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 THE
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OF PINE MANOR COLLEGE

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Mike Miner, Fiction, Tolland, CT

THE SOLSTICE LOW-RESIDENCY MFA PROGRAM

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Program and application
information at
piper.asu.edu/novel A unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
September 2016 Volume 129 Number 9

FEATURES
18
The science of
submission
Considering your mathematical odds
of getting accepted can help soften the
sting of rejection.
BY KEYSHA WHITAKER

22
Steer your brand
towards success
(without sinking)
Building your personal writer brand can
lead to smoother career sailing, but one
wrong move can land you in rocky wa-
ters. Heres our guide to staying afloat.
BY BRIAN FEINBLUM

26
Adventures in
adaptation
Overcome the top six hurdles writers
face when adapting their screenplay to
a novel.
BY JEFF LYONS

30
New voices in
publishing
These six young editors & writers
prove that age is just a number.
BY MEGAN KAPLON
DEPARTMENTS IN EVERY ISSUE
10 WRITING ESSENTIALS 34 FREELANCE SUCCESS 4 From the Editor
No filter Free time
Dont put unnecessary Use downtime between 5 Take Note
distance between your story projects to improve your craft. Vanessa Garcia, Julia Fierro
and your reader. BY JULIA RAPPAPORT
and more.
BY JACQUELINE HESSE

36 CLASS ACTION 42 Markets

12 MARKET FOCUS To a degree
47 Classified advertising
Level up What are you really paying for
Video games offer when you enroll in a creative
48 How I Write
lucrative opportunities for writing program?
Angela Flournoy: No outside
freelancers if you can get BY RYAN VAN CLEAVE
pressure could live up to the
your foot in the door.
pressure Ive always put on
BY LAURA MARCHAND
38 CONFERENCE INSIDER myself as a writer.
Do your homework
14 OFF THE CUFF An intense California
Saving face conference combines
Why one writer rejects having marketing skills with craft.
an official Facebook author BY MELISSA HART
page and why you might
consider doing the same.
BY TARA LASKOWSKI 40 LITERARY SPOTLIGHT
A novel concept
Five Points is one of the few
16 WRITE STUFF journals that publishes novel
Blogs versus articles and memoir excerpts.
Both pay the bills, but how BY MELISSA HART
does one differ from the other?
BY DEBBIE SWANSON
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FROM THE EDITOR
W
e give lots of advice to young writers: Read a lot. Study
the classics. Write what you know. Show, dont tell.
But danger lies in teaching too much and warning
too little. Rarely do we tell the would-be wordsmith:
This is a hard road youre taking. Are you sure it is the one for you?
Is there anything else, anything at all, youd also enjoy doing?
If so, go and do it.
The world is wide open to you. Spare yourself the agony, young one.
We teach them syntax and structure, but we dont say: Your work
will be rejected. Often, always, and forever. Good work. Quality work.
Publishable work. Work youve born your soul into.
You will be turned down not only for logic and for reason, but for the
silliest of subjectivities: The editors cat has just died, and your work is
too sad. The agent is moving in a darker publishing direction; your work
is too light. Your poems are too short. Your essays are too long. Weve
seen this before. Weve never seen this before and wouldnt know how to
market it. Its good, but it wont sell. Its good, but its just not right for us.
You do understand, dont you?
No matter what we write or how well we write it, we must all even-
tually make peace with the constant sting of rejection. Writing is a sub-
jective sport, Im afraid. Strap on your helmet and flash your skinned
knees with pride. After all, only those with the courage to submit can
be rejected.
In our cover story, contributor Keysha Whitaker offers a trick to
help soften the sting: Track your submissions and calculate your aver-
age acceptance rate. If you know your average is two acceptances for
every 10 submissions, those eight incoming rejections seem less like
personal affronts and more like stepping stones. Take heart in knowing
youre not alone. Youll find even the most successful of careers have a
long list of rejections under the tip of the glistening iceberg.
But perhaps this is not you. Perhaps you keep your drafts folder to
yourself, for your eyes only. You have never submitted. Youre too busy,
you say; youll start another day. You write for you. And you secretly
fear hearing what an editor has to say.
I urge you: Put yourself out there. Polish your pieces like stones and
deploy them. Paper your bathroom wall with rejection letters. The
acceptance letters will come. But nothing ventured
So go forth and venture, writers. The world is waiting for you.
Keep writing,
Nicki Porter
Senior Editor
4 | The Writer September 2016
IMAGINE
WRITE
PUBLISH
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 Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies
to arrive at a greater truth. Khaled Hosseini

COMPILED BY NICKI PORTER

Writing into
the mainstream
Learning the ABCs of writing about Cuba.
BY VANESSA GARCIA

A
s an American-Born Cuban (ABC) writer, I the age of 5 in order to escape the island. It was to think
have always considered Cuba my albatross. In about her uncle, who had been a political prisoner in one
my 20s, the subject was so tricky that I thought of Castros jails, and, wed been told, had been given elec-
I might leave it to someone else altogether. But tric shocks during his detention. It was to think of my
by the time I hit my 30s, I realized there was an maternal grandfather, who always thought of himself as an
enormous black hole in the Cuban narrative that needed to agnostic and an anarchist, and who, in the 60s, received a
be filled. And if no one else was going to do it, then I had to. knock on the door of his Havana apartment: the Cuban
Like Toni Morrison said: If theres a book that you want to militia. That dreaded knock, which for so many was the
read, but it hasnt been written yet, then you must write it. last theyd ever hear.
I started really writing about Cuba in 2009. By 2013, I As part of this ripple effect, I was born and raised in
had become used to the hate mail. I received emails from Miami, where, for much of my childhood, extremist
the right telling me I was full of detritus for wanting to Cuban-Americans protested, sometimes with violence: In
end the embargo with Cuba. I got phone calls from the left, one instance, they tossed a Molotov cocktail into a restau-
trying to enlist me in rant because the owners
organizations Id never had invited a Cuban
heard of. I had strange singer named Rosita
Facebook requests from Fornes to perform. The
inside Havana, from peo- singer wasnt vocifer-
ple who perhaps had ously anti-Castro
questionable intentions, enough, and chaos
or perhaps not; I couldnt ensued. The restaurant
tell. All I wanted was to eventually had to close.
share a perspective, to For these reasons,
understand the topogra- and others, my family
phy, philosophy, and psy- begged me to remain
chology of my particular apolitical when writing
patria, or homeland. But about Cuba. I under-
to write about Cuba was stood where they were
to step into the mire of coming from, but I
Christophe BOISSON/Shutterstock

recent Cuban history, wasnt sure it was possi-

thick as it was with its ble. Wasnt writing itself
long-reaching ripples. a political act? Hadnt
To write about Cuba singing turned out to be
was to think about my for Fornes?
mother, who spent 23 It wasnt just my fam-
turbulent days at sea at ily. Many Cubans in
writermag.com The Writer | 5
Miami said that if you went to or talked about Cuba, youd Yanik and I had to be willing to risk everything, for country,
be fine, as long as you didnt get political! for nation. And yet I wasnt a nationalist, not even at 16.
Ironically, this chorus-claim was in fact deeply political, I dont want to die, Yanik responded. She looked at me
because the reasons behind it were so profoundly linked to with such an earnest face that we both started to laugh. Me
the politics of not only one nation, but two Cuba and the either, I said. I turned on the engine, and she turned up the
United States. The very denial of politics was a political radio, burying Cuba, continuing down the path of our regu-
statement. And I knew this, as I continued to write. lar teenage American lives. As I drove off, though, I won-
I wrote about Yoani Sanchez, a Cuban blogger, rumored dered to myself whether I would be so complacent if I were
at times to have been sponsored by the United States. I living in Cuba, and something inside me felt uneasy; a spur
wrote about dissidents who made their way to Miami, in my chest giving birth to a wound, and my heart beat with
Cuban-born Cubans of my generation who I was meeting a flutter: fear and desire, fear and desire for Cuba, for my
for the first time after theyd been allowed to travel in history the heartbeat of my life.
2013, without exit visas from the island. I wrote about In all the years to come, infinite versions of the same sce-
ABCs like myself. I wrote because I knew things were nario played out, and, I realize now, Id always chosen to
changing, and I knew it was my simply raise the volume on my
responsibility to record this American dial and trod on, just as I
change, this great aperture between Clich as the idea of the had done with Yanik at 16.
the United States and Cuba.
Clich as the idea of the writers
writers responsibility might tingBut by 2009, I couldnt keep trot-
without stopping, without ever
responsibility might sound, I felt it sound, I felt it in my bones. seeing Cuba, without bringing the
in my bones. I had always felt it, I had always felt it, despite oral narrative of my family and so
despite having tried to keep it at bay having tried to keep it at many others to the page. I most def-
for so many years. bay for so many years. initely wasnt going to kill anyone,
The first time I remember trying and I wasnt going to join a political
to hold this slippery fish in my group, but I felt a responsibility to
hands, I was 16. record and illuminate. To bring my point of view into light.
I was in my first car, a yellow VW wed nicknamed the Because it wasnt just my point of view, it is a perspective
Banana Boat. My best friend, Yanik, was in the passenger shared by many.
seat, and we were at a gas station near my house. It was the These days, the responses I get to my writing are very
happy-go-lucky 90s, Bill Clinton was president, grunge different than the early days of hate mail. A tweet from a
bands were breaking up, and Coolio was topping the charts Cameroonian-American, who tells me my story is hers too.
with Gangstas Paradise. The digital age was entering our A Vietnamese-American who says the same. A fellow ABC
lives, full force, and we didnt quite know what it all meant. who tells me I represent her; a black British West Indian
All of this was bubbling in the background. But some- who says: that was us, not too long ago.
where in the foreground of my 16-year-old life was Cuba, In 2008, Horace Engdahl, then-secretary of the Swedish
always Cuba. Amnestys reports told me that there were Academy, criticized American writers. He said that the U.S.
about 600 prisoners of conscience on the island at the time, is too isolated, too insular. They dont translate enough and
political prisoners many of whom were incarcerated sim- dont really participate in the big dialogue of literature. I
ply because they voiced a different opinion than the gov- beg to differ. There are plenty of us American writers work-
ernments. We were reading Charlotte Bront at school, ing very much in dialogue with the world. But he was
and when I read, I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I right about one thing the publishing world still does not
am a free human being with an independent will, I represent that. Its time the Big Five publishers catch on. I
thought: Jane Eyre is obviously not Cuban. Or maybe thats write about Cuba and ABCs because its important that
what Cubans had to feel inside themselves in order to feel these stories hit the mainstream, and become a part of the
free at all. Maybe Cuba was like a 19th century woman, greater literary conversation. That is perhaps a different
trapped by patriarchy. kind of political act than the one my parents begged me not
As I pumped gas, I started to wonder out loud to Yanik to participate in, but both are part of being an American-
about what we could do for Cuba, because we couldnt just Born Cuban writer, and both are powerful.
sit there and do nothing, right? I was feeling the roots
beneath, pulling. My grandfathers anarchy tugged at my Vanessa Garcia is completing a memoir entitled My Cuban Routes. She
feet when I came to the realization that if we went this route, is the author of the novel White Light, one of NPR's Best Books of 2015.
6 | The Writer September 2016

C A R E E R
C H O P S
Can I find a publisher
for my short story
collections?
Publishing short stories may not
allow you to quit your day job, but
thats not why you began writing in
the first place. You write to share
truth. You write to entertain. You
write short stories to do both, in
less time. So now youve got this
beautiful pile of short stories, some
published, many beloved, and youre
hoping to find a publisher to bind
them all up in one pretty package.
So heres what you need to
know before submitting: First, have
many more stories than you hope to
submit. Write and write until you
are struggling to choose only the
best ones. Youll want around
40,000 words in a collection; write
60,000 and axe 20,000.
Select your stories along a theme
or genre. Perhaps theyre all horror
stories, testaments to the healing
power of nature, or tales of young
mothers in crisis. Next, choose a
title that ties this all together in a
pretty bow: Night Terrors; The Magic
of the Willow Tree; Please Hush, Lit-
tle Baby. If some are previously pub-
lished, its fine to include them as
long as they fit into your theme and
you either own the rights or
acknowledge the previous publisher.
Lastly, order is important. Youre
like a wedding DJ: You dont want
to start with a ballad and clear the
floor. Open with a bang to get
everyone dancing, and then do your
best to keep them there. Start with
your strongest story. (Many advise
to end with your strongest as well,
though theres a current vogue to
end with your longest.)
And, as ever, polish them until
theyre as perfect as they can be.
Then, and only then, submit.
Dionne McCulloch, U.S. manag-
ing editor, Cornerstones Literary
Consultancy, cornerstonesUS.com
No one says a novel has to be one thing. It can be anything
it wants to be, a vaudeville show, the six oclock news, the
mumblings of wild men saddled by demons. Ishmael Reed
ASK THE WRITER
It has been a lifelong dream of mine to write a fiction novel. I havent
written since high school and have just started writing again. Ive joined
a few writers workshops. Should I improve my writing before I really get
too far into my novel to avoid major rewrites?
In Mystery and Manners, Flannery
OConnor writes, The only way, I think, to
learn to write short stories is to write
them, and then to try to discover what you
have done. This seems equally apt for
novels. The writer learns by writing. Since
MJgraphics/Shutterstock
youre returning to writing, you might
benefit by giving yourself a warm-up
period. Read great fiction. Discuss what
makes craft strong with like-minded
writers. Experiment and practice with low-
stakes writing exercises. Seek out
feedback on this work. You might write valuable lessons from one project that can
complete short stories. Certainly theres be useful for the next. Still, each fiction has
something to be said for thinking about its own demands and idiosyncrasies. And
the whole arc of a conflict and revising to you learn this by getting into the writing.
more fully reveal your intentions. You You can certainly plan thoughtfully, but
might even use these writings to develop theres no way to predict how the process
the characters for your novel or imagine will unfold. No amount of practice
deeper into their milieu. But dont put the beforehand will guarantee you avoid
novel off for too long. In an effort to attain major revisions. In fact, its probably a
some hazy standard of improvement, good idea to plan for major revisions. As
you may never get to it. Anne Lamott writes in Bird By Bird, a book
Every writing experience develops your about the writing process, Very few
skills as a writer. First novels are often writers really know what they are doing
ones in which the writer comes to until theyve done it. Writing is an act of
important understandings about how to imagination and discovery. Get your
sustain tension and develop character over bearings and then embrace this process as
the long haul. You will certainly learn you write your novel.
WHERE IN THE
WORLD IS
THE WRITER?
WHERE DO YOU READ
THE WRITER?
Send a photo and caption to
tweditorial@madavor.com.
Marilyn McCrimmon wasnt just
visiting Hawaii for a tropical getaway;
she was also researching her current
novel, which is set in Honolulu.
writermag.com The Writer | 7
WRITERS ON WRITING

Julia Fierro
WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOUVE
LEARNED ABOUT WRITING?
Storytelling is how we not just writers, everyone
practice our humanity, by trying to make sense of the
world and our place in it. Writers practice their humanity
on the page first as readers and, later, as ambitious
copycatters hoping to capture the inscrutable essence of
a favorite story, character, or voice. To write a story that
truly surprises the reader, turns the readers (and the
writers) preconceived notions inside out, requires
unconditional empathy the courage to imagine not just
your heros virtues but also his flaws in all their grotesque
and destructive truth. In real life, Im a cynic who believes
anything unconditional is a fantasy, but on the page I am a
champion optimist, and I can only hope that the generous
examination of humanity in its glory and decay I practice
on the page crosses back into my real life.
Digging this deep into a characters mind can exhaust a
writer. Or it can be the very thing that makes her or him
buzz. Im in the latter camp. I write so that the imagined
world feels equal to (and, on occasion, more enticing)
than the real world. How else would a novelist justify the
sacrifice of time with family and friends, and all those
sunny days spent inside staring at a computer screen?
Inhabiting a character comforts me, allows me to feel the
very opposite of loneliness. I write to escape to that place
where my consciousness fits in a characters skin like it
was tailor-made for me and my neuroses.
My favorite characters are always the most difficult.
They are liars and cheats, narcissists and phobics,
obsessives and gluttons. They are all those words some
readers use to dismiss a character flawed, unlikable, and
Julia Fierro is the author of the novels Cutting Teeth (2014) and the forth-
irredeemable. It is for these same reasons that I love my
coming The Gypsy Moth Summer (2017). She is the founder of The Sackett
difficult characters. The cracks in character/virtue are the
tunnel through which I squeeze. Street Writers Workshop, a creative home to more than 3,000 writers since
Each character is a new and unpredictable test of 2002. A graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, she lives in Brooklyn and
understanding and acceptance. You might call me a zealot if Los Angeles.
you listened to me preach about those moments when a
character Id labeled despicable transformed in front of my Of course, this is a generalization. There are many
eyes (or behind, to be more exact), and I was able to love factors that create a writer and the most significant is
and forgive him or her, even if just for a moment, and in need. I often joke, when talking at literary conferences
doing so, love and forgive myself for we writers are and events, that if we, the writers, could choose to stop,
always, intentionally or not, creating characters whose we would. For most of us, the need to make sense of and
faces and minds and actions are mirrors the writer cant organize life through story, particularly its traumatic
help but look into. There he or she sees the reflection of his moments, was born many years before we penned our
or her own exquisitely flawed nature. Then my church is my first title. For me, it was empathy.
computer screen, and, trust me, it is one hell of a rush, the
handful of times an author feels that fine balance, struggling HOW HAS THIS HELPED YOU AS A WRITER?
to find and then finally securing the empathy to accept a Ive always been an obsessive observer. As a child, I
despicable character instead of dismissing him or her. assumed everyone felt the world just as I did a constant
People frown when I confess my belief that anyone can chorus of thought and feeling, interpretation and
be a writer. That all it takes is a thousand hours of hard imagination. An impossible symphony both melodius
work and the hyper-focused practice of reading with a and discordant.
writers perspective lifting every detail in a story, as if Crowds were overwhelming. Concerts, amusement
each were a smooth stone, and peeking underneath; parks, even parties. Public transportation, a mass of
analyzing each technical choice a favorite author makes in strangers stuffed into one space, often sitting so they
order to reveal the mystery of his or her successful effect. stared out at each other, was most intense. Climbing the

