An Ethnography of the Self: Talking with Morgan Parker
Morgan Parker discusses her writing process, approaching an idea from various forms, and how moving from NYC to L.A. has changed her work.
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Posts Tagged: craft
Little Seizures of Grief: Talking with Gary Lutz
Gary Lutz talks about his latest collection of short stories, Assisted Living, the author’s right of way, and the sentence.
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Julie Buntin
Julie Buntin discusses her debut novel, Marlena, the writers and books that influenced it, tackling addiction with compassion, and the magic of teenage girls.
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FUNNY WOMEN #151: Creative Writing Tips
Need to write something for some reason? Here’s how.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Ben Tanzer
Ben Tanzer discusses his new essay collection Be Cool, why running is so important to him, and not being precious about his work.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Mila Jaroniec
Mila Jaroniec talks about her debut novel Plastic Vodka Bottle Sleepover,” writing autofiction, the surprising similarity between selling sex toys and selling books, and the impact of having a baby on editing.
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The Rumpus Interview with Alice Mattison
Alice Mattison discusses her newest book, The Kite and the String, a meditation on her lifelong journey through the craft of writing, the joys of teaching writing, and the importance of community.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Brian Booker
Brian Booker discusses his debut collection Are You Here For What I’m Here For?, giving characters strange and unusual names, and sleeping sickness.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Maryse Meijer
Maryse Meijer discusses her debut collection Heartbreaker, the importance of tension in writing, revision as a shield against criticism, and life as a twin.
...moreNotes on Craft
Supposedly, the most-common question for a writer is , “Where do you get your ideas?” but in my experience, it is actually, “Do you outline?” I don’t outline, but I do fill notebooks with scribbled thoughts about where the story is and where it should be, and over the years I’ve realized that these pages […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Becky Tuch
Becky Tuch discusses founding The Review Review, motherhood, creativity, and the future of literary magazines.
...moreHow to Write Something
Keep a close eye on your Twitter account. Important things may be said there that you will be expected to weigh in on, and if you don’t, everyone will wonder if you fell asleep in the bathroom stall of the bar last night and are still there, head sunken low next to the toilet, one […]
...moreThe Autobiographical Novel
Why is it not a memoir, people will ask. I tell more truth in fiction, you might say. Alexander Chee gives step-by-step instructions on how to write an autobiographical novel, and it’s beautiful.
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The Rumpus Interview with Meline Toumani
Meline Toumani discusses her debut, There Was and There Was Not, the rewards and risks of writing a political memoir, and what it means to approach a divided past and future.
...moreNowhere to Hide
At the Guardian, Lisa McInerney explains how writing short fiction helped her to develop the skills to write a novel: Short fiction leaves its author nowhere to hide. I cannot disappear into a character or some grand conspiracy, as I can in a novel. I must prove my capacities for portraying one small event in such […]
...moreAn Argument Against Spinelessness
Considering the other forces vying to demarcate our time, dividing it up between mass shootings and other traumas, to encounter a packed bookshelf, a library, or a bookstore with a breathtaking procession of spines and all the potential therein—it is a relief to know that time can also look like that, that it could contain […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Sharon Oard Warner
Sharon Oard Warner discusses her latest book, Sophie’s House of Cards, Breaking Bad, how a sense of place informs fiction, and the Republican war on Planned Parenthood.
...moreIs Writing Art or Profession?
For those who start within the establishment, professional writing is likely to correspond to drudgery, and they’ll seek to escape it. For those on the outside looking in, it’s a mark of legitimacy. The reasons behind why writers write is arguably broken into two camps: for art and as a profession. Certainly neither is more […]
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Anna March’s Reading Mixtape #12: The Art and Craft of Writing
The writing advice I give is this: 1) Sit down 2) Write These wise and talented writers have more to say.
...moreIntegrating Your Experiments
For Electric Literature, novelist Noy Holland explores what it means to label (and often dismiss) writing as “experimental.” Holland notes the subjectivity and mess inherent in language and form, and why writing that aims for clarity might sacrifice authenticity in the process: Experimental fiction. How can we keep calling it this? Imagine somebody saying to […]
...moreMarginalized
Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it? First, it keeps you awake — not merely conscious, but wide awake. Second, reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does […]
...moreMake Your Writing A Beautiful Mess
A lovely and thoughtful argument for writing with a pencil. Hear her out before you decide.
...moreA World Made of Words
At ZYZZYVA, Christian Kiefer talks with novelist Scott Hutchins and playwright Octavio Solis about learning and developing as writers, the difference between writing plays and writing novels, and writing as a craft: It’s an art. There’s alchemy in the process by which we go from a blank page to something that has its own reality. A world […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Lincoln Michel
Lincoln Michel talks about his debut short story collection, Upright Beasts, his interest in monsters, and what sources of culture outside of literature inspire him.
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The Rumpus Interview with Garth Risk Hallberg
Garth Risk Hallberg talks about his debut, City on Fire, living in New York City now and in the ’70s, and the anxiety and gratitude you feel when your first novel generates so much buzz.
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The Rumpus Interview with Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff talks about her new novel, Fates and Furies, the life of creative people and those who love them, and why she’s grateful to anyone who reads books.
...moreOldies, Goodies
If great art is supposed to be surprising, do great writers have to change? At The Millions, Drew Nellins Smith wonders whether there can be too much of a good thing: I just get it. However much I admired his work, it had started to seem like a magic trick I’d seen a hundred times. And the magic […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Matt Bell
Author Matt Bell talks video games, fiction, nonfiction, politics, empathy, and his new books, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Scrapper.
...moreWrite What You Don’t Know
If we only write what we know, when do we get to use our imaginations? The Millions explores the art of writing things we don’t know.
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The Rumpus Interview with Adam Johnson
Pulitzer Prize–winning author Adam Johnson talks about his new book, Fortune Smiles, fiction and voice, veterans and defectors, solar-powered robots and self-driving cars, and infrared baseball caps that can blind security cameras.
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