn more from good books than from “trashy” ones! 😉
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Excellent writing advice from George Saunders….
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Some excellent advice here on writing an excellent short story: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/14/take-risks-and-tell-the-truth-how-to-write-a-great-short-story
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Joe,
I’m writing a lot which is a very good change for me. But I’m getting nowhere with my publishing, mostly because I can’t seem to find a direction. I want so much to find a home for my novella.-
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I just did a quick search. You’re right about Submittable: you can search on Novella but it’s not very productive. Poets & Writers is a better source. Here are a few links you might look into:
On Submittable now:
University of Miami Press
Novella Prize 2022—deadline August 31
https://www.orgs.miamioh.edu/mupress/novella/index.htmlNew Letters Novella Contest—No deadline listed [max. 30,000 words]
https://newlettersmagazine.submittable.com/submit/197407/novella-submission-non-subscriberMany pages of small press novella publishers at Poets & Writers: https://www.pw.org/custom/node/search/small_press/Novella
I’ll keep thinking about it, too! It could be that you’ll want to try going after an agent.
More to come!
Joe
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Sally, you might want to give Persea Books a try. https://www.perseabooks.com/contact
They are a small but significant literary publisher. Your novella might be up their alley. But you will need to do a good, concise query letter. Useful advice on that here: https://nybookeditors.com/2015/12/how-to-write-a-darn-good-query-letter/
Another route would be to make the novella part of a collection of shorter fiction. Have you been working on any stories?
Cheers!
Joe
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Ohh, I love these exercises. I’ve been doing this thing where I have my phone/the internet/all connection to service or wifi off for a full 24 hours, and it’s been absolutely wonderful. It’s so nice to be totally present in a way that I’ve honestly never been. I think any of us who grew up in the 80s or 90s were raised in front of a screen (even if we remember the Pre-Internet Times). It’s always creatively enriching to step away!
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