About.com Fiction Writing

Writing Space Therapy

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:40:36 +0000

A reader named Angie wrote in, asking me to post her predicament here. She wrote, "This year I moved into a new apartment -- and in with my boyfriend -- and I've had writer's block ever since. My old one-bedroom was right by the highway in a fairly industrial neighborhood, so there was always a jack hammer going off somewhere. I also had this courtyard that was really more of an airspace, and there was always music playing or a baby crying or a couple fighting. When I moved out, one of the MOVERS even looked out my window at my gritty little courtyard and said, 'You lived here how long?'

"But by hook or by crook, I did a lot of writing in that apartment. I thought that in my nice, new office, in my new, quiet neighborhood, I'd reach new levels of productivity -- I'd live happily ever after. But that hasn't been the case. I never feel quite right here. I've never been precious about my space (see above, if in doubt), but I need help. Writing space therapy, please! What can I do to make the office work for me?"

Does anyone have advice for Angie about how to make her writing space work? How did you get the chemistry right in your space? Let us know, below, in the comments, or even better, in our new user answer form. (You can even upload pictures. Angie sent a picture of her space: I told her to save it and do a "Before and After" once she's put our suggestions to work.)

Writing Space Therapy originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 08:40:36.

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First Day of Nano

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:18:55 +0000

Today I kicked off the first day of NaNo 2009 at a write-in organized by one of our lovely managers at About.com. With Halloween candy, coffee, and beer for some (as the afternoon wore on), we all hammered out the first chapters of our November novels, several of us going over the 1,1667-word goal, just for good measure. Did you host or attend an opening day write-in? Tell us about it in our new show & tell tool.

First Day of Nano originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 18:18:55.

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Discover Brooklyn Creative League, an Urban Oasis

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:36:35 +0000

After touring Brooklyn Creative League (BCL) in South Brooklyn, I almost wished I didn't have an office at home -- so I'd have an excuse to join. Created with both the environment and the worker bee in mind, BCL offers an airy, sunlit space as well as ample opportunities to network and socialize with other Brooklyn writers and professionals.

Where do you write? Share the story of how you found or fixed up your space.

Discover Brooklyn Creative League, an Urban Oasis originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 08:36:35.

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November Writing Prompt Challenge: Past and Present

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:51:51 +0000

For this month's writing prompt challenge, we have an exercise based on a story by Abigail Thomas, "Hey Jude." The instructions are to write 500-600 words, starting in the present moment, going back to some moment in the past, and then returning to the present. In this way, both past self and present self are revealed in a very short space. It can be autobiographical or fictional. (For an idea of what this might look like, read a sample, submitted by a reader named Casey, or look up "Hey Jude" in Thomas's book, Safekeeping.)

The closing date for submissions for this project is Friday, November 27, 2009. Submissions must follow these guidelines to be included in the prompt portfolio. If you'd like an immediate response, or would like a response on some other piece of writing, please post it in the forum under "Share Work." Either way, thanks for sharing your work.

November Writing Prompt Challenge: Past and Present originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 09:51:51.

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Late November Short Story Contests

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:48:12 +0000

The end of next month brings excellent opportunities, including the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival Fiction Contest (Nov. 16), the Birmingham-Southern College Hackney Short Story Award (Nov. 30), and the Fish International Short Story Prize (Nov. 30). See the contest calendar for other short story prizes, as well as residencies and fellowships with November deadlines.

Late November Short Story Contests originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 08:48:12.

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Last Weekend to Submit to the October Writing Prompt Challenge

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:00:20 +0000

If you're planning to submit to the October 2009 writing prompt challenge, get your submissions in this weekend. We'll be closing submissions after Monday and announcing a new challenge sometime next week. (NOTE: If you've sent me something and haven't heard back, please let me know. As of October 25, I've posted the ones I've received.)

Read the rules for this month's writing prompt, or read and comment on work already submitted.

Last Weekend to Submit to the October Writing Prompt Challenge originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 13:00:20.

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How I Write: Authors on the Writing Process

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:16:25 +0000

I'm endlessly fascinated by the lives of other writers: how they schedule their time, where they write, and how they balance writing and other demands. Partly I'm hoping to discover the key to high productivity or brilliance, and partly I'm just curious. Hence the burgeoning "How I Write" series. If, like me, you're interested in knowing how writers such as Dorothea Benton Frank, Phillip Margolin, and Jasper Fforde make it happen, read more.

