This was the week I said goodbye to George Saunders and his book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. I’ve learned so much from him that I worry it will be impossible to sum up, but I have to try. So here goes. My top lessons from Saunders over the semester so far:Continue reading “A Revision Checklist”
Tag Archives: George Saunders
Let Characters Be Complex
This week I’m thinking about a point George Saunders made on the value of digressions in fiction. In his book on creative writing A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he wrote that stories must “self-complicate, and thus avoid being merely a one-dimensional position paper” (335). However, when writing the first draft of aContinue reading “Let Characters Be Complex”
Story Structure Reflects Your Worldview
So last week I tried this wacky writing exercise I came up with. Wacky, because it’s time consuming. (If you’re feeling wacky, too, you can check it out on the Fiction Workshop syllabus under Week 4). Basically, I took a short story that wasn’t working. Well, okay, fine. It sucked. It really, really sucked. ButContinue reading “Story Structure Reflects Your Worldview”
Advanced Fiction Workshop Syllabus
It took me longer than planned after heat waves and migraines, but hey! It’s done! Here at last is the course syllabus for this semester in the Accessible MFA. Currently, I’m hovering around Week 4, but remember in this MFA (not accredited but open to all), each “week” can take as long as you want.Continue reading “Advanced Fiction Workshop Syllabus”
4 Reasons Why Keeping Secrets from Readers Doesn’t Work
Every quarter I read at least half a dozen pieces of freshman writing that withhold key information from readers in the hope of building suspense. I suspect these student-writers once watched The Sixth Sense or Psycho and decided that all great stories need a great twist. The problem, though, is that they missed the pony.Continue reading “4 Reasons Why Keeping Secrets from Readers Doesn’t Work”
The Trailer Park MFA 