8 | The Writer September 2016


steps of a crowded public bus meant
walking into a storm of emotion
most of it imagined, but it felt just as
real. Was the old woman sitting
across from me all alone? Didnt she
have someone to care for her? The
couple two rows back looked like
theyre arguing Oh God, is she
crying? Even joy-filled moments, like
a sleepy security guard in a crumpled
uniform playing peekaboo with the
baby sitting opposite, felt
overpowering.
As much as I tried to quiet my
imagination, I failed. I collected
gestures, expressions, overheard
dialogue and details, and wove a
tapestry across which stretched a
dramatized scene. Translating the
world and its characters and details
into story tragic and comic felt like
my duty, my purpose, my job. Now I
know it is.
Gabriel Packard is the author of the novelThe
Painted Ocean, which is being published by
Hachette in October.
All novels are sequels; influence is bliss.
Michael Chabon
WRITING PROMPT
Much of who we later become is formed in adoles-
cence, and the lessons we learn in the school
yard often stick with us for the rest of our
lives. What was your main character like in
elementary school? How did they adjust to
high school? How did they handle their
newfound freedom in college? Write
about a lesson your character learned
the hard way in their childhood or
young adulthood. And if your story is
2000 words or less, consider sub-
Jackie Nishimura/Shutterstock
mitting it to our Lessons
Learned short story contest,
which ends August 31, 2016.
For more details, go to
writermag.com/contests.
writermag.com The Writer | 9
WRITING ESSENTIALS
BY JACQUELINE HESSE

No filter
Dont put unnecessary distance between your story and your reader.

D
etails can mark the differ-
ence between good and
great writing. Filters are
one of these obstacles,
reminding your reader that she is
observing the character and not actu-
ally experiencing the scene.
Compare a paragraph with filters to
paragraph without:
#1. She stood at the cracked-open
window and saw a cat dart under a pic-
nic table. She noticed the way its tail
swished, back and forth, back and
forth. It reminded her of a pendulum.
Grandmas clock, she thought. A gust
blew in, and she felt the cold rain as it
hit her face. to tell-not-show and rip us briefly out
#2. She stood at the cracked-open of the scene.
window. A cat darted under a picnic Filters also happen in more subtle
table. Its tail swished back and forth, I-not-I characters, when you write did. Your nipples pop. You dont
back and forth, a pendulum; Grandmas outside of your gender, race or planet cover them. You notice the Twiz-
clock. A gust blew in, and the cold rain of origin. Filters can creep into your zlers I keep by the register. You
hit her face. writing when you create characters point, hungry. Can I?
In paragraph #2, the filters saw, that are very unlike yourself, such as a
noticed, reminded, felt, and thought serial killer, white supremacist, or Here we are essentially in the mind
have been removed. You dont need Sherlock-like genius. Filters are the of the character, thinking the thoughts
noticed, because who else could be sometimes subconscious admission with him, because there are no filter
noticing the cat? You dont need that you have no idea what a serial words keeping us at arms length.
reminded or thought, either, because killer actually thinks. This is most There are some exceptions, how-
the reader is still with the same char- likely, and hopefully, because you have ever. A writer may consciously choose
acter it has to be her thought. Of never killed a person. to use filters when writing about a his-
course she felt the rain; how else But such filters are avoidable. Con- torical figure. Candace Fleming has
would she know it is cold? The filters sider how Caroline Kepnes avoids written more than 30 books for chil-
are barriers for the reader. They create them while writing about someone not dren, many of them biographies. Flem-
a psychic gap. like herself observing another in You: ing will consciously decide to use may
In Writing Fiction, Janet Burroway have thought or may have said when
Diego Schtutman/Shutterstock

said: As a fiction writer you will often
be working through some observing
consciousness. Yet when you step back
and ask readers to step back and
observe the observer to lookatrather
thanthroughthe character you start
10 | The Writer September 2016
You smile and youre definitely not
wearing a bra. You take the books
out of the basket and put the basket
on the floor and look at me like it
wouldnt be remotely possible for
me to criticize anything you ever
she cannot verify (through diaries, let-
ters, or other documentation) that the
historical figure actually said or
thought those lines, and thats accept-
able for more traditional forms of non-
fiction, such as biography.
 Likewise, when writing creative filters acknowledge this. Filters here
nonfiction, a writer may take a bit of intentionally communicate the WRITING EXERCISE
poetic license. Who knows exactly I-not-I distance. Yet Kanner still Search your manuscript
what Ghengis Khan said to his men or manages to tell an exceptional first- and remove these filters:
his wives as he rode across Mongolia? person story. Saw, smelled, heard,
Who can say for certain what Cleopa- Generally speaking, however, the thought, knew, touched,
tra thought the morning she killed closer we get the reader to the charac- wondered, realized,
herself? Inserting a filter is subtle way ter, the stronger it resonates and the noticed, watched, looked,
to let the reader know these details are more the reader feels. Removing the seemed, felt, decided,
from the writers mind and not neces- filters in your work is a leap toward remembered and
sarily historically accurate. better writing and creating a story with
reminded. Read each sen-
Writer Rebecca Kanner employs greater emotional resonance.
tence with and then with-
filters in her book Esther. When I
out the filters. Take note
first wrote the book, I wrote it in Jacqueline Hesse has a BA in journalism, an
of the subtle but impor-
third person, Kanner said. She then MFA in creative writing, and teaches litera-
tant difference.
took steps to rewrite the story of the ture and writing as an adjunct professor for
biblical Esther in first person. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.
Because Esther was not invented by She has 10 years of participating in and lead-
Kanner, she could not fully occupy ing graduate-level writing workshops, and five
Esthers thoughts, could not know for years of professional critical critique and fic-
certain what she saw and felt. The tion editing experience.

The Oldest Low-Residency

MFA IN FLORIDA
Fiction | Nonction | Poetry

Past and Present Guest Writers and Editors Include:

Richard Bausch, Michael Connelly, Lydia Davis, Arthur Flowers, Nick Flynn, Roxane Gay,
Hal Hartley, Amy Hill Hearth, Eli Horowitz, Leslie Jamison, Denis Johnson, Miranda July,
Ben Lerner, Jamaal May, Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Francine Prose, George Saunders,
Heather Sellers, Patricia Smith, Wesley Stace, Deborah Treisman, Lidia Yuknavitch

Teaching Faculty Include:

Jessica Anthony, Sandra Beasley, John Capouya, Brock Clarke, Erica Dawson (director),
Mikhail Iossel, Stefan Kiesbye, Kevin Moffett, Donald Morrill, Josip Novakovich,
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Learn more at www.ut.edu/mfacw

or by calling (813) 258-7409.

writermag.com The Writer | 11

MARKET FOCUS
BY LAURA MARCHAND

Video games offer lucrative opportunities for

freelancers if you can get your foot in the door.

oure scared to turn the next page. You know Balancing those actors can be a challenge. One of the
something terrible is going to happen youve struggles video game writers encounter is being forced to
read the ominous paragraphs, the adjectives and write in tandem with a creative team that could number in
verbs and nouns lining up like sheep heading to the hundreds. Its a big jigsaw puzzle, says Yohalem. If
slaughter. Its a familiar feeling for readers: being a power- theres a space in a level that could be filled up with talking,
less observer as a beloved protagonist what anyone says is up to me but
meets their end. when it came to what you were doing in
In nearly all media, the author is the Breaking into the each level, and where each level is set, I
one in control, steering the narrative video game industry had a lot less freedom.
toward its inevitable conclusion. Except is not as simple as In that sense, the writer does not
one video games. pitching a story. have full creative vision over whats
Over time, video games have bal- happening in the game. What the char-
looned into a multi-billion-dollar acters do, and where, is often mapped
industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) out by people in other roles, such as level designers and
claims that industry revenue was higher than ever last year, gameplay directors. That restriction can be very difficult
with $23.5 billion in the United States alone. As the industry for someone who does not approach writing with video
becomes increasingly adult-focused the ESA estimates the games in mind.
average gamer is 35 years old publishers are turning to For example, most writers wouldnt blink at writing a
traditional ways of attracting audiences: with good, well- scene involving drinking. But having a glass of wine spill
written stories. on someones shirt is super expensive in a video game,
But breaking into video games is a daunting task. How
do you write a story for an interactive virtual world? What
kind of ideas should you pitch? And most importantly
how do you even get your foot in the door?
Jeffrey Yohalem has worked on big-budget games such as
the critically acclaimed Child of Light and Assassins Creed:
Brotherhood the latter of which netted him a Writers
Guild of America Award. He claims that breaking into the
video game industry is not as simple as pitching a story.
A game studio has limited resources. Theyre not out
there looking for ideas or a project, says Yohalem. In fact,
writers are rarely tasked with creating the core idea or plot
in a large-scale game project. Oftentimes, the writers
brought in afterwards.
He says its not uncommon to find the setting decided
and levels already built before a writer is even consulted.
Its like all of the actors have been hired, and youre sup-
posed to make a play with those actors.

12 | The Writer September 2016

 Yohalem says, because the objects, animations and effects
needed to simulate a spill must be custom-made.
But for writers who feel up to the challenge, a steady pay-
check awaits. While the returns increase the longer one
works in the industry, Yohalem says for someone in his
position, it wasnt uncommon to make a six-figure salary. I
think youre a lot better off [in video games] than a lot of
other writers, he laughs.
As for getting your foot in the door? It could be as easy as
sending a sample. Develop samples that show that you
understand how systems and gameplay work and that show
youre a good writer, Yohalem said.
karpenko_ilia/Shutterstock
up-front money and risk generating little to no revenue if
they get completed, that is. However, many independent
developers find they can create more freely compared to a
big-budget project.
I want people to be focused on the moment and inter-
acting with these characters, as opposed to thinking of them
as stats or levels or a menu item towards some other goal,
explains Benjamin Rivers, the writer and designer, devel-
oper and art director of the sci-fi romance game Alone
with You. Being independent allowed him the control to
make a game that he believes goes against the norm of the
industry. [Other games] dont just let you be there and be

Of course, another avenue is available to intrepid writers
trying to break into the industry: going independent, or
indie. Working on an independent game often involves a
small team and more creative control. But like writing a
novel without a publisher, indie games often have little
like, Well, I dont care what I get out of this, I just kind of
want to be in the moment, he says.
Laura Marchand is a freelance writer and journalist based in
Montreal, Quebec.

T H E WO R LD L EAD ER IN SU P P O RTE D S E L F -P UB L I S H I N G

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OFF THE CUFF
BY TARA LASKOWSKI
Why one writer rejects having an official Facebook author page
and why you might consider doing the same.
W
hen my second col-
lection of short sto-
ries was being
released, I thought
again about creating an official Face-
book author page and decided,
again, not to do it.
There are many reasons why Im
probably wrong about this. Author
pages have some nifty perks theres
no limit on the number of fans who
can follow you, a ton of free analytics,
and the ability to schedule posts when
youd rather be napping. An author
page can also help keep your distance
from the creepy No. 1 Fans, build
your brand, and make you more acces-
sible to readers.
These official pages have worked
for a lot of writers. My friend Ken
Budd, author of the travel memoir
The Voluntourist, finds that his author
page allows him to connect with read-
ers without granting access to his per-
sonal Facebook page. He also believes
its a better selling tool for anyone who
might be interested in approaching
him for an interview or speaking gig
because he can position himself as an
expert on certain topics. He posts
news about his own writing plus links
to articles about travel on his author
page, and reserves the chili dog and
baseball game pics for his close
friends on his personal page. I like
having those two worlds separate, he
says. And more importantly, I think
readers might like those worlds sepa-
rate as well.
14 | The Writer September 2016
Saving face
A pages posts often
get blasted to only a
small percentage of
fans unless you
are willing to pay for
more exposure.
But what about when those lines
blur? For me, I feel like an author page
might actually do more harm than
good. Heres why:
My official author page would suck.
Think about all the content a writer
produces every single day. Working on
new creative projects. Writing blogs
and essays. Posting on Twitter, Insta-
gram, Tumblr. Reviewing on
Goodreads and Amazon. (Note: Please
do this, writers!) If I created yet
another platform that screamed for
content, I might shatter. Or more
likely: the page would be a lazy repost-
ing of things I already discuss on my
own Facebook wall. Ive seen some
lovely author pages, but others feel
stilted, impersonal, and one-dimen-
sional. I dont want to be that author.
Ive already got an author pagein
my profile page. This is the big one
for me. Ive already in some ways
built my brand on Facebook with my
own profile. I have a fantastic net-
work of writers that I adore and
whose careers I want to keep up with,
and creating an official author page at
this point feels like starting from
scratch. Part of the delight in getting
to know other writers is getting to
know their quirks and interests. If its
true that people buy books when they
know and like the author and have
some stake in their success, then Im
hopefully already doing the work in a
natural and fun way and in a way
that feels friendly.
Youre not a faceless corporation
or multi-national company. Readers
want to connect with you, the author,
personally. Profiles give the appear-
ance of being more approachable . . .
writes journalist Lisa Hall-Wilson in
a blog on this topic. People want
access and inside scoops, she says,
Harish Marnad/Shutterstock
and pages that already have a per-
ceived distance to them that can turn
folks off.
There are dangers to this approach,
of course. The creepy fan factor is
important becoming friends with
 total strangers whove read your book
is, essentially, opening up your life to
them. I use the Facebook filters pretty
rigorously, but even so Im not nave
enough to think that means that any-
thing posted on social media can ever
be private. Another danger is alienat-
ing people. Like any conversation, the
greatest value is in the give and take.
You have to celebrate the successes of
everyone elses life as well as your
own, from book deals to babies taking
first steps.
I dont have enough fans. This is not a
defeatist, woe-is-me attitude. Its just
reality. John Grishams Facebook page
has 1.5 million fans. Stephen Kings has
4.6 million fans. Maya Angelou beats
them all with 5.6 million. They have
valid reasons to have fan pages. Me
well, Id be thrilled if I had this prob-
lem, but at this point in my career Im
still building my audience.
Lets say I do create a Tara Las-
kowski, Author page. And lets say I
convince 50 percent (a very generous
estimate) of my current friends to
like the page about 500 people.
And then 100 fans find me and like
the page. Great! But because of Face-
books cruel algorithms, only about 75
of those 600 fans might see my update
on their newsfeeds. Ive managed
social programs professionally, and a
pages posts often get blasted to only a
small percentage of fans unless you
are willing to pay for more exposure,
that is. Because I dont have the time
and money to devote to my author
page, it would feel like renting a limou-
sine to go to the grocery store.
I wont say Ill never get an author
page. But for now, Im attempting to
build a network my own way. For now
youve got me quirks and all, with my
creepy doll obsession and love of
Northeastern Pennsylvania pizza. You
know I crochet weird animals and, for
better or worse, root for Philadelphia
sports teams (usually for worse.)
Youve got me, not an auto-bot, in real
time. And maybe at some point youll
think fondly enough of me to want to
buy my books. But if not, its cool.
Were still friends.
Tara Laskowski is the author of the short story
collections Bystanders and Modern Manners For
Your Inner Demons. Since 2010, she has been
the editor of the flash fiction journal SmokeLong
Quarterly and lived in Washington, D.C. She
earned an MFA from George Mason University.

