An Excuse to Read More Novels
Do you prefer order over ambiguity? Do you often find it necessary to come to definitive conclusions? According to a new study, your answer may have something to do with…
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fiction
217 posts
Sunday Rumpus Fiction: The Stench
The room wiggled and writhed, as though a pre-storm wind were blowing across a pond. Wall made the mistake of breathing in through his nose, then immediately gagged.
Sunday Rumpus Fiction: My Friend, the Painter Joan Miró
In the wake of the Lockerbie Disaster and haunting personal loss, Miró plays nursemaid to a young American woman, unraveling abroad...
Sunday Rumpus Fiction: Nobody
Nights at the store, the brother and sister bagged the groceries that tumbled down the conveyors, rarely looking up, a simple nod of the head at a thanks from a…
When Fiction Won’t Let You Lie to Yourself
Why do we incorporate our personal lives into works of fiction? And how do we know when to stop? In a post for the New York Times‘s “Draft” series, “about the…
“Some Case Studies in Failure”
“X—well, X is just failing. At taking vitamins. At fully committing himself to the idea of dental hygiene. At opening beer bottles and wine bottles and most bottles made of…
The Rumpus Interview with Elizabeth Gilbert
This is how I think of it: there’s a contract between you and the mystery. And the mystery is the thing that brings life to the work.
Life in Fiction
I write for the same reason I read: to free fall into a story and live in that world for a while. My novels begin in tiny glimmers—of character, story,…
“Break All the Way Down”
Rumpus essays editor Roxane Gay has a new story over at Joyland. “The mother of my boyfriend’s youngest child called in the middle of the night. He was asleep, the…
For the Late Bloomers
Bomblog’s Friday “Page Break” series “embraces long-form writing on the web by showcasing original works of fiction by emerging literary talents.” Today they feature Rumpus columnist Alina Simone’s “Late Bloomers,”…
Following The Rules
“The problem with pulling this kind of thing the wrong way in a speculative-fiction story is that science fiction, fantasy, and horror don’t necessarily share mainstream fiction’s baseline expectations for…