January 23, 2019
On Borges’s “The Secret Miracle”
For many writers, nothing is more exciting than seeing in some work of fiction, be it a short story or a novel or a play or even a movie, a […]
January 22, 2019
Accepted
Literary rejection can appear at any time, like magic. I’ve been rejected early in the morning while shivering at the bus stop. I’ve woken in the middle of the night […]
January 16, 2019
On the Creative Value of Unproductive Time
There’s a scene in the fifth episode of the third season of Mad Men in which Lane Pryce, one of the new managers in charge of the company’s finances, complains […]
January 11, 2019
On the Three-Act Structure
One of the central lessons I learned back when I was still attempting to become a screenwriter as well as a fiction writer (something I’ve discussed on this blog a […]
January 3, 2019
Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry – January
“Education is not the filling of a pail,” reads the sign above my colleague’s desk, “but the lighting of a fire.” These lines—often attributed to the poet W. B. Yeats—happen […]
December 28, 2018
On Rereading Books
Each year, as I look over my list of all the books I’ve read (and listened to) in the past year, I always take note of the books I chose […]
December 19, 2018
On Character Motivation: The Personal vs The Political
Years ago, when I was still interested in being a screenwriter as well as a novelist (the Dark Ages of my literary life), I heard a screenwriting teacher say during […]
December 12, 2018
In Defense of Long Sentences
When it comes to prose style in contemporary literature, no two works have had a greater influence than George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” and Strunk and […]
December 10, 2018
Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry – December
What makes poetry poetry? Ask that question of a dozen poets, scholars, or readers and you’ll get as many different answers, maybe more. Some won’t be much help: “Poetry is […]
December 6, 2018
Asking College and High School Students How They Want to be Taught
After teaching college for ten years, some days I feel like a wrinkled old pro, but many days I still find the practice of conveying information to young people to […]
December 5, 2018
An Accidental Memoirist: The Education of a Young Poet by David Biespiel
Sze-Lorrain: In the first chapter of your latest book of prose, The Education of a Young Poet, you write: Perhaps the hardest thing about my education as a poet is […]
December 5, 2018
To Hell with You
I know not to get my hopes up about a short story submission while it’s still under consideration. When it comes to literary journal submissions, the competition is intense, and […]