T H E WO R LD L EAD ER IN SU P P O RTE D S E L F -P UB L I S H I N G

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WRITE STUFF
BY DEBBIE SWANSON
Blogs versus articles
Both pay the bills, but how does one differ from the other?
B
logs and online features are standard elements in
the digital presence of most news sources and
magazines. Thats good news for todays freelanc-
ers, many of whom routinely reap work from such
outlets. Online readers rely on both of these digital siblings
for daily news and entertainment. But for the writer, the
terms arent interchangeable, and understanding whats
expected with each is key to landing more assignments.
Writing style
When Mary Quigley originally launched her personal
blog, mothering21.com, she was looking for an opportu-
nity to flex her writing skills on a topic she was passionate
about mothering adult children. After years of carefully
building a readership and a establishing a trusted online
presence, she received an offer to contribute regularly to
AARPs blog.
Quigley, a professor at the Carter Institute of Journalism
at New York University, says that cultivating a personal blog
16 | The Writer September 2016
on a niche topic gives writers the opportunity for editors to
see their voice and authority in the subject matter, some-
thing important to a blog writer.
The editor assumes you know something about the
topic, and they want you to bring your voice and expertise
to the table, Quigley describes. Writing style is friendly,
conversational. But its also informed, youre sharing your
educational take on a subject.
Features, in contrast, dont typically embrace the voice of
the writer; instead, writers should demonstrate their ability to
follow the age-old advice given to many aspiring journalists.
Adapt the voice of the magazine, advices Aileen E. Gal-
lagher, assistant professor of magazine journalism at Syra-
cuse University. Read similar features, and follow that. The
VLADGRIN/Shutterstock
writing style is largely dependent upon the publication.
Outside research
In blogs infancy, it wasnt uncommon for a post to reflect
a solo voice: a writers reflections, opinion, or unique
musings. But as blogs rose to assume
a prominent place in the digital land-
scape, success followed the meatier
blogs that delivered substance to
their readers.
A blog for a client always has origi-
nal interviews and/or research, such as
a recent study or event that makes the
piece timely, says journalist and writ-
ing coach Rebecca Weber, of Cape
Town, South Africa.
Links have been and still are
almost expected in a blog post. Theyre
a useful way to maintain a tight focus,
while still giving the reader some
additional information. You might
cite a survey or a study with a link,
adds Quigley.
Traditionally, a feature article is
driven by firsthand research, and this
remains true regardless if its for a print
or online medium. But linking to other
reputable sources has also become a
common practice in online features.
Be careful not to aggregate data,
but do use outside links and research
to enhance your own reporting, says
Gallagher. Data, transcripts, or
another document can enhance the
value of your piece, but you should
choose wisely.
She also cautions that, particularly
with features that run long, the nature
of the link can work against the
writer: You dont want to lose your
readers before they reach the end of
the article.
Optimum length
Basing length on a fixed word count is
generally a concept of print journalism
and is helpful for planning out physical
pages. In the digital space, online
experts agree that counting words
takes a backseat to delivering focused
writing: keeping your readers atten-
tion, delivering whats promised, and
inspiring return visitors. This holds
true to both blog post or feature.
Blog posts, which debuted as short
and sweet, have seen their length storytelling such as multimedia, an
inflate over the years, with the wordier infographic, or video.
posts becoming more standard. Gallagher adds that writers should
Some blogs are still aiming for a use this to their advantage and include
500-word sweet spot: one interview, interactive suggestions to make their
maybe a few bullet points, in and out. pitch stand out: For example, suggest-
Other blogs allow for more complexity ing something interactive in place of
and are more like traditional articles, the traditional sidebar.
shares Weber. Years ago, no one may have pre-
A study published by Medium sug- dicted the stronghold of blogs in the
gests that length of a blog post is best online world, or the regularity with
measured in reading time, targeting which a reader fires up their tablet to
seven minutes as ideal. pour over the news. But to todays free-
With the popularity of tablets and lancer, the popularity of both of these
smartphones, online features have forms of journalism is a welcome out-
embraced the green light to run lon- let, and understanding the nuances
ger; articles running upwards of 3000- and commonalities between the two
4000 words are common. But as with a can be key to success.
blog, its not the length but the value
that both readers and editors applaud. Debbie Swanson is a freelance writer based
Its not always true that longer is north of Boston, Massachusetts.
better. It is hard to write a really long
feature thats compelling enough to get
the reader to stick with it, says Galla-
gher. I would rather read a tight, well-
structured article of 1500 than a
meandering, flabby 4000-word piece.
Organization and structure
The structure of a blog posts tends to
be flexible; writers might organize
their content as a list, a Q&A from an
interview, a step-by-step how-to, tradi-
tional prose, or a photo-heavy layout.
When done correctly, this adds to the
blogs appeal; readers appreciate a fresh
approach with return visits or the reg-
ularity of certain structures delivered
on set days of the week.
On the other hand, a feature article
sticks with tradition: roughly, begin-
ning with a catchy headline and a
focused, promising introduction, fol-
lowed by body text to tell the story and
wrapped up with a neat conclusion.
The writing style of a reported
feature hasnt changed at all (since
moving online), says Gallagher.
What has changed is that an online
feature may include other forms of
writermag.com The Writer | 17
 THE
SCIENCE OF
SUBMISSION
Considering your mathematical odds
of getting accepted can help soften
the sting of rejection.

BY KEYSHA WHITAKER
T
he path to writing success is paved
with rejection.
But what if there was a way to pre-
dict a writers chance of success? To
know how many times you had to
hear Im afraid well pass before
your share of We love it?
In 2012, I began tracking my submissions
and soon discovered that I had an acceptance
rate of 10 percent, so I started working in
Chunks of 20.
Working in chunks kept me focused on a
short-term goal filling up 20 rows in my sub-
mission tracking spreadsheet instead of obsess-
ing over each submission. When I received a
rejection, I still felt discouraged but not dejected.
After all, I expected 18 of them.
The results of my pseudo-experiment sup-
ported my theory. My last three chunks had
acceptance rates of 10, 20, and 15 percent, with
an overall rate of 14.7 percent for 131 submis-
sions since 2012.
Like a true mad scientist, I feverishly looked
for new experiment subjects. When I interviewed
author Chelsey Clammer for my writing podcast,
I dubbed her The Submission Queen after
learning that shed landed at least 100 publications
in only two years.
You must have sent out, like, 1000 submis-
sions, I said in our interview.
A year later, she shared her results. Out of
1,380 submissions since 2011 on her Google
spreadsheet, she had a 9 percent acceptance rate.
I dont know if theres an exact math for it
because there are so many variables, said Clam-
mer. I started to notice every time I submitted 12
times, it was one of those that would be accepted.
Next, I enlisted my faculty colleague and writ-
ing buddy Sandy Feinstein, who kept her submis-
sions in a journal and motivated herself by
completing a page. Of her 40 submissions, shed
been accepted 22.5 percent of the time.
Andrew Buckin/Shutterstock
 Her doubly high rate was my first outlier (I
suspect because of her uncanny ability to match
audience and voice), but I hoped our collective
acceptance rate of 15.4 percent might be a rough
formula that could predict a writers chance of
publication success.
Professor David Aldous, a mathematician at
the University of California-Berkeley, said not
so fast.
Chance of publication success is like asking
chance of living 20 more years, he said in a pre-
interview email. In principle, if we had data on
10,000 writers and some way of quantifying
aspects of the quality and style of their writing,
then we could say something. But we dont.
Aldous explained that to work out any sta-
tistical analysis, Id need to adjust for a variety
of factors, including the acceptance rates of
the publications.
When I pleaded that there had to be value in
the similarity of mine and Clammers rates, he
said, Thats roughly similar its two numbers. It
would be interesting if you had a hundred people.
And so, off I went, to find more writers who
were trying their hand at the science of pitching.
editor and writer Susanna Donato answered
my Facebook post. Donato started tracking her
work in 2003.
I had pauses where I wasnt submitting
very much, she said, noting big bursts and
lulls until 2014, when she picked up her pace
and consistency.
Donato used Microsoft Excel to record her
submissions but hadnt calculated ratios until
our interview.
Out of 142 submissions, Donato had seven
yeses which would put her at 4.9 percent over-
all. But four of those seven had come in early
2016, ironically in her last chunk of 20, an accep-
tance ratio of 20 percent.
She attributes her recent success to becoming
a more seasoned writer who is in tune with find-
ing the right fit for your work.
Engineer and author Nick Arvin, a faculty
member at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in
Colorado, taught a class that Donato attended.
Arvin, who started tracking his short story
20 | The Writer September 2016
submissions in 1998, showed Donatos class one
of his spreadsheets.
I knew starting to do this [writing], theres a
lot of rejection involved and knew Id need to
keep track of where I had sent what, he said.
Like Donato, he hadnt calculated acceptance
rates until I came a-prying.
It would be too depressing, said Arvin. The
first sheet has 137 submissions, one acceptance,
[and] lots of nice comments.
Overall, Arvin had a 2 percent acceptance rate
for his short stories. But acceptance rates cer-
tainly arent any indicator of career success.
Arvin, a winner of a slew of big-time awards,
published three novels and several nonfiction
articles in major publications (think Wall Street
Journal and New York Times).
Despite his success, he still finds psychological
solace in tracking.
Those [rejected ones] were all stories that
were published in my first book of stories, he
said. So they were publishable, quality stories,
but its just a reminder that its part of the process.
Clammer, whose thesis Circadian just won the
2015 Red Hen Press Nonfiction Manuscript
Award, agrees.
[The spreadsheet] gives me a bit of an ego
trip sometimes, makes me feel better about
myself, and gives me a little bit of nostalgia,
she said.
Reviewing her track record has allowed Clam-
mer to see growth in quantity and quality.
Now that I have gotten more submissions
[accepted], she said, I can be more selective.
the writers ability to be selective didnt come
up in my conversation about pitching success
with the mathematician, but the publications
ability to be picky and choosy sure did.
Aldous said a publications rate of acceptance
would be a major factor in any statistical analy-
sis but one that would probably [be] hard to find
Bukhavets Mikhail/Shutterstock
out because its not the sort of the thing they
would publish and/or announce.
Enter Duotrope.
Sorta.
The online company wouldnt let someone
talk on the phone since it was against its policy
 Duotrope recorded 277,247 submissions in 2015 and said,
excluding statistical outliers, the average rate of acceptance
for the past 12 months was 5.087 percent.
but agreed to respond to my questions via email.
Duotrope was founded in 2005 by an
unnamed female fiction writer and editor who
the company likened to the Wizard of Oz, but as
a woman with short, curly hair and glasses.
As a writer, our founder was frustrated with
finding accurate information about publications
that were accepting submissions, the Duotrope
spokesman wrote.
The subscription-based service lets writers
track their work and review statistics for publi-
cations including response times, acceptance
rates, and rejection rates, all calculated by a
proprietary algorithm thats developed
in-house.
One of Duotropes best features is our com-
piled statistics. Writers mutually benefit from the
information provided by other users, the Duo-
trope spokesman said. When our users create a
submission report, the general statistics are
added to our pool of data. This helps avoid biases
in our statistics so that all users get the most
accurate information possible.
Though the company is phone shy, it gave me
a one-month certificate to poke around the ser-
vice, which costs $5 per month.
And for a budding statistic-junkie writer like
myself, I admit that I was pretty captivated.
Subscribers can view a variety of lists like The
Top 100 Slowest, Fastest, Most Challenging, or
Most Approachable Markets in fiction, poetry,
and nonfiction, though my search for the top-25
lists in nonfiction returned the results not
enough data to report in this category.
The Recent Response tool reports markets
that have responded to submissions in the past
seven days and how long that response took.
Before Duotrope came along, writers had to
guess at the acceptance rates and response times
of the publications they were considering submit-
ting to, the company spokesman wrote.
Duotrope provides transparency to the veiled
world of publishing.
Duotrope recorded 277,247 submissions in
2015 and said, excluding statistical outliers, the
average rate of acceptance for the past 12 months
was 5.087 percent.
We have authors who submit thousands of
times per year and an impressive list of publica-
tion credits to show that effort pays off, Duo-
tropes spokesman said. Of course, it is always
the choice of the writer whether or not to use our
submission tracker.
Clammer prefers to rely on her own statistics.
Its too many variables to have that counted
on, Clammer said. You dont know what the
other peoples writing is like.
Donato, who likes her Excel file because it
allows her to track a variety of aspects that are
important to her, such as unfinished pieces,
thinks tracking is a great way to spend time.
Instead of feeling bad about the rejection, its
like, just keep this thing growing, Donato said.
With hundreds of thousands of submissions
logged, perhaps Duotropes data would yield
some statistically valid conclusion on the science
of pitching.
Weve seen time and time again
that dedication pays off, Duotropes
spokesman wrote. From what
we see, the authors who are most
successful are the ones who just
keep submitting no matter what
and keep track of all of those
submissions.
And perhaps thats the only true
predictor of a writers chance of
publication success.
Keysha Whitaker is a faculty member at
Penn State Berks and has an MFA in cre-
ative writing from The New School.
writermag.com The Writer | 21
 STEER YOUR BRAND
TOWARDS SUCCESS
(WITHOUT SINKING)
Building your personal writer brand can lead to
smoother career sailing, but one wrong move can land
you in rocky waters. Here's our guide to staying afloat.

BY BRIAN FEINBLUM

W
riters are often told they need to develop a plat-
form and establish a brand. Many writers won-
der what that means: Why would it be up to
them to define their brand? Why is it their job to
worry about marketing, branding, networking, and public rela-
tions? They merely want to spend their time and resources on
pursuing their craft and perfecting their art.
But given todays competitive market, a modern author must
become a brand to succeed in the long term. Heres how to go
about branding yourself while staying true to your writing.

22 | The Writer September 2016

 BRANDING FAQ
What exactly is a brand?
A brand is your image, persona, voice, writing style, and
backstory. It is how others perceive you and how you choose
to project yourself. Plenty of critics will seek to define who
you are, but you get the first crack at it. Determine how you
want others to see you and your body of work, and then fil-
ter all of your future activities and initiatives through the
lens of that brand.
How do you express your brand?
Your brand shows up in big and little ways, from website
design to social media content to physical appearance. Be
consistent. Your blog content should be in line with your
books, your public appearances, even how your email signa-
ture appears. Think of your brand as a string of colors, words,
sounds, and images that should always match each other.
Isnt branding just for companies?
You are a company. Your writing career will span decades,
and you will build up a body of work. These writings
become your storefront, your company. You may not
become as well known as Amazon, Coca-Cola, Nike, or
Delta, but even at the individual entrepreneur level, you
need a tagline, a logo, and a certain style that distinguishes
you. You are never too small to have a brand.
Can branding hurt me?
When your writing and branding synergize, its a beautiful
thing, but when writers try to stretch who theyd like to be
from who they really are, they come off as lacking depth or
sir_Enity/Shutterstock
believability. Branding has to ring true to who you are. You
cant have a lilting, lyrical style and say you are gritty. You
cant write thrillers and say you are a poet. You cant be
5-foot-4 and say you are a tall man.
How do you rebrand yourself?
You are not stuck with a brand for life, but the longer you
stay with a brand that youve developed, the harder it is to
change brands. Some changes can be subtle or natural evo-
lutions over time. But if you switch genres or styles dramati-
cally, it becomes much more challenging. Consider creating
a brand that allows for flexibility. For instance, if you write
in multiple genres, use language and imagery that links you
to both areas so you dont pigeonhole yourself.
How do you define your brand?
If you had to describe your writing style, what would you say?
In essence, what makes your writing unique, better, or special?
If you had to pick your writing out of eight other samples,
could you? Write out a 50-75 word description of your writ-
ing, and use this synopsis to steer your branding decisions.
Whats your story?
No, not what your book is about, but what are you about?
How do you describe you, the person, in a way that puts
your writing into context? How do you summarize your
lifes accomplishments, experiences, personal challenges,
professional victories, and personality or looks? Think of
yourself as a superhero: How did you become Batman and
what special skills, talents, or abilities do you possess?
What should your brand consist of?
In a nutshell, your brand consists of:
Media appearances
Social media
Author website
Business cards/stationery
Published writing (both books and other media)
Public speaking appearances
Networking
Voice and appearance
writermag.com The Writer | 23
Business cards and stationery
Business cards are still needed and useful
in the digital era. I cant tell you how
many authors lack or run out of them.
These cards not only make it easy to give
contact information to people, they allow
you to highlight a site or link, share your Public appearances
photo, and list a tagline that is catchy. Public speaking can come in many forms, from bookstore
Even the feel or look of the card goes a signings and library presentations to writer conferences, com-
long way to express your brand. Every- mercial events, or appearances at nonprofits, churches, and
thing you give others says something schools. You use these appearances to sell books and build a
about you. portfolio so you can eventually approach paid speakers
bureaus. How you represent yourself at these events will help
define your public image.

