Posts by author
Jake Slovis
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Adventures Are Overrated
For The Millions, Bill Morris wonders what value adventures and life experiences have on writing good fiction. While at first Morris is convinced that adventure is necessary to write quality work, Flannery O’Connor’s Mystery and Manners convinces him that travel and exploring the…
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Do Facts Matter?
For the New York Times, Ayana Mathis and Thomas Mallon explore whether or not fiction based on historical events has a “responsibility to the truth.” While Mallon discusses how to remain within “the situational ethics” of historical fiction, Mathis differentiates between “truth” and…
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Beig’s “Disappearing World”
For the Paris Review, Matthew Neill Null wonders why American presses have yet to “take up” the catalog of German novelist Maria Beig, speculating that some might see her depiction of rural life as “too pat”: Will anyone in America give a…
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R.L. Stine’s Deep Dark Secret
In advanced of the release of the Goosebumps movie, NPR’s Colin Dwyer reveals that children’s author R.L. Stine originally hoped to write humor: “I started when I was 9. I don’t know, I was this weird kid. I found a typewriter, I dragged…
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Diaz Urges Readers to Diversify
For the Huffington Post, Carolina Moreno discusses Junot Diaz’s recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where the award-winning author stressed the importance of reading authors from diverse backgrounds: You look at this country and you look at this world…
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History for the Layman
Electric Literature’s Dan Sheehan interviews Eagles Prize finalist DW Gibson, whose recent book The Edge Becomes Center explores the gentrification of New York City neighborhoods through the oral histories of those who experienced it firsthand: I wanted to find a way to…
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Does Music “Unleash Latent Genius”?
For The Millions, Jacob Lambert explores how listening to music while writing can influence performance. Although some studies show that music may impede concentration and “disrupt writing fluency,” others suggest that music can “lift your mood and increase your arousal.” Lambert…
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Books Win!
For Slate, Ruth Graham suggests that improved access to books and a decline in censorship has turned Banned Books Week into “crock”. So “instead of hand-wringing about a nonexistent wave of censorship,” Graham encourages readers to think about the week with…
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History In The Driver’s Seat
Tobias Carroll interviews Robert Kloss about his new novel, The Revelator, for Electric Literature. The two discuss the challenges of writing novels in the second person and how history shapes characters: We have the illusion that we are in control of our…
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Neil Gaiman Versus China
The Guardian reports that Neil Gaiman has added his name to a letter urging China’s president Xi Jinping to release dissident writers “languishing in jail for the crime of expressing their opinions.” In addition to Gaiman, several other famed authors, including Jonathan Franzen and…
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Ben Marcus Glad He Isn’t An Anthropologist
Author George Saunders interviews Ben Marcus about reading for the “mechanics” of short stories, and how to “reverse engineer” these mechanics in order to construct original work. In addition, Ben Marcus shares what he learned about the state of the “American ” short story…
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How “Good Stories” Make Sense of Crisis
For the Guardian, author Gillian Cross explains how fiction might help people to better understand and empathize with the experience of Syrian refugees: It might seem frivolous to be talking about stories at a time like this. Shouldn’t we be concentrating…