By Emily McGowan In the summer of 1958, Hurricane Lolita made landfall in the USA. It was not an actual hurricane, but a best-selling novel—an erotic morality tale by Russian-American Vladimir Nabokov—and as critics took notice and controversy began to build, Lolita and its author were tossed into the perfect storm. “He writes highbrow pornography,” … Continue reading Hurricane Lolita: The Art of Sex In Fiction
By Allie Dixon “Your nonfiction is too fictiony.” Sorry, what? This was the recurring feedback from my first ever MFA graduate workshop as an ex-fiction writer turned nonfiction. As annoying as it was, it forced me to explore what writers and readers alike have heard over and over and over – you’re not showing us, … Continue reading A Writer’s Take on “Showing vs. Telling”
Character development is an elastic exercise. It is also a moral one.
It’s wonderful we can be creative, be loose with the truth and not worry about accusations.
by Molly Mellinger An Author Interview by Molly Mellinger I’m having trouble getting into the Zoom meeting with the poet Elya Braden, although I’m supposed to be the millennial here. I apologize and Elya says, brightly, “Oh! I’ll fix it,” and she does. She tells me that she also teaches a Zoom workshop, as well … Continue reading Chai and the Fog of Creativity: Elya Braden Discusses her New Chapbook “Open the Fist”
In Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose says that by deliberate and slow “close reading” works in literature written by the masters, we become better writers. We also discover that there are no rules.We learn something new rereading a classic, and if we dissect a story to see how it’s constructed, a kind of osmosis … Continue reading “No Rules” in Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
It is interesting how, as a student of poetry – and therefore operating with an acute awareness of one’s infantile blindness when the universe is flashing full of brilliant stars – one can develop, without even realizing it, an insensitivity to the discomfort of encountering the unknown. “Assault to Abjury” is a poem I have … Continue reading On “Assault to Abjury” by Raymond McDaniel
I work in a bookstore. Well, I should probably say: I worked in a bookstore until the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 which caused an indefinite furlough. I have since filed for unemployment alongside 6.6 million other Americans last week alone.But technically, yes, I work in a bookstore.We are all book people here. If you’re reading … Continue reading Are Books Essential? Working in a Bookstore Amidst a Pandemic
As a prose writer, I'm always looking for ways to gain valuable insight from other genres, and Mark Doty's The Art of Description offered helpful cross-training for creating more powerful, descriptive prose. The book is summed up thusly: “Description is an art to the degree that it gives us not just the world but the … Continue reading Poetic Prose: The Art and Craft of Description
"Love is the most important part of life, and loving family is a God-given gift never to be underappreciated." -Auntie Tunes It is the last Wednesday of February and you know what that means... It's Indie Author Wednesday! Today I'll be reviewing the self-published title, The Tribulations of August Baron. It is a novella, the … Continue reading Book Review: The Tribulations of August Baron
Causeway Lit 