Social media
Your social branding starts with having a
presence on the main platforms, includ-
ing Facebook Twitter, and YouTube. Pin-
terest or Instagram may also be right for
Media appearances you if your books are visual, like a cook-
When it comes to the news media, the higher the number book, travel guide, or beauty and fitness
of interviews, book reviews, and stories about yourself you handbook. LinkedIn is good for profes-
can net, the better. The quality of the media outlet and the sional networking. Having your own blog
exposure level are just as important as the quantity of your or podcast or video channel allows you a
coverage. How you come across or project yourself in these controlled space to shape how others see
appearances will set the tone for how others view you. Start you. Guest-posting on others blogs can
locally and expand regionally and nationally. Seek out also help give your brand a solid boost.
opportunities to write articles for established publications
on topics related to your books and your brand.
24 | The Writer September 2016
Networking
Networking is vital to any professional, but its especially
important for writers. The more people you know, the more
opportunities can present themselves to you. Networking can Published writing
be done anywhere, anytime. All you need is to introduce your- Getting content published in any medium
self to someone or to ask acquaintances to introduce you to newsletters, newspapers, magazines, blogs,
others. Networking requires you to take good notes on people, professional journals, industry publications,
to stay in touch without constantly asking for something, to and books increases your profile and
volunteer to help others, and to be valuable to others. builds your media resume. Look to fit your
writing into a category or theme that
matches your overall brand

Author website
Your website is your home base.
I dont care what anyone says:
You need a website. Facebook is
not enough. A blog is not
enough. You have to have a place
that is about you and will be
around forever. Its your chance
to dictate your image, based on
the videos, photos, audio, and
written content that you decide
to place on your site. This is
where you get to say and show
who you really are.
Voice and appearance
Lastly, your brand is not just what you do or write, but what you
say and look like. Branding is not a beauty contest, but people
do observe your demeanor, voice, age, sex, race, religion,
clothes, vocabulary, attractiveness, and lots of things that help
them formulate an impression of you. Your ethics, your relation-
ships, your finances all of that could feed into your brand.
Even your handshake says something about your brand.
You dont have to be perfect, and you cant please everyone. In
fact, a great brand may only need to impress a small percentage
of the population. Be who you really are, and be the best at it,
and then let others come to realize your value and appeal.

Brian Feinblum has served as a book editor, publicist, and marketer since
1989. A published author, he has been the chief marketing officer for Media
Connect, one of Americas largest book promoters, for the past 17 years. Find
him at BookMarketingBuzzblog.blogspot.com or on Twitter @theprexpert.

writermag.com The Writer | 25

 ADVENTURES IN
ADAPTATION

OVERCOME THE TOP SIX HURDLES

WRITERS FACE WHEN ADAPTING THEIR
SCREENPLAY TO A NOVEL.

By Jeff Lyons
 THE LAST DECADE has given birth
to the biggest revolution in the printed
word since the invention of movable
type. The convergence of software
technology, legacy print publishing,
and the Internet has leveled the play-
ing field and given most people the
ability to read, write, and distribute the
printed word on unprecedented scales.
Now, anyone with the will to write can
find an audience, publish their work,
and make a life for themselves as an
authorpreneur.
Along with this self-publishing rev-
olution has come a series of mini-
revolts. One of those involves a major
shift in the traditional way novels have
been adapted for the screen. Creative
writers of every stripe are now search-
ing for a way into the ever-growing
ocean of print and e-books. Among
them are screenwriters hoping to
leverage a prose fan base in order to,
ironically, get their original script ideas
sold as movies or television programs.
Traditionally published novels have
always been a lucrative source of liter-
ary properties for the entertainment
industry. But in the last decade, more
and more self-published books have
joined the page-to-screen trend and are
responsible for building some of the
biggest entertainment franchises, sup-
porting billions of dollars in global box
office revenue [e.g., Amanda Browns
Legally Blonde, E.L. Jamess Fifty Shades
of Grey, Andy Weirs The Martian].
While this fits with the familiar pat-
tern of adapting books to film (or TV),
something else is happening, something
that was not possible prior to the self-
publishing revolution: Screenwriters are
adapting their screenplays to novels, so
that they can attract producers to
option those adaptations for film/TV
development. Yes, you read that right:
Rather than writing the book first, then
optioning to a production company,
and then writing the screenplay based
on the book, the trend now is script
first, then book, and next the option
sale, followed by a rewrite or full-on
Shutterstock
purchase of the original script that
started the process. In many ways, the
old model of adaptation has been
turned on its head.
There are many reasons for this
new mini-revolt among screen-
writers, not the least of which is
that selling a screenplay or teleplay
is nearly impossible, even for expe-
rienced screenwriters. But with
more producers and production
companies scouring the self-pub-
lishing world for material, it only
makes sense that screenwriters
should want to dust off all their
old screenplays and jump into the
adaptation game. Why? Because a
novel with a built-in audience
makes a sounder investment than
a spec script coming in over the agent
transom or through the conventional
script pipeline. This has always been
true for traditionally published novels,
and now it is increasingly true for self-
published books. What this means is
that a new sales channel has opened
for screenwriters wanting to leverage
their work in multiple distribution
windows: film, television, and print.
And even if the movie/TV windows
fall short, the writer still has the print/
e-book property to fall back on. Its
win-win for writers.
So, screenwriters should just write
a book right? How hard can writing
a novel be? There are tons of how-to
books on the market with tips, tricks,
and top 10 secrets for knocking out
a novel, so just go buy a book and
start writing.
Think again.
This same bad advice is often given
to novelists who want to write screen-
plays i.e., just do it. Yes, there are
many how-to books on how to adapt
novels to screenplays, and several now
deal with how to adapt screenplays to
prose. But anyone who writes screen-
plays will tell any novelist that there is
a screenplay sensibility that has to be
developed in order to write a profes-
sional screenplay. You just cant follow
some cookie-cutter how-to book. The
same is true for screenwriters trying to
write their first novel. Developing a
prose voice, and bringing that prose
Novel-writing is a brand-
new craft, a new skill set
must be learned. Invest
in
good teachers, and never
use screenwriters as you
r
beta readers. You need
feedback from people who
are voracious book read-
ers, not film/TV fans.
sensibility to your writing, is daunting
at best, and insanity-inducing at worst.
I know, because Ive just survived the
process myself.
As a screenwriter, I bought the
books, and tried out the cookie cutter,
and realized that because of our train-
ing, screenwriters face specific chal-
lenges that make us ill-equipped to
handle novel-writing. Some of those
challenges are story-development
related, and others are writing-process
related. But no how-to book, no story
guru, and no top 10 secrets list can
coach you through them. They can
only be overcome by doing. Knowing
the road ahead of you before you
start the adaptation process can at
least prepare you for the potholes, pit-
falls, and hairpin turns you will
encounter along the way.
Here are the six basic hurdles you
will need to clear as you learn the pro-
cess of novel adaption.
1. PROSE SENSIBILITY VS.
SCREENPLAY SENSIBILITY
Sensibility is defined as the ability
to appreciate and respond to complex
emotional or aesthetic influences.
Screenwriters and novelists respond to
that complexity very differently.
The basic mantra for screenwriters is:
Keep it clear;
Less is more;
Show, dont tell;
writermag.com The Writer | 27
 Get to the emotional point, and
move on;
Move fast and dont waste time
with exposition beyond what you
need to set the scene.
The movie or the TV show is the
finished product; a screenplay is not.
Scripts are only one step in a complex
chain of events leading to the final
show or film. As a result, screenwriters
dont write scripts for the reading
experience (though they have to be
written well).
Yet the biggest issue for screenwrit-
ers-turned-novelists concerns what I
call story real estate. You have around
110 pages of story real estate for a fea-
ture film, and around 52 pages for an
hour-long TV drama. Screenwriters
dont have the luxury of story real
estate to go long, or deep, or too com-
plex in character development, emo-
tional resonance, backstory, etc.
But prose is all about language, the
written word, the musicality and
rhythm of the sentence, paragraph, and
chapter. Unlike with screenplays, novels
are meant to be read, not produced, and
the finished book is a final product,
ready to be consumed by an audience.
In fact, there are many novels with
weak or non-existent stories that capti-
vate readers solely on the power of the
written word (In Search of Lost Time,
Marcel Proust; Lectures in America,
Gertrude Stein). This would never
happen with a screenplay; having a
weak story or worse, no story
equals an immediate pass from any-
one in the industry.
So the mantra for novelists is:
Show, dont tell, but exposition is
your friend, and a necessary one;
You have no strict length con-
straints, so write, write, write;
Go deep, go long; leave no emo-
tional stone unturned.
Story real estate is never an issue.
Sure, you may have some constraints
with publishers in terms of page count,
but novels have no set limits based on
28 | The Writer September 2016
time constraints (unlike a
52-minute drama or a two-
hour feature film).
Ironically, however, hav-
ing no constraints can be as
crippling a liability as having
too-tight constraints. Which
is more frightening: looking
into a yawning abyss, or into
a six-foot trench? Novelists
face this abyss and can find
themselves paralyzed.
So screenwriters and nov-
elists see the world of story-
telling in very different ways,
and have very different
observing devices for inter-
preting their fictional worlds.
Shifting from a screenwriting
sensibility to a prose sensibil-
ity is the hardest hurdle you
will face and also the most
difficult one to wrap your
head around. It can only be
accomplished by writing
prose and having your writing
critiqued by great readers and other
prose writers. Its a school of hard
knocks, Im afraid. Novel-writing is a
brand-new craft; a new skill set must
be learned. Invest in good teachers,
and never use screenwriters as your
beta readers. You need feedback from
people who are voracious book read-
ers, not film/TV fans.
---
2. POINT OF VIEW,
VOICE, & TENSE
The next hurdle is one that ties every
writer into knots: point of view (POV), with POV and tense. It is not unusual
narrative voice, and tense. Screenwrit-
ers dont have to worry about any of
this, because screenplays are all written of the entire book that changes both
in third person and present tense
(though dialogue might have some
first person voiceover), and narrative
voice in scripts is conveyed mostly
through character dialogue, not expo-
sition. The voice of the work lies com-
pletely in the spoken word. For
novelists, however, POV, tense, and
narrative voice are complicated and
POV and Voice:
A Novelists Toolkit
Omniscient(present/past)
The story is told through an observer
with the authors narrative voice.
This narrator knows how the story
progresses, though ideally does not
reveal all at once.
First-person (present/past)
The story is told from the point of
view of the I narrator, who only
knows what she or he sees and
experiences, so all feelings,
questions, and internal thoughts
are in the narrative voice of a
unique individual.
Third-person limited (present/past)
The entire story is told through the
viewpoint of one character, using the
pronouns he or she.
Third-person unlimited (present/past)
The story is told through the
viewpoints of two or more characters,
with shifting points of view.
Second-person (present/past)
The story is told by the storyteller
to another person using the word
you. This is the rarest POV used
in fiction today.
intricately tied to the writing. (See
POV and Voice: A Novelists Toolkit
for more information.)
So, screenwriters have one POV, one
tense, and a limited flexibility in narra-
tive voice through dialogue, helped out
occasionally by stylistic or colorful
exposition. Novelists have at least five
POVs, two tenses, and unlimited flexi-
bility with voice. How does a screen-
writer adapt to all this flexibility? Once
again, it is all in the writing. You have
to play with all of these options to see
what works for the story, and this takes
time and effort. Even novelists struggle
for novelists to write a book once in
one POV/tense and then do a rewrite
POV and tense. Experiment, play
around, and youll find your way.
---
3. SUBPLOTS, SUPPORTING
CHARACTERS
Subplots exist in screenplays, but not
like they do in novels. Screenwriters
have to learn the proper use of sub-
plotting and how it plays into expand-
ing supporting characters who have
their own stories within the story.
There are many different kinds of sub-
plots (i.e., the need subplot, exposi-
tional or background subplot,
thematic subplot to name just a
few), but most screenwriters are used
to just one or two subplots. (Very few
screenwriters know how to weave
multiple storylines together to sup-
port a mainline narrative, and these
are almost always employed in films
with large ensemble casts.) But even
in a screenplay with a small cast and
only one main storyline, multiple sub-
plots will need to be created in the
translation to prose. This is one of the
key areas where screenplays always
have to be expanded to accommodate
the novel form, because subplots sup-
port the middle of the novel, and the
middle is where most stories fall
apart. Coming up with two, three, or
four sub-stories from a screenplay
that tells only one major storyline can
be nerve-racking and intimidating,
but this hurdle must be traversed if
your screenplay is going to support a
three- or four-hundred page narrative.
But dont despair: look to key support-
ing characters and let your imagina-
tion run by giving them their own
stories within the story. Just know that
you will initially crack your shins on
this hurdle.
---
4. NARRATIVE SCOPE
Narrative scope refers to the complex-
ity of the story form. In prose fiction,
novelists have many containers to
choose from: short story, novelette,
novella, novel, and the series. Screen-
writers also have various containers
to choose from: feature film, series,
hour-long drama, half-hour sitcom,
and the short. Each screenplay format
has its own peculiarities and require-
ments, and screenwriters are well
aware of the constraints and demands
for each. The same holds true for nov-
elists. But screenwriters have to study
prose forms in order to understand
their oddities and demands before any
adaptation is attempted. For example,
each prose format has word count con-
siderations that must be understood:
short story (7,500 or less), novelette
(7,500-17,000), novella (17,000-
30,000), novel (30,000 and above). A
screenwriter must learn to gauge
which prose container is best suited
to his or her screenplay and story.
---
5. REWORKING THE PREMISE
Adapting a novel to screenplay format
always means deleting material and
reducing the story to fit the constraints
of film or TV. This often means
reworking the original story so that it
can fit the page limits of the script for-
mat under consideration (feature,
hour-long drama, etc.).
The same is true moving from
script to novel. The screenplays prem-
ise will almost always have to be rein-
vented to build in subplots, new action
lines, and more complex story ele-
ments. The knee jerk is to use the
script as a great outline for the book,
i.e., follow the scripts story beats and
all will be well.
This almost never works.
If you do not go into the adaptation
process with a mindset that you will
have to retool your story from the
ground up, then you may be setting
yourself up for major struggles down
the development road.
---
6. EXPOSITION: SHOWING
AND TELLING VS. SHOW,
DONT TELL
Screenplays are about showing every-
thing on the sleeve. There is some very
minor telling (in the form of mon-
tages), but show, dont tell is a must
in this purely visual medium. Yet nov-
els allow for far more telling than
showing. This is naturally difficult for
screenwriters, because the script devel-
opment process rejects long exposition
and non-visual storytelling. Learning
how to utilize lengthier exposition
requires a whole new mindset.
One of the telltale signs that the
screenwriter is a novelist is that their
exposition tends to be many para-
graphs long a kiss of death for any
screenplay. In contrast, for screenwrit-
ers trying to write prose, the opposite
is true; exposition tends to be short,
curt, stunted, and in sentence frag-
ments. The solution is not some sim-
plistic strategy of writing in complete
sentences and adding more words for
the sake of volume. The key to success
is learning how to leverage all the story
real estate by going deeper into the
motivations of your characters, finding
lyrical ways of describing the story
world, and luxuriating in writing that
fills in the expositional holes of the
story organically, using just the right
amount of words.
The two main potholes waiting for
you here are rambling, overly detailed
descriptions and purple prose (extrav-
agant or ornate prose that breaks the
narrative flow and screams Isnt my
writing clever?). You will do both, so
get over that anxiety. But you will ulti-
mately find the balance between econ-
omy of words, meaningful content,
and proper pacing.
These are six important hurdles
that must be leapt over in order to
make your script a successful novel.
In my opinion, no how-to book, no
story guru, and no master class can
really prepare you for jumping. How-
ever, if you can at least know what is
waiting for you in the high grass, you
can avoid surprises and prepare your-
self so that your transition from script
to novel becomes an encounter and
not a confrontation.
Jeff Lyons is a published author, teacher,
screenwriter, and story development consultant
with more than 25 years of experience in the
film, TV, and publishing industries. His book,
Anatomy of a Premise Line, is published through
Focal Press. Web: jefflyonsbooks.com.
writermag.com The Writer | 29
 NEW
VOICES IN
PUBLISHING
These six young editors & writers prove
that age is just a number.
BY MEGAN KAPLON

Writing improves with practice and often deepens

with the maturity of its creator. For this reason, when
youthful writers make news for earning an editorial
position at a prestigious magazine or coming out with
a best-selling novel, we cant help but take notice.
These six writers and editors have refused to let their
youth impede their careers. Instead, theyre forging
ahead, letting the work speak for itself.
ekler/Shutterstock

