Category Archives: fiction
“I think there are a lot of American critics who try to pretend that I don’t exist at all.”
I’m at Ledig House up near Hudson, New York, with my edits on my second novel, going over them, preparing to turn them in soon. I printed it up single-spaced with wide margins, so it looks more like a book, … Continue reading
Filed under books, fiction, novels, what I am working on
Yield, by Lee Houck
About 8 years ago, I received fan emails from a young man and his librarian mother. Both had read my first novel, both loved it, both made a point of writing to me. Both emails were among the most lovely … Continue reading
News of the World
Note: this has been updated, 5/17/2010. Lately I kept thinking of what I thought was a quote of Susan Sontag’s from a posthumous essay, and wrote a post about it. Here is the actual quote, supplied by Joshua Benton over … Continue reading
The Lacuna vs. Fever Chart at The Morning News Tournament of Books
The editors at the Morning News asked me to be one of the judges in this year’s Tournament of Books. Today’s match features Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna against Bill Cotter’s Fever Chart. From my decision: When I first held The … Continue reading
Filed under fiction, literary contests
A Slightly Longer Report
What I Have Been Doing Finished a draft of my second novel, turned it in. Began revising it. Took out third novel draft, re-read it. Read from it twice. I did this because I went to San Francisco twice, to … Continue reading
Filed under ask koreanish, author's own, fiction, fiction prompts, letters to you
February 19th, 2010
I just completed an interview for the forthcoming issue of the University of California at Irvine’s undergraduate creative writing journal, New Forum. Here’s an excerpt: NF: Many writers including myself grapple with the fact that creative writing in American culture … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, fiction, what is right with us, writers, writing
100 Things About A Novel, Pt. 1
Sometimes music is needed. Sometimes silence. This is probably because a novel is a piece of music, like all written things, the language demanding you make a sound as you read it. Sometimes I have written them on subways, missing … Continue reading
January 8th, 2010
1. In a thread on Darcy Cosper’s facebook page, I learn that the New York Times forbids writing in the present tense, as it is technically a fiction, even when used in the presentation of nonfiction. 2. My old friend … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, fiction, letters to you, novels
When to Get Your MFA. Or Not.
This came in via email last night from a reader, and I was actually writing a post to address this. Q: I am debating applying to MFA programs but am not sure how worthwhile they are. What made you decide … Continue reading
Filed under ask koreanish, fiction, MFA programs, writers, writing
From The First Sentimental Education
I am reading up on Flaubert on a whim, partly, though also because he wrote in the first person present tense, a device sometimes attacked as a recent literary pretension (and as such, an unwanted upstart, aesthetically). More on that … Continue reading
Filed under fiction
