About.com Fiction Writing

How Does New Moon Compare?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:49:16 +0000

After months of anticipation, New Moon opened at 12:01 last night to sold-out theaters across the nation, and is projected to bring in $85 to $100 million this weekend. Are you one of the fans who've already seen the movie? How did it measure up to the book, and to the Twilight film? Let us know.

Photo: Stephenie Meyer at the New Moon premiere earlier this week.

How Does New Moon Compare? originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 12:49:16.

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Share Your NaNoWriMo Stories

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:24 +0000

We're over halfway done with NaNoWriMo and I'm curious about what's been happening in other parts of the country this month. What events have you hosted or attended? And how's your month going, generally? (I'm woefully behind, but hope to catch up over Thanksgiving.) Tell us about your write-in.

Want to host a write-in, but not sure how? Find write-in advice from wrimos around the country.

Share Your NaNoWriMo Stories originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 10:00:24.

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Writing and Loss

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:13:55 +0000

Over the weekend, I attended a seminar at Poets House by Naomi Shihab Nye on elegiac poetry. She's in the process of working on a collection about her late father -- perhaps for publication, perhaps not -- and she shared some of the things she's been reading and writing since he died. Like many people there, I had come because I'm also tentatively working on an elegiac work of some kind, in my case, for my mother. Shihab Nye started by opening up the floor to us, asking if we were working on similar projects and what our process has been. It was so comforting to be in a room with people who were also working with loss, and to hear that they, too, struggled to find the right form for their grief.

She also offered a number of book recommendations that I want to pass on, for readers here who might be engaged in a similar project or who recently lost someone: Beloved on the Earth, an anthology edited by Jim Perlman; Concerning the Book That Is the Body of the Beloved by Gregory Orr; The True Calm Keeps Biding Its Story by Rusty Morrison; and Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser, to name a few. I haven't had a chance to read these yet, but they're on my list.

She also gave us an exercise: 1) Write down three questions you'd like to ask someone who's lost to you, either through death or estrangement. 2) List three to five physical items that come to mind when you think of this person. 3) Write down three to five quotes that you associate with the person. Then take bits and pieces of what you've written and work them into a poem of a few lines. You might find that those few lines are enough on their own, or you might expand them into a longer poem or even (for the purposes of this site) a prose piece.

Writing and Loss originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 18:13:55.

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Favorite Gifts for Writers?

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:02:14 +0000

With Black Friday ahead, I started thinking about our gift guide, which could use some freshening up, especially in light of the recent economy. What's the best gift anyone's ever given you with your writing life in mind? For me, it was a subscription to Glimmer Train from my best friend from high school and college. More than the journal itself, it was the recognition of my literary goals that mattered to me. (For that reason, I suppose, a journal subscription is at the top of the gift guide.) What gifts have made a difference in your writing life, and why? What would you give to a writer who in need of encouragement?

Favorite Gifts for Writers? originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 10:02:14.

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What's on Your Best of 2009 List?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:36:29 +0000

Since one�top 10 list created controversy recently with its utter lack of women writers and paucity of writers of color, I wanted to open up a discussion here about the best books of 2009. What books would go on your top ten list? And which ones were missing from certain other lists? (And it doesn't have to be fiction: let's celebrate good writing of any kind.)

What's on Your Best of 2009 List? originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 11:36:29.

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Responses to the November Writing Challenge

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:54:11 +0000

The stories written for this month's writing challenge have dealt with more serious themes than last month's did -- and the exercise in part calls for this. Based on a short story by Abigail Thomas, the exercise came to me through a friend who was completing an MFA at Sarah Lawrence. The idea is to portray a character at two different points in time and show, in 500-600 words, how the character has changed. Since change often comes through struggle, it's only natural that we would see more dramatic conflicts at work here.

To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, read and comment on the selections that have been submitted so far. Then see what the exercise challenges you to create.

Responses to the November Writing Challenge originally appeared on About.com Fiction Writing on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 22:54:11.

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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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