30 | The Writer September 2016


CHARLIE
HICKERSON, 24
Managing editor, Native
Nashville, Tennessee
How has editing improved
your writing?
Immensely. Its made me
really think about writing
scannably and with a lot of
cohesion and [flow]. My
favorite pieces [from our
freelancers] are always ones
that you forget youre read-
ing, and before you know it,
its done. Trying to make my
writing more like that is what
editing has done for me.
What are your pet peeves as
an editor?
My American lit professor in
college, who was a notorious
hard-ass, said on the first day
of all his classes, If you do
your work well and on time,
were never going to have
any problems. This is a
gripe of editors everywhere,
but man, turn in your stuff on
time. Please.
What makes you accept
a pitch?
Were a little weird [at Native]
because we do all long-form
profile pieces, but I just have
to know that there is a person
to focus on in a band or busi-
ness or restaurant or what-
ever, and that they have a
story and theyve lived some
life and are going to open up.
The 20-year-old who just
signed a record contract at
Capitol hasnt sometimes had
that much life under [his or
her] belt to talk about, so I
might take somebody that has
less notoriety or fame if I feel
that their story is stronger.
Whats the hardest part of
your job?
Im just learning how to com-
municate with a bunch of
very, very different people,
because every contributor is
an individual. Everybody is
bringing their own perspec-
tive, and when youre like us
and you dont have any staff
writers were all freelance
photographers and writers,
thats upwards of 30 people
Im dealing with on a regular
basis.
You mentioned youre in a
band and you write songs
how is the process of writing
songs similar to the maga-
zine writing you do?
Songwriting is always more
personal, but I think they
access the same part of the
brain. For me, its all about
formulation and organization
of thoughts, getting this
vague idea and hammering it
into something thats tangi-
ble. When youre writing an
article, youre taking all of
that pre-writing and
research, the transcription,
and anything else you might
have picked up from other
sources, and making this
cohesive whole. Songwriting
[is] kind of the same thing,
because youre taking a
range of thoughts, emotions,
phrases youve heard, [and]
interactions, and forming it
into this whole.
SAMANTHA
SHANNON, 24
Author, The Bone Season
and The Mime Order
London, United Kingdom
How did you build the world
of The Bone Season and
The Mime Order?
I started with the seed of an idea
and built it up from there, like the
layers of an onion. When I write
any novel, I usually begin with broad concepts,
like the fact that the government persecutes
clairvoyants, and then work out the fine details,
like what the characters are eating and drinking
and what sort of music they listen to.
Why did you decide to create a whole new set of
vocabulary and meanings for The Bone Season?
Not all of the words are entirely new. Many are
based on real Victorian slang, though Ive
tweaked their usage or meaning a little to fit into
my world. I was inspired to do that after reading
A Clockwork Orange. For me, slang gives a
world color and makes it jump off the page. I
love playing with language in my books: glossa-
ries, made-up words, languages that no human
can speak.
You wrote a novel before The Bone Season that
didnt get published. What did you learn from
that experience?
I learned how to commit to writing a novel and
see it through to the end. I dont consider the
years I spent on that manuscript wasted I
integrated some of the better ideas into The
Bone Season.
Are there are any downsides to achieving suc-
cess as a writer so young?
I know I still have a lot to learn, and I sometimes
worry that Ill look back in many years time and
wonder if I could have written the books in a bet-
ter way if Id had more experience in the craft, but
experience isnt always to do with age. You can be
older but have never written a book before. Id
been writing pretty much every day for seven
years when I started The Bone Season, so I did
have a lot of practice.
writermag.com The Writer | 31
BIJAN STEPHEN, 24
Associate editor,
The New Republic
Brooklyn, New York
Where do you find ideas
for your stories?
I do a lot of reading. Current events
help, other times people come to me
with ideas. A lot of things come out
of conversations with friends, going
to dinner or going to parties, and
getting drunk and yelling at each
other and realizing, oh, this could be
a thing.
What are the keys to getting lots
of assignments as a freelancer?
If your ideas are good, people will
continue to get in touch with you
because they like the way you think.
Maybe being a writer is about pre-
senting the way that you think to the
world, and it doesnt really matter
what kind of pieces you do, but you
have a mindset and thats what
youre bringing to the table.
What advice do you have for writers
entering todays job market?
If you have a desk job, keep your job
until it hampers the work you find
yourself getting. If you have a desk
job and The New Yorker is like, Hey,
we want you to write this piece for
print, and it might fuck up your life,
you have to say yes to the print thing.
You have to say yes to fucking up
your life. Do the [desk job] until there
is a very clear crossroads. Do both
until you cant anymore.
32 | The Writer September 2016
MARIANA
TINOCO-RIVERA, 28
Founder and editor, Squad,
an Emerson College Launch
Program project
Publishing and writing graduate
student at Emerson College
Boston, Massachusetts
How did you come up for the
idea for Squad, the magazine
you pitched to Emersons
Launch Program?
For a while, I had been noticing
these websites that were doing
really well, like Refinery29, Bustle,
these magazines that are trying to
break with the idea that a woman
is just interested in fashion and
beauty and celebrities, which I
love those subjects, but its not all
about that. In Mexico, I have never
seen a site or magazine that has
that kind of content for women. So
I just starting thinking, why not do
this kind of magazine for women
in Mexico?
How has it been going?
Its been great. This is my first
semester in the program, and Ive
been talking to all kinds of people
either in the magazine business or
[with experience] starting a
business of some kind. Ive been
telling them about my idea and
asking: What do they think? What
should I do first? How should I
spend my money? The program
is great in that sense. You get a
lot of help that you probably
wont get anywhere else.
What kinds
of things
have they
suggested to you?
Theyve given me ideas of, for
example, how do market research
and how to save money. The logical
thing would be to start with the
product right away, but a lot of peo-
ple said why dont you just start
growing on social media and actu-
ally build an audience before you
[build the website]. Sometimes its
better to prove your idea and then
build something you know is going
to work instead of just having an
idea and jumping on it.
How do you create a good relation-
ship between editor and writer?
You have to come to a middle point
to understand what they want and
what you want. I dont believe that
just because youre an editor you
should decide everything. This is a
business of a lot of ego. Editors
have a lot of ego, and writers are
super offended when something is
changed, and thats reasonable. I
used to be like that, too, and Im like
that still sometimes, but you have
to learn to be humble.
JAZMINE HUGHES, 24
Associate editor, New York Times Magazine
Brooklyn, New York
What are the challenges you face as a young
person in this field?
Most of the challenges have stemmed
from within. Hiring managers or editors
or people who have presided over me in
whatever form have ranged from either
totally nonplussed to mildly tickled about
how young I am. If you can do the work,
you can do the work. It doesnt matter how
old you are.
Do you ever worry about burnout after having
success so early in your career?
I used to be really afraid that I was going to be working
in a diner with only half of my current amount of teeth in
10 years because clearly Ive gotten far in my career at a
very early age and Ive worked really hard, but that also
means that I put a lot of pressure on myself.
I used to think of goals as incredibly long-term things,
and then the reason I got so freaked out about burnout
was I achieved those goals super quickly. Now the way I
avoid burnout is to not think about 10 years from now.
Planning ahead is super great, but its also super stress-
ful, and Im learning that Im not the type of person who
can really mentally support that.
JACK TIEN-DANA, 18
Freelance basketball writer,
Rolling Stone
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
National Medalist, 2015
New York, New York
What was the first piece of sports writing you did?
The first real piece of sports writing I did was the first
piece I wrote for Rolling Stone [Hoop Dreams: Winner
Take All at the Basketball Tournaments $1 Million Game,
Aug. 3, 2015]. I had done well in that Scholastic competi-
tion, so I felt like I could write; it was just a matter of find-
ing an editor who would take a chance on me.
What has it been like interviewing pro athletes?
Its been kind of weird. When I did that piece on Jimmer
Fredette, there were people in the background going,
Almost Famous! [The athletes] have been cool about it.
I look young, but Rolling Stone is a name and they dont
want to, like, look down on the reporters.
How does an article come together for you?
I generally cant start writing a piece until I come up with
the opening line. I think of a subject, and Ill meditate on
that for a couple days and then the opening line will
come to me and I can start writing. Then I write
out just what comes to mind, straight
stream of consciousness. I save it, I dont
look at it for ranging from a couple hours
to a couple days, and then I open a new
document and I try to type what I remem-
ber. Then I compare the two, and then I
pick the best sentences from both and I
make a third Word document.
What have you learned from your editorial posi-
tion at the New York Times Magazine?
My boss, Charlie Homans, did this extraordinary helpful
thing when I started where he started sending me first
drafts of published pieces and then I would compare
that to the actual published piece. Its really easy to think
that all these brilliant writers that you admire so much
turn in this perfect lean copy all the time and many do,
theyre freaks but most people dont. Most people
have to go through rounds and rounds of edits. Once I
saw the differences between what people handed in to
Charlie and what Charlie pulled out of them, [I was like,]
Editors do the lords work. Were the most important
people in the world.
Your parents Will Dana, former editor of Rolling Stone,
and Ellen Tien, former New York Times Style section col-
umnist are both writers. How has that affected your
development as a writer?
My mom is a huge influence to me. Shes the person that
taught me to write. She used to pull up a stool next to
the desk and narrate to me what she was doing as she
wrote her column. [She taught me to] keep working on
extending my vocabulary, because a writer is only as
good as his words, and to watch the rhythm and pacing
of my sentences.
What do you like about writing?
I like being able to express myself. I like writing for Rolling
Stone because I like to know that people hear what Im
saying. I think its really cool that Im an 18-year-old kid
from New York and that people care about what I say; at
least, I like to think people care what I say.
Megan Kaplon is a regular contributor to The Writer.
writermag.com The Writer | 33
FREELANCE SUCCESS
BY JULIA RAPPAPORT

Free time
Use downtime between projects to improve your craft.

R
ecently one of the editors on
my team came to me with
six words that no manager
is excited to hear: I dont
have enough to do.
At first I panicked. Was it my fault?
Mentally I scanned through our
upcoming deadlines. Did we forget to
assign a story? Would we have a big
gaping hole in the next issue of our
magazine? But no, we were on track.
Had I been tough enough? Should I
have sent her copy back for a few more
rounds of revisions? Again, the answer
was no. Her work and process had
improved with each issue we had put
out since our team came together less
than a year earlier to relaunch a food
and cooking magazine.
And then, I smiled. Because within
her revelation, I recognized myself. feeling that somehow I had done some- to react to those words. That day, my
After college, I moved back to my thing wrong because I wasnt busy. editor asked me to sit down, and we
small hometown to start as a cub And so one day, I got up and walked talked about why I felt like I didnt have
reporter at our local newspaper with timidly into the office of my editor, a anything to do. Over the course of the
only a few published clips to my name. small, scrappy woman who could two years I worked for her, I must have
Id never worked for a newspaper, even instill fear in local politicians and her walked into her office 25 more times
in school, and had not set out to start a staff alike with a single sidelong glance. and told her, again, that I didnt have
career in writing. It was a mix of unex- I dont have enough to do, I said. enough to do. Never once did she react
pected events that led me to the posi- Admitting that you do not have with frustration. Instead, she offered
tion and back home. enough work is a hugely uncomfort- up pieces of advice that, over time, knit
During the first few months, I able thing to do, especially in a dead- together a broader lesson in patience
learned in real time how to cover old- line-driven profession like media, and the art of honing craft:
fashioned New England town meetings, where it seems theres always another
high school plays, and disputes among piece to write or scoop to get. To say I Read. If you have nothing to write,
county officials. Often I was responsi- dont have enough to do out loud actu- read what other people are writing.
ble for filing up to eight stories each alizes a fear that you are, in some way, Notice what you like and imitate it. Pay
week. It was a pace that left little room inadequate that you might not know attention to what you dont like and
for thinking beyond the next assign- everything you need to in order to do self-edit yourself to make sure you
artistan/Shutterstock

ment, but, still, there were days when I
managed to turn in my work by 2, or 3,
or 4 pm. At those times, I would sit at
my desk with the sinking and shameful
34 | The Writer September 2016
your job, that you might need help, arent doing the same. Find writers
that you havent figured everything out whose work you would want to be
on your own. doing and read everything they put
As a manager, there are many ways out. Take note of interesting
techniques or moments that grab your
attention. If you have nothing to read,
go find a box of cereal and just look at
the way the words are laid out, my
editor told me one day. To get better at
writing, you have to read.
Get outside. Theres only so much
you can write from inside a newsroom,
or an office, or your writing studio. To
write well, you sometimes have to stop
writing long enough to actually inter-
act with the world. Grab your report-
ers notebook and get out there, my
editor would say. Walk around, record
what you see, and write down any
questions you have.
Talk to people. As a beat reporter,
my stories often came out of meetings
or press releases. Sometimes these sto-
ries were good. But the better ones
came from more unexpected places.
Go down to town hall and ask people
fiction nonfiction poetry reviews opinions art
A literary magazine written by teens
Subscribe at TeenInk.com or call 800-363-1986
whats going on, my editor would tell
me. Go out to the farm and find out
what theyre planting and why. Go to a
coffee shop and listen to what people
are talking about.
Take a break. My editor never
discouraged getting out of the news-
room for an hour to take a walk or
leaving the office early on days when I
truly felt done. And inevitably, in this
time of slowing down, of taking stock,
I would have great ideas for upcoming
pieces. Or maybe I wouldnt. And that
was OK, too, because both my editor
and I knew that soon enough, maybe
even in a few hours, the deadlines
would again be looming large, and the
pace would be back to frenzied.
And so this is the advice I shared with
my staffer, advice that, especially in the
age of cellphones and 140-character
The New Yorker for teens
For just $ 5 a year,
receive the most exciting
magazine written entirely
by teens for teens
sound bites, we so rarely hear or fol-
low: Slow down. Take stock. Ask ques-
tions. Shut down the computer. Get
outside. Meet people. Read. Because, if
youre good at your job, the day will
come when those deadlines are piling
up, when you cant remember the last
time you had a meal besides crackers
and peanut butter, and when, no mat-
ter what you do, you just cant get to
inbox zero. So this is the time the
slow moments in between issues, or
after youve turned in your last piece of
the day to stretch your mental mus-
cles and to just observe, to push your-
self, without the pressure of
publication, to get better at the craft
you love just because you can.
Julia Rappaport is a Boston-based writer
and managing editor of a Northeast food
and cooking magazine.
Our
27th
Year
writermag.com The Writer | 35
CLASS ACTION
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE
To a degree
What are you really paying for when you enroll
in a creative writing program?
E
ighteen months ago, I was tasked with creating an
undergraduate creative writing program for the
Ringling College of Art + Design, where Ive been
teaching for the past eight years. It made sense to
have this new degree from film to illustration and com-
puter animation to graphic design, story is at the heart of all
the school does.
This challenge forced me to (re)consider a crucial issue:
What should a good creative writing program do?
After examining all the existing creative writing pro-
grams (both undergraduate and graduate), doing some
swami-style self-reflection plus Facebook-asking oodles of
creative writing faculty and recently graduated students
heres what I believe to be true.
It creates community.
Most writers intimately know that Three Dog Night
approached profound wisdom when they sang: One is the
loneliest number that youll ever do. Writing feels like a sol-
itary sport. When you have a dozen or three dozen others
36 | The Writer September 2016
next to you, all similarly focused, all caring about the same
things you do, all working toward the same goals? It can
create healthy competition, profound camaraderie, and life-
long friends. It can help you through the toughest writers
block. And when you land your first writing paycheck?
Youve got a ready-made group to go celebrate.
It connects you with mentors.
Yeah, you wont land James Patterson as a mentor this way,
but honestly do you really want James Patterson as your
mentor? Id rather have a terrific midlist author take real
venimo/Shutterstock; Epsicons/Shutterstock
stock in my writing growth and development. Someone
who intimately remembers the slings and arrows of outra-
geous all-night writing sessions. Someone who knows the
path(s) I want to take. Someone who is trained to say the
right thing at the right time in just the right way (at least
most of the time). Trying to get a mentor in the real world
without the teacher/student connection is about as hard as
landing a six-figure position at Microsoft after sharing an
elevator ride with Bill Gates.
It gives you structure.
Ive been meaning to trim the backyard junipers for,
well, maybe two years now. One day . . . maybe . . . Ill
get to it. Know this mentality? Writers do it with nov-
els, plays, scripts, and more. Without firm deadlines
and serious accountability, life somehow gets in the
way, no? Once youre paying for the class and youve
got grades as the kicker, youll likely start summoning
the energy to get er done. (Now if only someone
would offer to grade me on my shrubbery trimming
ability . . .)
Choosing the Right Creative
Writing Program for You
There are over 550 college and university
creative writing programs. How do you know
which is the right one for you? Here are the three
crucial things I tell every prospective creative
writing student.

It cuts down the learning curve.

