"Reading is the creative center of a writer's life." — Stephen King
August 31, 2025
Let’s just say that you wanted to write a novel that was built around that idea that “the present changes the past.” How would you structure it? Would you tell the story chronologically? Illustrate … Read More
August 11, 2025
How did she do that? Readers often ask this after reading an Ann Beattie story. Just when it seems as though not much is happening, boom! The story explodes. For example, in the … Read More
July 31, 2025
A reader will learn more about the facts of Greg Sarris’s life by reading his Wikipedia page than by reading his memoir. This book tells us little, for … Read More
July 22, 2025
How much should a memoirist reveal? This is the most challenging question for the writers I work with. Too much information heightens vulnerability. Too little results in generic and unconvincing prose. This author … Read More
July 10, 2025
About 700 years ago, Dante wrote a poem that begins this way, “Midway upon the journey of our life / I found myself within a forest dark / For the straightforward pathway had been … Read More
June 27, 2025
Marian Schembari’s memoir about learning she was autistic at age 34 is called a “hybrid memoir” because it combines a personal story with biomedical research. But is it stirring? Do people love this … Read More
June 22, 2025
What makes a memoir great? Honesty, insight, humor, compassion? What about metaphors? Comparing a feeling to something you can see requires a lot of creativity. Look at how Angelo compares “shame” … Read More
June 14, 2025
Short stories can be more than appetizers. But the challenge of creating a world with vivid characters who do something that matters to us in a compressed format is great. The length is a … Read More
May 29, 2025
I remember the Bad Old Days well, when it was thought that the word “I” weakened any writing that contained facts. Yes, we actually believed then that impersonal writing was “objective” because the … Read More
May 25, 2025
Should museums include the work of living artists? Rarely does an institution say, “We are confident this will stand the test of time,” but that’s in fact the judgement of The Museum of Literature Ireland in Dublin … Read More
May 15, 2025
When asked to recommend a classic Irish memoir, a bookseller in Dublin went straight to this book. As it turns out, she wasn’t alone in saying that reading this book is one of “life’s greatest pleasures.” This … Read More
April 27, 2025
How do you write a memoir about a family that has more than its share of abandonment and fractured relationships? Joanne Nelson’s book is a collection of fragments. Her short pieces show … Read More
April 21, 2025
This book is based on the novelist Ann Patchett’s address at a graduation ceremony. She is the perfect speaker for students who panic at the thought of leaving campus and friends and having to walk the … Read More
April 11, 2025
What should a moderately successful novelist, who didn’t engage readers during the social revolutions of the late 1960s and early 1970s, do to stage a come back? Explore trends? Update her plots? Become provocative? Barbara … Read More
