writing
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The Second Time Around
2014 wasn’t just the year of the debut—plenty of authors released their second novel, often considered the most challenging for writers to write. Slate sat down with some second-time novelists to discuss their sophomore efforts, like Family Life author Akhil…
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: The Lava Lamp of Pain
Pain moved into my body five years ago. It wasn’t the whack of an anvil or the burn of a scraped knee. This pain sat warmly on the surface of my hands, and reached up to my elbows like evil…
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The Rumpus Interview with Frederick Barthelme
Frederick Barthelme talks about his new novel, There Must Be Some Mistake, life after teaching, and why food from the Olive Garden is “execrable in the best possible way.”
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Get Rejected
In this excerpt from her new book How Not to Write, Lisa Carver explains why it’s good to get rejected.
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The Rumpus Interview with Brian Turner
Brian Turner discusses his new memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country, the Iraq War, poetry and prose, and his family’s long history of serving in the military.
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The Rumpus Interview with Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell talks about her new novel, Landline, the writing advice she refuses to follow, and young adult fiction.
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The Rumpus Interview with Sean Michaels
The Rumpus talks to Sean Michaels about his new book, Us Conductors, challenging a reader’s empathy, and a true, strange musical instrument: the theremin.
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The Rumpus Interview with Julie Schumacher
Julie Schumacher discusses going extinct, iPads and iPhones, epistolary novels, and why the number of MFA programs in the U.S. is a non-issue.
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The Rumpus Interview with David Bezmozgis
The Rumpus talks to David Bezmozgis about Israel, making fact into fiction, politics in novels, and his new book, The Betrayers.
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The Rumpus Interview with Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman discusses the challenges of writing a series, why his 20s were a lost decade, and his relationship with his readers.
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Sharing Our Words
Writers often overuse a few unique words, creating a linguistic fingerprint. Vocabulary words are also exchanged between social groups. Some people contribute new words, while others adopt them. The process is not entirely random, though: Diana Boxer, a professor at…
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Want to Write? Go for a Walk
A recent piece at the New Yorker explores the relationship between walking and creative thinking, diving into the scientific reasons why this connection exists. The article also notes the many writers who found getting up and going for a walk…