Community + mentors + structure = figuring out the
craft of writing far sooner than you would on your
own. I promise.
1 CONSIDER FACULTY. Dont go to a specific
place only because of the programs reputa-
tion. That matters, but what matters just as much
(perhaps more so) is the faculty. Do you admire
It gives you credentials that open doors. their work? Would you be happy writing like one
Ever wanted to work for Random House? The Donald or more of them? I hope so, because youre going
Maass Literary Agency? The New York Times? Without to. It cant be helped youll absorb some of their
a creative writing BA, BFA, MA, MFA, or PhD after style, their mannerisms, and their techniques. So
your name, you probably wont get a second look pick a place with writers you totally dig.
because the sharp kid with one of those degrees from
Vassar (who likely interned there last summer) already
got the job. Shes maybe not a better writer than you,
but in a world where we all look to assign blame when
something goes wrong? An HR person is far less likely
to lose his job if an academically credentialed person
doesnt work out than if he takes a flier on a writer who
never got any type of college degree. Its a hard truth, I
2 CONSIDER LOCATION. If, in your heart of
hearts, youre a city mouse, youre not
going to relish living near the endless corn
realize, but its a reality nonetheless. rows of the University of Iowa, which has a
cow-to-person ratio I dont dare admit to know-
It teaches you to go deep. ing. Go to an environment that suits you or
No more Wikipedia-level surface stuff. Writers learn to youll be miserable.
research deeply. They think deeply. They write deeply.
Ultimately, they learn to live deeply.
In Good Will Hunting, Matt Damons character told
the Harvard snobs that you wasted $150,000 on an
education you could have got for $1.50 in late fees at
the public library. If youre the type of person who
learns well on your own and you have enough gump-
tion and drive to self-educate, God bless you because
youre special and unique and you might not need a
3 CONSIDER OUTCOMES. Do the recent grad-
uates do well? Do they get writing/publishing
jobs? Do they publish noteworthy things? Is there
creative writing degree. Maybe time + The Writer + a prominent Grads Done Good! webpage that
YouTube + reading a ton + practice, practice, practice boasts of many writerly accomplishments thatd
= a terrific writing career for you. If not, consider giv- you have loved to have done yourself? If not,
ing a creative writing degree a try. thats a real warning sign (or, to be fair, a sign of
a super-super-new program).
Ryan G. Van Cleave is a Florida-based writing teacher and author
of 20 books, including most recently Memoir Writing for Dummies
and The Weekend Book Proposal.

writermag.com The Writer | 37

CONFERENCE INSIDER
BY MELISSA HART

Do your homework
An intense California conference combines marketing skills with craft.

N
ot enough time or money
to enroll in an MFA pro-
gram, but passionate
about publishing your
novel? The San Francisco Write to
Market Conference may be just what
you need.
Located in Marin County 20 min-
utes north of San Francisco and close
to the Muir Woods, Sausalito, and
Point Reyes National Seashore and
with a view of Mount Tamalpais right
outside the door, the conference offers
intense instruction in a gorgeous set-
ting. Organizers keep the event small
50 to 65 people so that participants
have opportunities to interact one-on-
one with agents actively seeking cli-
ents, film producer and literary
manager Ken Atchity, and authors Effective Scenes. Anyone interested be done? What must she or he create?
including Penny Warner (The Connor can view Neff s list of exemplary nov- Destroy? Save? Accomplish? Defeat?
Westphal Mystery Series) and Ann els on the conference website, an eclec- Theyre also asked to come up with
Garvin (On Maggies Watch and The tic selection that includes Ann comparable works and a breakout title
Dog Year). Patchetts Bel Canto, Ernest Heming- for their own manuscript.
Founded six years ago by Michael ways The Sun Also Rises, and Vladimir We provide this pre-work to give
Neff, the four-day conference in mid- Nabokovs Lolita. participants basic and advanced tech-
October focuses on how to write and niques in successful novel writing so
pitch commercial fiction. Each day is Participants are given that they can work on their project
packed with presentations, Q&A dis- preconference writing before the conference, Neff says. By
cussions, and group exercises . . . but assignments designed to the time we meet, theyve hit the
no keynote speeches. Our events are practice critical story ground running, and were all speaking
less about celebrity appearances and elements, which they then the same language. We give them a lot
schmoozing, and more about the facts of work, and those who do it are
you need to know about publishing,
post in an online forum. extremely grateful.
Neff says. As well, participants are given pre- Much of the discussion centers
Long before October, he provides conference writing assignments around creating a novel that is market-
registrants with a conference study designed to practice critical story ele- able. And then we train on pitching
guide and an extensive reading list, ments, which they then post in an it, says Neff. Everyone gets feedback
including articles and essays on writ- online forum. The first writing assign- from agents and editors and workshop
ing with titles like The Novel Setting: ment asks participants to craft a story leaders. We ask them also to be frank
Maximizing Opportunities for Verve statement, inspired by these questions: with everybody. Theyre here to give
and Uniqueness and Storyboard Whats the mission of your protago- you advice.
Considerations for Producing nist (hero/ine)? Their goal? What must During the conference, writers
38 | The Writer September 2016
have the opportunity to pitch their
work to an entire roomful of partici-
pants. Neff moderates, and the audi-
ence assumes the role of editors
putting their career on the line for a
manuscript. If they dont want to
accept it, we want to hear the reasons
why, he says. We train people how to
artfully pitch their novels to profes-
sionals in the business; at the same
time, were using the elements of the
pitch at the conference, and before-
hand as a diagnostic tool, to dig into
the work to see if writers have founda-
tional elements for a successful com-
mercial novel.
The Write to Market conference
focuses on teaching writers what they
need to know to become realistically
competitive, including building a plat-
form through the publication of short
fiction. Individuals that depart from
here have some work to do, Neff says.
Some participants do that work and
then attend the New York Pitch Con-
ference, which is held four times a CONFERENCE:
year and hosts editors from major THE SAN FRANCISCO
publishing houses ready to meet WRITE TO MARKET
promising writers. CONFERENCE.
Neff is personally invested in mak-
ing sure participants come away from Dates:
October 18-21
the West Coast conference with the
information they need. There at the Cost:
elegant Corte Madera Inn, he fre- $595
quently meets with writers until late Location:
into the night to offer information Corte Madera, California
and advice. Contact:
After 7 o clock, he quips, they Conference director at
have to buy me two glasses of Malbec. info@algonkianconferences.com
But seriously, I want them to have Website:
the very best novel and pitch they can austinfilmfestival.com
when they meet another professional
in the business.
Contributing editor Melissa Hart is the
author of Avenging the Owl (Sky Pony, 2016) and
Wild Within: How Rescuing Owls Inspired a
Family (Lyons, 2014). melissahart.com
writermag.com The Writer | 39
LITERARY SPOTLIGHT INSIDE LITERARY MAGAZINES
BY MELISSA HART

A novel concept
Five Points is one of the few journals that
publishes novel and memoir excerpts.

F
iction and nonfiction excerpts published in literary
magazines can boost readership and book sales.
However, many journals simply dont have the
space to feature an authors entire chapter. Enter
Five Points: A Journal of Literature and Art. The 20-year-old
magazine published by Georgia State University welcomes
self-contained novel and memoir excerpts, as well as short
prose and poetry.
Its wonderful to serve that need for writers, says editor
Megan Sexton. If youre a novelist, there are big gaps
between when your novels appear. You need the ability to
connect with readers while youre writing a book. Excerpts
are a great way for readers to check in and discover a novel-
ist they might not know or an author familiar to them.
May 18, 2004 Napa
I was home a short time exploring the spring green
hills, cleaning spider webs out of my studio and
attacking a four-foot-high stack of mail when my
friend Yoshiko Wada called. She invited me to travel
with her to China to see ethnic textiles. Three other
people would be along, all textile professionals. I was
at once so eager to stay at home and yet not wanting
to pass up a unique opportunity.
Five Points editors also publish poetry and shorter fiction
and nonfiction including Heather Sellers essay titled Ter-
mites in the spring of next year. Sexton describes the
authors voice as immediately strong and compelling, with a

Tone, editorial content

Editors at Five Points look for strong, surprising stories such
as Barbara Hambys novel excerpt, The Queens of Christ-
mas (winter 2015-2016), the story of a missionary family
living in Hawaii. The summer 2016 issue features South
African writer Sindiwe Magonas excerpt from her novel
Chasing the Tails of My Fathers Cattle.
Magonas story, set against the backdrop of apartheid,
follows a former miner who farms and raises cattle. In the
section that appears in Five Points, the protagonist helps his
sister to escape an abusive marriage and challenges the
societal norms of his patriarchal village to protect his teen-
age daughter the only one of his 10 children whos sur-
vived to adolescence.
Magonas sense of place is so rich, Sexton says. Her
voice is riveting, and I felt immediately immersed in the
piece. Its wonderful.

Contributors
Several years back, editors published an excerpt of Eleanor
Coppolas Notes on a Life just before the authors memoir
appeared in print. To be able to join forces with her was
phenomenal, Sexton says. We loved the fact that her
excerpt was nonfiction. Its hard to find nonfiction submis-
sions; people dont often send them our way.
Coppolas piece, which appeared in the spring 2008 issue
of Five Points, begins:
40 | The Writer September 2016
Editors at Five Points want to see
self-contained novel excerpts that offer
a sense of narrative arc, as well as
a satisfying conclusion.

power sustained through the entire

piece. Its about buying a new home,
she says. If youre a homeowner,
youll relate.
Other contributors include Billy
Collins, Sharon Olds, Andres Dubus
III, Philip Levine, and Lauren Groff.
To get a feel for the magazine, writers
may order sample copies through the
Five Points website.
The name offers us a meta-
phor for our goal of present-
ing a convergence ofideas
and genres, photographs and
text, north and south, east
and west, young and old.
PRINT, THREE TIMES YEARLY.
Genres: Fiction, poetry, literary
nonfiction.

Advice for potential contributors Reading period: September 1 to

Editors at Five Points want to see December 1 and January 1 to April 1.
self-contained novel excerpts that Length: Up to 7,500 words.
offer a sense of narrative arc, as well Submission format: Digital, through
as a satisfying conclusion. I dont Submittable, on website.
have to feel like everythings been
Contact: Megan Sexton, Editor,
sewn up by the end, Sexton explains,
Five Points A Journal of Literature & Art,
but I do want a cohesiveness to the
Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3999,
work, an ending that doesnt leave
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3999.
me in total suspense. I want to feel low up-front prices
fivepoints.gsu.edu
sated. To that end, authors some- paperback & hardcover
times condense and modify a chapter 20-day production
for serializing a valuable skill to 100 minimum order
hone, she notes.
As well as longer pieces, Sexton Request a FREE Kit
and other Five Points editors are 800-650-7888, ext. W9
Call
actively soliciting fiction and non- Visit www.morrispublishing.com
fiction up to just 250 words. They
welcome submissions until Dec. 1
for a Flash Fiction issue to appear in
Fall 2017.
While have a tradition of being
open and welcoming for longer
pieces, Sexton says, we hope that
this special issue will herald a new
wave of flash fiction submissions.

Contributing editor Melissa Hart is the

author of Avenging the Owl (Sky Pony, 2016)
and Wild Within: How Rescuing Owls Inspired
a Family (Lyons, 2014). melissahart.com

writermag.com The Writer | 41

 MARKETS
COMPILED BY NICKI PORTER
WriterMag.com
Subscribers to The Writer have online
access to information on 3,000+ publish-
ers, publications, conferences, contests
and agents. Go to WriterMag.com and click
on Market Directory.
Information in this section is provided to
The Writer by the individual markets and
events; for more information, contact those
entities directly.
NON-MFA WRITING
PROGRAMS
ONLINE
24PearlStreet Non-degree online classes in
fiction, nonfiction and poetry led by nationally
recognized writers. Program available in fall,
winter or spring with the option of three
course lengths: 8-week studios, 4-week work-
shops and 1-week intensives. Contact: Fine
Arts Work Center in Provincetown. 24 Pearl
Street, Provincetown, MA 02657.
508-487-9960 x 101. 24pearlstreet@fawc.org
fawc.org/24pearlstreet
Creative Nonfiction Small online classrooms,
personalized instructor feedback and student
forums. Topics include food writing, nonfic-
tion podcasting, magazine writing, personal
essays, medical writing, revision and more.
Classes start in January, March, July and Sep-
tember. Contact: Creative Nonficiton. 5501
Walnut Street, Suite 202, Pittsburgh, PA 15232.
412-688-0304.
information@creativenonfiction.org
creativenonfiction.org/online-classes
The Elizabeth Ayres Center for Creative
Writing Online instruction, community and
writing retreats led by award-winning poet
and writer Elizabeth Ayres. Course topics
include writing through trauma, writing for
children, poetry and screenplays. Contact:
The Elizabeth Ayres Center for Creative Writ-
ing. Elizabeth Ayres, Founder. P.O. Box 968,
California, MD 20619. 800-510-1049.
eayres@creativewritingcenter.com
creativewritingcenter.com
IAP Career College. Offers a selection of part-
time professional certificate courses, including
book editor, book publisher and freelance
writer. The self-directed online courses give
explanations of each career, exercises to learn
42 | The Writer September 2016
Group work
Many writers want to hone their craft but dont want to commit to or
pay for a full-blown MFA program. Luckily, many local and online
classes, workshops and certificate programs can support writers needs
without obliging them to commit several years and multiple paychecks
to the cause. While MFA programs are valuable for many reasons,
local craft workshops can be helpful as well.
Writing centers. Most big cities have a writing center that offers
work space, breakout sessions and critiques.
Libraries. The place where the written word is most sacred often
plays host to writing groups.
Colleges and universities. Not only will you be instructed by top-
level writers, but chances are, youll also come out of your course
with a certificate in hand.
Adult learning centers. Geared specifically toward working adults,
these programs typically offer a plethora of trade courses,
including computer courses and even writing workshops.
Bookstores. Countless authors pass through on book tours, often
staying an extra day to lead a course or two. Take advantage.
Community centers. Within its daily or seasonal programming, your
local community center may offer a writing workshop or a summer
camp for teen writers. In some cases, these courses are free.
and develop the skills needed to execute the page. The class includes 22 video lessons,
role and tips on finding a job in that career. interactive writing exercises, a workbook with
Degree type: Certificate. notes from each lesson and an outline of one
Contact: IAP Career College. 1-888-322-5621. of Pattersons best-selling novels.
iapcollege@fabjob.com Contact: MasterClass. 855-981-8208.
iapcollege.com/program-category/certificate- support@masterclass.com
courses-online masterclass.com/classes/james-patterson-
teaches-writing
LitReactor Online classes that allow partici-
pants to study what they want when they want Park University. Offered completely online,
across a variety of topics, from finding ones this creative writing certificate program is one
critical voice to sci-fi, middle-grade novels to year long and offers a fiction or nonfiction
short fiction, erotica to noir. Workshops allow track. Students of the Certificate in Creative
students to submit original work for peer and Life Writing will take six hours of required
review and also critique other writers work. courses and six hours in their chosen genre.
Contact: LitReactor, LLC. PO Box 291870, Los Degree type: Certificate. Prerequisites: Bach-
Angeles, CA 90029. info@litreactor.com elors degree. Contact: Park University. 8700
litreactor.com/classes/upcoming N.W. River Park Drive, Parkville, MO 64152.
Brian Shawver, Chair of Department of Eng-
MasterClass with James Patterson The best-
lish and Modern Languages. 816-584-6241.
selling author teaches how to create characters,
brian.shawver@park.edu
write dialogue and keep readers turning the