Photo of Dorothea Benton Frank � Jack Alterman

How I Write: Authors on the Writing Process originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 16:16:25.

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NaNoWriMo Stories

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:13:10 +0000

For the past week, people have been posting excellent stories about their experiences with NaNoWriMo, including ArOhBeWyEn from Maine who started doing NaNoWriMo when she was 14, Janice from Dow, Illinois, who came to NaNo with a plot she'd concocted and set aside twenty years before, and Angie, who says "writing at the speed of NaNo" is a great way to "overcome perfectionism." (She also reminds us not to host Thanksgiving.) If you're a veteran wrimo, share your stories and advice. If you're coming to it for the first time, or just want to be inspired for the month ahead, read what others have written.

NaNoWriMo Stories originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 10:13:10.

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Our Brains on E-Books?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:31:09 +0000

Like most bibliophiles, I approach e-books with mixed feelings. I know this is the future, and I applaud the democratic possibilities of e-books, especially for scholars and students. But I also agreed with Kurt Vonnegut, speaking at a lecture many years ago, when he said that reading books -- the act of holding a book in one's hands, turning pages, translating symbols into ideas -- is Western culture's version of meditation. A recent Telegraph article confirmed what Vonnegut theorized years ago, saying, "This is more than merely a distraction but an active engaging of the imagination as the words on the printed page stimulate your creativity and cause you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness." Can e-books offer this same altered state of consciousness, or is this a cultural gift we stand to lose?

This week, a New York Times blog proved that I am not alone in my concerns. NY Times editors asked five experts -- an English professor, the former editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience, a professor of child development, a computer scientist, and a professor of informatics -- to address two questions: " Is there a difference in the way the brain takes in or absorbs information when it is presented electronically versus on paper," and "Does the reading experience change, from retention to comprehension, depending on the medium?"

In a roundabout way, the researchers answer my question, too, though they dwell less on the physical side of reading a book and more on the multi-tasking that almost unavoidably accompanies on-screen reading. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics, writes, "My own research shows that people are continually distracted when working with digital information. They switch simple activities an average of every three minutes (e.g. reading email or IM) and switch projects about every 10 and a half minutes. It's just not possible to engage in deep thought about a topic when we're switching so rapidly." Child psychologist Maryanne Wolf pondered what this might mean for future generations: "For my greatest concern is that the young brain will never have the time (in milliseconds or in hours or in years) to learn to go deeper into the text after the first decoding, but rather will be pulled by the medium to ever more distracting information, sidebars, and now, perhaps, videos (in the new vooks). . . . My concern is that they will not learn, with their passive immersion, the joy and the effort of the third life, of thinking one's own thoughts and going beyond what is given."

Surprisingly, it was a professor of computer science who actually presented the most hopeful perspective on the e-book question: "Of course, onscreen text will change and improve. But the physical side of reading depends not on the bad aspects of computer screens but on the brilliance of the traditional book -- sheets bound on end, the 'codex' -- which remains the most brilliant design of the last several thousand years. Technologists have (as usual) decreed its disappearance without bothering to understand it. They make the same mistake clever planners have made for half a century in forecasting the death of cars and their replacement by spiffier technology. The problem is, people like cars." He's right: people do like books, including the youngest generation of Western children, which grew up with Harry Potter. Books wouldn't be worth keeping if they didn't offer something the screen doesn't. So more than likely, we'll wind up with a clever hybrid of the two, as one NY Times expert posited: a book with physical pages -- and a few electronic enhancements. It's up to us to remember what we gain through uninterrupted time thinking and reading and insist that those enhancements have an off-switch. Because the good old-fashioned book may be our best cultural antidote to an increasingly fast-paced and overloaded information society.

Image Mario Tama / Getty Images

Our Brains on E-Books? originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 13:31:09.

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Responses (So Far) to the October 2009 Writing Prompt Challenge

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:40:38 +0000

Some really exciting stories have been submitted to the October writing prompt portfolio so far, each of them completely different from each other. It's been so much fun seeing what people have done with the prompt. Among other excellent responses, we have a deliciously creepy ghost story, "The Taking of Linden Maeve"; a sci-fi/fantasy story, "The Brick"; and two stories that use a theft to delve into the psychology of a relationship: "Coffee Solo" (great title, right?) and "Remote Control."

Many of these writers welcome comments on their stories, so please take time to leave your thoughts. And then, of course, give the writing prompt challenge a shot yourself. There's plenty of room for more!

Responses (So Far) to the October 2009 Writing Prompt Challenge originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 16:40:38.

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