park.edu/Academics/academic-programs/
graduate-programs/certificate-creative-and-
life-writing/index.html
Penn Foster Career School. While earning
the Freelance Writer Career Diploma, students
learn techniques and skills for entering pub-
lishing as a freelance writer. Courses cover
submissions, sourcing material and working
with editors and agents. Students may also
choose a specialization: literary fiction, genre
fiction or nonfiction. Degree type: Diploma.
Contact: Penn Foster Career School.
800-275-4410. Email through website.
pennfoster.edu/programs-and-degrees/writ-
ing-and-language-skills/freelance-writer-
career-diploma
Poynter Institute. The Basic Reporting and
Writing Certificate is comprised of a series of
assessments covering interview techniques,
rewrite skills and more as part of Poynters
NewsU. Journalists and communications pro-
fessionals can evaluate their core journalism
skills. Degree type: Certificate. Contact: News
University, c/o The Poynter Institute for Media
Studies, 801 Third Street South, St. Petersburg,
FL 33701. 727-821-9494. info@newsu.org
newsu.org/courses/reporting-writing-certificate
Stanford Continuing Studies. Stanford Uni-
versitys online writing program offers a wide
selection of courses for adult writers of every
level. Topics include narrative voice in nonfic-
tion, pitching a magazine, writing habits, per-
sonal essay, short story, historically-based
fiction, revision, YA novels and poetry. Also
offers the Online Certificate Program in Novel
Writing. Degree type: Certificate.
Contact: Stanford Continuing Studies. 365
Lasuen St., Littlefield Center, Stanford, CA
94305. 650-725-2650.
continuingstudies@stanford.edu
continuingstudies.stanford.edu/writing-certifi-
cate/writing-certificate
University of South Florida - St. Petersburg,
St. Petersburg, Florida. Writers focusing on the
culinary world can take advantage of the Food
Writing and Photography certificate, which
takes place both online and in person. Stu-
dents must take 15 credits in this graduate cer-
tificate program, which will hone mass
communication skills and teach ethical and
legal issues that could arise in culinary media.
Degree type: Certificate. Contact: USF St.
Petersburg. 140 Seventh Avenue South, St.
Petersburg, FL 33701. 727.873.4USF. Email
from website. foodwriting.usfsp.edu
Writers Store Free and paid online writing
classes teaching the craft of filmmaking and
storytelling by experienced Hollywood writers
and directors. Topics include subtext, writing
for TV, connecting with characters, finding
your process, crime scenes, scene building and
more. Contact: The Writers Store, Inc. 3510
West Magnolia Blvd., Burbank CA, 91505.
800-272-8927. Email through website.
writersstore.com/courses
Writers Village University Offers a regularly
updated schedule of online writing courses for
every level, as well as certificate programs in
Fiction MFA, Short Story MFA and Creative
Writing. The more than 200 courses and
workshops range from two to 16 weeks and
cover topics from comedy writing to literature
studies. Annual $99 membership fee. Degree
type: Certificate. Contact: Writers Village
University. Email through website.
writersvillage.com
Writership A year-long online program for
people who want to build their commitment
to the craft through community. Consisting of
social media, daily emails (with information,
tools, encouragement and prompts), critique
groups, professional critiques, webinars, three
day-long master classes in Austin, Texas, and
an end-of-year jubilee. Contact: Writership.
Email through website. writership.org
Your Novel Year, Arizona State University,
Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writ-
ing. Draft and revise a novel within the span of
a year and then spend six months preparing it
for publication. Online courses are offset by
optional meetings at the universitys annual
Desert Nights, Rising Stars writing conference.
Degree granted: Certificate. Contact: Virginia
G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. P. O. Box
875002, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
85287. 480-965-6018.
pipercenter.info@asu.edu piper.asu.edu/novel
ALASKA
49 Writers Courses and workshops for vary-
ing levels offered in two terms (fall and
spring). Elements courses cover nuts-and-bolts
writing techniques and run 6 to 8 hours long
while genre-based workshops alternate
between fundamentals and advanced tech-
nique run 12 to 15 hours. Special topics also
offered. Registration dates: August (for fall)
and January (for spring). Contact: 49 Writers,
Inc. 49 Alaska Writing Center , PO Box
221086, Anchorage, AK 99522. Email through
website. 49writingcenter.org/index.php
CALIFORNIA
Book Passage, Corte Madera and San Fran-
Get up-to-date information on
markets at writermag.com
cisco, California. Writing courses from craft
basics to tips on publishing held at a famed
San Francisco bookstore. Craft topics include
memoir, the antagonist, travel writing, blog-
ging and intensive writing weekends. Contact:
51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA
94925. 415-927-0960. Email through website.
bookpassage.com/writing-classes
Conejo Valley Adult School, Thousand Oaks,
California. Dedicated to helping adults enrich
their lives, for professional and personal goals,
including through their writers program. Pre-
vious topics have covered nuts and bolts
screenwriting and creative writing workshops.
Contact: Conejo Valley Adult School. 1025
Old Farm Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.
805-497-2761. Info@ConejoAdultEd.org
conejoadultschool.org/Generalclasses/writers-
program.htm
The Grotto, San Francisco, California. A writ-
ing community that offers flexible common
workspaces, as well as classes in genres includ-
ing fiction, nonfiction, journalism, spoken
word, poetry and social media seven days a
week and for different lengths of time. Six-
month fellowships offered through applica-
tion. Contact: The Grotto. 490 2nd Street, 2nd
Floor, San Francisco, CA 94107.
info@sfgrotto.org
sfgrotto.org/classes/upcoming-classes
Los Angeles Writers Group, Los Angeles,
California. Creative writing workshops,
classes, groups and private coaching for writ-
ers of all genres. Some workshops focusing on
using art as writing inspiration. The organiza-
tion also produces off-site writing retreats.
Contact: Los Angeles Writers Group. Nicole
Criona, president. 8033 W. Sunset Blvd, P.O.
Box: 910, Los Angeles, CA 90046.
323-963-3180. lawritersgroup@gmail.com
lawritersgroup.com
San Diego Writers, Ink, San Diego, Califor-
nia. Multi-level classes and one-time work-
shops in multiple genres including fiction,
nonfiction, memoir, playwriting and poetry.
Basic and advanced certificates also offered in
novel writing and memoir writing. Limited
class size. Degree type: Certificate. Contact:
San Diego Writers, Ink. 2730 Historic Decatur
Rd, Suite 202, San Diego, CA 92106.
619-696-0363. programs@sandiegowriters.org
sandiegowriters.org/programs/classes8
University of California - Berkeley Exten-
sion, Berkeley, California. A post-baccalaure-
ate writing certificate program to prepare for
the MFA. Helps build regular writing practice,
grow portfolio and gain credentials. Flexible
writermag.com The Writer | 43
MARKETS
schedule of eight required courses in a variety
of topics, from YA novels to childrens picture
books, story structure to American fiction.
Degree type: Certificate. Pre-requisites: Bach-
elors degree. Contact: UC Berkeley Extension.
510-642-6362. extension-letters@berkeley.edu
extension.berkeley.edu/cert/writing.html
University of California - Los Angeles Exten-
sion, Los Angeles, California. Certificate pro-
grams in fiction writing and film writing. In
the former, students will complete at least 250
pages of a novel, while in the latter, they will
write one to three feature film scripts. Students
must take six or eight courses, depending
upon the program, which may be completed
in person or online. Degree type: Certificate.
Contact: UCLA Extension. For fiction:
Phoebe Lim, certificate advisor. 310-825-9416.
plim@uclaextension.edu uclaextension.edu/
pages/ProgramDetails.aspx?reg=CF668 For
film: Jeffrey Bonnett, certificate advisor.
310-206-1542. JBonnett@unex.ucla.edu
uclaextension.edu/pages/ProgramDetails.
aspx?reg=CF503
University of California - San Diego Exten-
sion San Diego, California. Creative writing
courses on novel writing, playwriting, charac-
ter development and poetry, plus core writing
skills and literature classes. Also offers human-
ities and writing certificates in childrens book
illustration, childrens book writing, copyedit-
ing, digital media content creation and techni-
cal communication. Contact: UC San Diego
Extension, 9500 Gilman Drive 0176, La Jolla,
CA 92093. 858-534-5760. ahl@ucsd.edu
extension.ucsd.edu/studyarea/index.cfm?vActi
on=saCourses&vStudyAreaID=13&#Creative
Writing
Writing Pad, Los Angeles, California. Two
locations in LA and one in San Francisco offer
writing classes according to genre, including
childrens and YA, fiction, memoir, poetry, web
writing, personal essay, journalism, writing for
actors, playwriting, publishing, screenwriting
and more. Also available are a plethora of
resources, special events and online classes.
Contact: Writing Pad Headquarters. 688 S.
Santa Fe Ave, #312, Los Angeles, CA 90021.
323-333-2954. info@writingpad.com
writingpad.com
Writing Workshops Los Angeles Los Angeles,
California. One-day seminars, plus 8-week
classes on fiction, nonfiction and poetry
offered in locations around LA. Classes are
adult only and geared toward varying levels,
with some sessions being mixed levels.
Refreshments always served. One-on-one cri-
tiques and editing services also available.
44 | The Writer September 2016
Contact: Writing Workshops Los Angeles.
info@writingworkshopsla.com
writingworkshopsla.com
COLORADO
University College, Denver, Colorado.
Offered online and at the University of Colo-
rado campus, this certificate program lasts 10
weeks, and no GRE is required to apply. Learn
the skills of writing and revision, as well as
insight into the publishing process. Credits
may be applied to a future Arts and Culture
masters degree if so desired. Degree type:
Certificate. Contact: University College, Uni-
versity of Denver, College of Professional and
Continuing Studies. 2211 South Josephine St.
Denver, CO 80208. 303-871-2291
ucolsupport@du.edu
universitycollege.du.edu/mals/degree/certifi-
cate/creative-writing-online/degreeid/42
GEORGIA
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. The cer-
tificate in creative writing is geared toward
adults who want to improve their writing skills
and develop a publishable manuscript. Indi-
vidualized guidance from instructors through
a series of workshops: short story, fiction,
essentials of creative writing and more. Degree
type: Certificate. Contact: Emory University.
Emory Continuing Education, 201 Dowman
Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322. 404-727-6000.
Email through website.
ece.emory.edu/creative_writing
ILLINOIS
Story Studio, Chicago, Illinois. Offers three
programs: Words for Work for business writ-
ers, Creative Writing for in-person workshop-
ping and SSC 360 Online interactive weekly
courses. One-day workshops are also available,
covering topics such as grammar, blogging and
meditation. One-on-one manuscript review
and youth writing camps also available.
Contact: Story Studio. 4043 N. Ravenswood,
#222, Chicago, IL 60613. 773-477-7710.
info@storystudiochicago.com
storystudiochicago.com
The Writers Studio, Chicago, Illinois. Studio
workshop courses that meet for 4 or 8 weeks
and cover topics from editing to basic creative
writing, character development to mastering
detail. These open courses are open to the
public and take place both in person and
online. Contact: Graham School - The Uni-
versity of Chicago. Gina DiPonio, Program
Director. 1427 E 60th Street, Second Floor,
Chicago, IL 60637 773-882-1160.
writersstudio@uchicago.edu
grahamschool.uchicago.edu/noncredit/certifi-
cates/writers-studio/index
The Writers Loft, Chicago, Illinois. A writing
community with courses in short stories, plays,
biography, memoir and more taught by best-
selling author Mary Carter. Workshops consist
of six 2-hour evening sessions that cover
technique, feedback and a half hour of writing.
The first class is free. Contact: The Writers
Loft. Mary Carter. 206-618-3747.
mary@immediatefiction.com
thewritersloft.com
INDIANA
Indiana Writers Center, Indianapolis, Indi-
ana. Writers of all levels participate in fiction,
poetry and nonfiction classes and workshops.
Topics have included essay writing, story writ-
ing, novel writing, travel writing, editing and
proofreading, mystery and getting published.
Course lengths vary from single days to eight
weeks. Contact: Indiana Writers Center. P.O.
Box 30407, Indianapolis, IN 46230.
317-255-0710. Email through website.
indianawriters.org/pages/classes-workshops
IOWA
Iowa Young Writers Studio, Iowa City, Iowa,
July 2016. High school students spend two
weeks in the summer at the famed Iowa Writ-
ers Workshop. Students choose between three
tracks: fiction, poetry or creative writing (a
mix of genres). Classes are presented in semi-
nars and workshops of 12 people or less.
Enrollment deadline: February 2016.
Contact: Iowa Young Writers Studio. Stephen
Lovely, Director. The University of Iowa, 250
CEF, Iowa City, Iowa 52242. 319-335-4209.
iyws@uiowa.edu iowayoungwritersstudio.org
KENTUCKY
The Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learn-
ing, Lexington, Kentucky. Seasonal writing
classes in a family-friendly learning center.
Most classes are free and those that do require
payment are for a low fee. Adult writing
courses cover fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
multi-genre and publishing. The center also
runs writing contests, book series and the
Young Women Writers Project. Contact: The
Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning. 251
West Second Street, Lexington, KY 40507.
859-254-4175. ccll1@carnegiecenterlex.org
carnegiecenterlex.org
LOUISIANA
The Loyola Writing Institute, New Orleans,
Louisiana. Offering non-credit creative writing

workshops to the community since 1993, this
offshoot of Loyola University is open to writers
of all skill levels. Courses range in duration but
are capped at 12 participants. Topics vary from
screenplays to fiction, poetry to short story,
reading like a writer to personal narrative.
Teen workshops also available. Contact:
Walker Percy Center. Jessica Kinnison, 6363
St. Charles Avenue, Campus Box 157, New
Orleans, LA 70118. 601-937-1577.
loyolawritinginstitute@gmail.com
loyno.edu/wpc/loyola-writing-institute
MARYLAND/WASHINGTON, DC
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Mary-
land, and Washington, DC. Graduate certifi-
cate in science writing. Part-time program
with locations in both Baltimore and DC, plus
online classes. In five courses, students learn
the skills to write about science, medicine and
technology. Topics cover journalism, social
media, digital and print, craft, creative writing
and editing. Optional residency course.
Degree type: Certificate. Contact: Johns Hop-
kins University, Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts
& Sciences. Advanced Academics Programs,
1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington,
DC 20036. 202-452-1917.
sciencewriting@jhu.edu
advanced.jhu.edu/academics/certificate-pro-
grams/science-writing
MASSACHUSETTS
Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts.
Certificate programs in copyediting, graphic
novel writing and screenwriting. Learn craft,
technique and skills to improve knowledge in
the specific field. Students have three years to
complete the program. The literary publishing
certificate is a one-week intensive about start-
ing and running a literary magazine.
Degree type: Certificate.
Contact: Department of Professional Studies
and Special Programs, Emerson College. 120
Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116.
617-824-8280. continuing@emerson.edu
emerson.edu/academics/professional-studies/
certificate-programs
GrubStreet Workshops, manuscript critiques
and young writers groups in Boston and
online. Topics range from Scholarships avail-
able. Courses cover short fiction, personal
essay, book-length memoir, playwriting, pub-
lishing, promotion, professional development
and more. Contact: GrubStreet. 162 Boylston
Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02116.
617.695.0075. info@grubstreet.org
grubstreet.org
MICHIGAN
Springfed Arts, Royal Oak, Michigan. Edu-
cate writers about their craft, be it in the form
of prose or song, and performance of works.
Courses in poetry, memoir, fiction and cre-
ative writing take place both in person and
online. Writing workshops and mini-camps
for teens also available. Contact: Springfed
Arts. John D. Lamb, Executive Director, PO
Box 304, Royal Oak, MI 48068. 248-589-3913.
info@springfed.org
springfed.org/index.php?option=com_content
&view=article&id=62:writing-
classes&catid=1:latest-news
MINNESOTA
The Loft Literary Center Adult and youth
classes for ages 6-17, as well as online options.
Adult and online classes cover fiction, creative
nonfiction and poetry, as well as a variety of
genre-specific classes, screenwriting, playwrit-
ing, graphic storytelling and more. Youth
classes are mainly held in the summer and are
broken down according to age group. Scholar-
ships available. Contact: The Loft Literary
Center. Suite 200, Open Book, 1011 Washing-
ton Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55415.
612-215-2575. loft@loft.org loft.org/classes
NEW JERSEY
The Writers Circle, North-central New Jersey.
Weekly writing courses, from workshops for
children to adult classes for all levels in genre-
specific sessions, fiction, nonfiction and
poetry. One-on-one coaching, editorial ser-
vices and summer sessions for teens also avail-
able. Courses held in Ridgewood, Montclair,
South Orange, Maplewood and Summit.
Contact: The Writers Circle. 973-900-0415.
Email through website.
writerscircleworkshops.com
NEW YORK
92nd Street Y, New York, New York. Advanced
workshops in writing, poetry, fiction and
memoir led by bestselling authors such as
Myla Goldberg, Wendy Salinger and Cynthia
Cruz. Master classes and literary seminars also
available focusing on topics such as Greek
tragedies, reading Chekhov and poetry with
J.D. McClatchy. The 92Y In Session series
cover topics such as childrens writing, autobi-
ography and live storytelling. Contact: 92Y.
1395 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10128.
212-415-5500. Email through website.
92y.org/Uptown/Classes/Adults/Creative-Writing
Gotham Writers Workshop, New York, New
York. Workshop classes in New York City and
Get up-to-date information on
markets at writermag.com
online, covering a wide array of genres: fiction,
nonfiction, scriptwriting, comedy, poetry,
songs and business. Also offers teen classes
and one-on-one sessions. While classes on
location operate on a fixed schedule, online
courses can be completed at the students own
pace. Contact: 555 8th Avenue, Suite 1402,
New York, NY 10018. 212-974-8377.
contact@gothamwriters.com
writingclasses.com
Media Bistro New York, New York. In-person
courses in New York City and online courses
and boot camps. Topics include query letter
writing, childrens writing, novels, nonfiction
book proposals, as well as social media how-
tos, copy editing and journalism.
Contact: Media Bistro. 770 Broadway, 15th
floor, New York, NY 10003. Email through
website. mediabistro.com/courses
The New School, New York, New York. Cer-
tificate in screenwriting. Students will com-
plete a script for a full-length feature film,
learning character, story, action, dialogue and
more. Courses may also be completed online.
Degree type: Certificate. Contact: The New
School. School of Media Studies, 79 Fifth Ave-
nue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10003.
212-229-8903.
ScreenwritingAdvisor@newschool.edu
newschool.edu/public-engagement/screen-
writing-certificate
New York University, New York, New York.
Certificate in Creative Writing granted in the
students chosen genre, fiction or nonfiction.
Fiction courses are offered online and in per-
son and progress in difficulty; nonfiction
courses are all in person. Students must com-
plete five courses in their concentration, plus
either one 10-session elective or two 5-session
electives. The final project consists of 50 pages
of prose. Contact: NYU School of Professional
Studies. Office of Noncredit Student Services,
7 East 12th Street, Room 133, New York, NY
10003. 212-998-7200. sps.certificate@nyu.edu
sps.nyu.edu/academics/noncredit-offerings/
certificates.html
New York Writers Workshop New York, New
York. Offers free writing classes and presenta-
tions at various New York Public Library loca-
tions, in addition to mid-level and advanced
workshops at the JCC in Manhattan. Courses
are also offered online via Skype. The group
also hosts nonfiction and fiction pitch confer-
ences. Contact: New York Writers Workshop.
200 Riverside Boulevard, Suite 32E, New York,
NY 10069.
newyorkwritersworkshop@gmail.com
newyorkwritersworkshop.com/classes
writermag.com The Writer | 45
MARKETS
Stony Brook Southampton Childrens Lit
Fellows, Southampton, New York. Year-long
certificate program for 12 childrens book writ-
ers from Stony Brook Southamptons MFA in
Creative Writing and Literature. Writers work
independently with faculty and then convene
in July and January for a publishing and edit-
ing conference. During the year, fellows com-
plete one publishable YA or middle grade
manuscript, or either a series concept with one
completed manuscript or three separate man-
uscripts. Degree Type: Advanced certificates
in creative writing. Deadline: November 1,
2016. Contact: Southampton Arts. Chancel-
lors Hall, Stony Brook Southampton, 239
Montauk Highway, Southampton, NY 11968.
631-632-5030.
southamptonarts@stonybrook.edu
stonybrook.edu/southampton/mfa/childrens_lit
The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence
College Bronxville, New York. Adults and
young writers can take advantage of the writ-
ing program offered at the Center for Con-
tinuing Education at Sarah Lawrence College
with courses on fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
Additional topics include cross-genre, publish-
ing and the writers process. Two students will
be chosen for the Kathryn Gurfein Writing
Fellowship. Contact: The Writing Institute.
Katrina Brown, Center for Continuing Educa-
tion, 45 Wrexham Road, Bronxville, NY
10708. 914-395-2205. cce@sarahlawrence.edu.
sarahlawrence.edu/ce/writing-institute
NORTH CAROLINA
Methodist University, Fayetteville, North
Carolina. The Professional Writing Certificate
Program consists of 18 semester hour courses
over one year, though multi-year programs
may be set. Classes take place on nights and
weekends and cover topics from grammar to
desktop publishing, proofreading to technical
writing. Degree type: Certificate.
Contact: Methodist University, Department of
English and Writing , Dr. Kelly Walter Carney,
Chair. 5400 Ramsey Street, Fayetteville, NC
28311. 910-630-7370.
kwaltercarney@methodist.edu
methodist.edu/writing/index.htm
OHIO
Clifton Cultural Arts Center, Cincinnati,
Ohio. The CCAC holds ongoing creative writ-
ing workshops with a maximum class size of 8
students. Course takes place twice per week
with different instructors for each section.
Contact: Clifton Cultural Arts Center. PO Box
20041, Cincinnati, OH 45220. 513-497-2860.
46 | The Writer September 2016
info@cliftonculturalarts.org
cliftonculturalarts.org/classes/creative-writing
OREGON
The Attic Institute of Arts and Letters, Port-
land, Oregon. A private literary studio that
offers creative writing workshops in poetry,
fiction, nonfiction, memoir, personal essay,
storytelling and more. One-day sessions
offered, as well as ongoing multi-week work-
shops. Free phone consultations and teen
summer program offered. Contact: The Attic
Institute of Arts and Letters. 4232 SE Haw-
thorne Boulevard, Portland, OR 97215.
503-236-0615. Email through website.
atticinstitute.com/classes
Literary Arts, Portland, Oregon. Rotating
schedule of writing classes ranging from one
or two days to 8 weeks. Past topics include
memoir boot camp, travel essays, Class size
limited to 12 students. Scholarships available.
Contact: Literary Arts. Susan Moore, 925 SW
Washington St., Portland, OR 97205.
503.227.2583 ex 107. susan@literary-arts.org
literary-arts.org/what-we-do/oba-home/work-
shops
PENNSYLVANIA
Community College of Philadelphia, Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania. The Creative Writing
Academic Certificate includes both creative
writing and literature courses, as well as work-
shops. In the Portfolio Development course,
students prepare to apply to four-year writing
programs and develop works for publication.
The certificate credits may be applied to an
English or liberal arts associates degree.
Degree type: Certificate. Contact: Commu-
nity College of Philadelphia. 1700 Spring Gar-
den Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130.
215-751-8000. ccp.edu/academic-offerings/all-
offerings/liberal-arts/academic-certificate-pro-
grams/creative-writing
TEXAS
Writers League of Texas, Austin, Texas.
Courses open to members and non-members
of all experience levels. Topics include struc-
ture, pacing, finding a critique partner, social
media, writing with emotion, using meta-
phors, submitting, research, revision and
more. Half-day and full-day Saturday classes
and weeknight sessions available. Contact:
Writers League of Texas. 611 S. Congress Ave,
Suite 200 A-3, Austin, TX 78704.
512-499-8914. wlt@writersleague.org
writersleague.org/6/Classes
VIRGINIA
The Muse Writers Center, Hampton Roads,
Virginia. Creative and creative writing classes
in journaling, poetry, novels, memoir, creative
nonfiction, flash memoir, professional devel-
opment, outlining a story, blogging, maga-
zines, pitching, reading in public, grammar
and more. Courses held for various lengths of
time from one day to eight days and at all
times of the day. Contact: The Muse Writers
Center. 2200 Colonial Ave. Suite #3, Norfolk,
VA, 23507. 757-818-9880.
muse@the-muse.org the-muse.org/workshops
Writer House Eight-week classes are made up
of 5 to 12 students, though some half-day, one-
day and two-day seminars do allow for 18 stu-
dents. Topics range from the sonnet to travel
writing, memoir to voice, agents to fantasy
writing. Youth writing programs and scholar-
ships are available. Contact: WriterHouse. P.O.
Box 222, Charlottesville, VA 22902. 434-296-
1922. programs@writerhouse.org
writerhouse.org
WASHINGTON
Classes and Workshops, Seattle, Washington.
Non-credit writing classes in screenwriting,
novel and short story writing, sci-fi and fan-
tasy, and more. Many courses are co-spon-
sored by the University of Washingtons
Experimental College.
Contact: Classes and Workshops.
206-420-1309. classesinseattle@gmail.com
classesandworkshops.com/writing-classes
Hugo House, Seattle, Washington. Generative
classes, workshops, discussion-based sessions
and reading courses focusing on writing and
literary craft. Sessions range from half day to
weekly for 10 weeks. Course catalog changes
every quarter. Young writers mentor program
also available. Contact: Hugo House. 1021
Columbia Street, Seattle, WA 98104.
206-322-7030. welcome@hugohouse.org
hugohouse.org/classes
INTERNATIONAL
The Writers Studio Focusing on poetry and
fiction with locations in New York, San Fran-
cisco, Tucson and Amsterdam, plus online
course options. Beginning and advanced levels
offered, with options to continue along with
progressively more challenging classes.
Contact: The Writers Studio. 78 Charles Street
#2R, New York, NY 10014. 212-255-7075.
writerstudio1@gmail.com
writerstudio.com/cart/classlist.php
Classifieds
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writermag.com The Writer | 47
HOW I WRITE
BY ALLISON FUTTERMAN
Angela Flournoy
W
ith the extraordinary
success of her debut
novel, The Turner
House, author Angela
Flournoy became a literary sensation.
Named as a 2015 National Book Award
finalist, Flournoy was also short-listed
for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize
for Debut Fiction and nominated for
the NAACP Image Awards for Out-
standing Literary Work Debut
Author. The Turner House was also
named a New York Times Notable
Book of the Year.
Despite the overwhelming acco-
lades shes received, Flournoy says, I
had very conservative expectations for
this book; if anyone outside of my
immediate family read it and liked it,
that would have been a success in my
mind. The past year has been deeply
gratifying and encouraging.
Her book explores the relationships
within a large African-American fam-
ily and their connection to their family
home. Flournoy does a masterful job
of developing a large cast of characters
who each uniquely add to the narra-
tive. The city of Detroit is an integral
part of the story, inextricably linked to
the experiences of the Turner family.
The story occupies two periods in
time, alternating between 2008 and the
1940s via flashback.
Next up for Flournoy is a prestigious
fellowship at New York Public Librarys
Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
for Scholars and Writers, where she will
focus on writing her next novel.
Inspiration
The book is the result of several preoc-
cupations of mine coalescing around a
single subject: a family and a house in
the city of Detroit. I was interested in
exploring family dynamics in general,
48 | The Writer September 2016
research Id done early on permeated
but also the history
of black working
class Detroiters and
the impact of hous-
ing discrimination
on their lives.
Creating many
characters
One of the great things about growing
up around a lot of family is that you
get accustomed to navigating a large
web of relationships at a young age. I
wanted to convey this experience on
the page, but I also knew that the old-
est and youngest Turner sibling would
make up the heart of the narrative. I
spent the most time developing their
characters. I put much less pressure on
myself with other characters.
Alternating timelines
The more I researched about the his-
tory of African Americans in Detroit,
the more it became important to me to
include the story of the Turner parents
migrating from the South to the city.
The neighborhood that migrants set-
tled in back then no longer exists, and
a vanished neighborhood is fertile
ground for fiction.
Research process
I read a lot of books during the first
two years of working on the novel.
Then I tried to put the character con-
cerns and needs before my own preoc-
cupations. If a detail was germane to a
characters career or personal history, I
would make sure it was accurate, but
otherwise I got to a point where the
through to the page without
my even realizing it.
Writing routine
My routine varies depending on
my other obligations.The Turner
Housewas written in6 a.m. to 9
a.m. shifts for a period of time,
then in the evenings after work,
then on trains, and cars and buses.
I like to write longhand because it
frees up where and when I can
squeeze in a little writing.
Time span
It took me four years to write the
book, from first sentence to final edits.
Follow-up pressure
No outside pressure could live up to
the pressure Ive always put on myself
as a writer. I have had an amazing,
humbling debut experience, but the
challenge moving forward remains the
same: do my best work and write
Photo by LaToya T. Duncan
something that I would actually want
to read.
Allison Futterman is a freelance writer who
has been published in several magazines.
 LESSON
LEARNEDOUR NEXT SHORT
STORY CONTEST

Our latest short story contest is

about education in all forms: life
lessons, coming-of-age lessons,
lessons learned the hard way.
Whether your character is
steeped in academia or getting
educated at the School of Hard
Knocks, we want to see them
at the brink of change and
about to learn a lesson theyll
never forget.

DEADLINE:
GRAND PRIZE: August 31st, 2016
$1,000 & publication LEARN MORE AT WORD COUNT:
in our magazine writermag.com/contests 2,000 words or less
extra
You can't find this in print.
NEW VOICES IN PUBLISHING: BONUS EXTENDED INTERVIEWS
CHARLIE HICKERSON
How did you get to be an editor at Native?
I went to Belmont University, private liberal arts college here in
Nashville. [I] started out actually studying music business at Bel-
mont and ended up switching to literature thought I was going to
be an attorney. Because I guess Im a glutton for punishment, I did
an internship at Native. I ended up doing that just because I really
like writing and Ive always liked journalism. I stuck with the intern-
ship and interned and freelanced for about a year and a half. Then
the former managing editor left, so I got to step in.
What makes you want to work with a writer again?
I think of our best writers and the folks that have freelanced for us
for a while now, and I think the thing that always makes me want to
come back to people is: [write] well and on time. I mean, if its clean
and its on deadline, I dont have anything to complain about.
I think another thing that keeps me coming back is theres a fine
line between being clean and being stylistically interesting, too. So
its like some people just really know how to bridge that gap, and I
admire a lot of our freelancers for that, because I think most of them
probably bridge that gap better than I do in my own writing.
What is your writing process when youre working on a piece yourself?
It really depends on the piece. I guess this could be said for any-
body, but I really like to do my homework on people before meeting
them. I recently did a cover story on Cage the Elephant, and I can tell
you everything about those guys now. I am a Cage the Elephant his-
torian. And they were freaked out by how much I knew about them
when I came in. So I think thats the number one thing: Youve got to
set that foundation.
BIJAN STEPHEN
What is it like editing other writers work
particularly for someone who is as young as
you are?
Its interesting. Its fascinating. You sort of learn
a lot about your own writing by reading other
peoples first drafts. And its exhilarating. Im
very glad to have the opportunity to think about
other peoples work in the same way that I think
about my own. I hope that my writers take away
as much as I do from editing their work. But its
really nice, I really enjoy getting into the weeds
with a piece and doing line edits and very struc-
tural things. Its exciting to be on the other side
of the process.
Elaborate on what you said about learning
about your own writing from other peoples
first drafts.
Basically what youre doing is you are trying to
make a piece into the best form it can be. And
youre working under some constraints,
depending on the medium, and obviously the
deadlines. But you learn a lot, because the
writer has thought about it one way, and your
job is to think about it another way and consider
the idea from every single angle. I take a lot
from that because I [then] bring that to my own
writing. I think my editors might contradict me
but I think my first drafts have gotten better.
Im always trying to make things more rigorous
and more specific. So Ive applied that kind of
mindset to my own work. It also helps [that] I
am writing less because my work is mostly edit-
ing. And it helps to sort of take a break and be
able to step away from writing. Its nice to
recharge like that.
Do you think that being active on Twitter is a
part of being a young writer today?
Maybe. The answer is yes and no. I think that it
does help with visibility, and visibility is a good
thing if you want people to read your work and
get in touch with you for assignments and stuff.
But I dont think its necessarily necessary. I
think its good. I think you should have an online
presence just because: How would people read
your work otherwise? Print is dead, and if youre
a young freelancer who has the good fortune to
be in print, you probably dont need an online
presence, but you should at least have some-
where where you can have a repository of all
your work. And also you dont want someone to
have your name on Twitter. That sucks.
JAZMINE HUGHES
What do you think are some qualities
that make for a good personal essay
writer?
Self-awareness, which sounds super
corny, but delusion is only so funny
for so long. You can be a straight-up
terrible person, but if youre aware of
it, and you know how to present it in
an evocative and interesting and
almost I hate to say it relatable
way, then cool. Go for it. Self-aware-
ness is key to me.
[Also ]I want to say a healthy lack
of embarrassment. I think generally
when it comes to writing about your-
self, you have to be open and you
have to be willing to share and
divulge. If you have a very strict
notion of what you will and will not
share, I think thats good, but if that
notion is unbreakable, or not at all
flexible, then I think youre going to
run into some issues. I think that per-
sonal essay writing should be inher-
ently confessional.
Which do you prefer, writing or editing?
I prefer a healthy mix of both. This is
like the existential question that I
pose to both my therapist and anyone
who will listen to me talk for more
than 50 seconds. I think both are fun,
and I think Im good at both, and I
think I want to be better at both. I feel
very lucky to be able to do both, and
so I want to continue doing both as
long as people allow me to.
Have you any trouble with writers
that youve edited their pieces?
Yeah, but I think thats great. I didnt
realize that pushing back on edits was
a thing. I thought that what your edi-
tor said was the law, was the end-all,
be-all. Your name, the writers name,
is on the piece, and the writer should
push back.
JACK TIEN-DANA
Do you think there are any advan-
tages to being a young writer?
Im not quite sure, because I dont
really think of myself as a young
writer. I think of myself as either a
young person OR a writer. So I think
its kind of an advantage because Im
greener, and actually I havent really
thought about that yet. I think I have a
different perspective than most peo-
ple, and I think that growing up in the
internet age, I have had more access
to good sportswriting, so Ive just
been able to read more and know
what works.
Whats something that youve
learned from working with your
Rolling Stone editor?
Thats tough. The few things that Ive
written, hes been great. He treats me
as an adult. Hes professional about it.
With a lot of the pieces, its clarity. Just
because it makes sense to me doesnt
mean it will make sense to everybody.
So its just being able to write kind of
vocally but also try to maintain some
clarity. Not to just disappear into a
wormhole of my own words.
Do you think you want to continue
writing as a career?
Yeah, definitely. Im actually going to
college next year for writing. Im going
to Johns Hopkins next year to write.
MARIANA TINOCO-RIVERA
How did you decide to become
a writer?
I got a couple internships when I was
in college at newspapers in Mexico
City, so then I started a job at a maga-
zine. From then on I just like started
writing things on my own and
improving on that. So I just like
started on that path and Im really
glad I did.
When you write for yourself, what
sort of writing do you do?
Mostly journalistic stuff. Right now
with my own project Im just trying to
interview people, do kind of fast jour-
nalism things. I am not a fiction writer
or anything like that. I dont think Im
good at that. I love fast news, things
that are really useful for the kind of
readers that were trying to reach.
You mentioned you like editing bet-
ter than writing. Do you think there
are certain qualities that make for a
good editor that are different from
what makes a good writer?
For editing, you definitely need to
know the basics of writing, and you
have to have some experience in that
sense. Writing is hard, and I definitely
see myself more of an editor. I appre-
ciate good writers, of course. I think
they are two very different jobs. I love
editing. I really like looking at the
shape of the publication: why some
topics are more important than oth-
ers, why you decide to publish [one]
thing before the other thing, how to
decide on what to write about, that
kind of thing.