John Barth was a pioneer of literary postmodernism.Credit…Bettmann/Getty Nobody likes the comic who explains his own material, but the writer John Barth, who died on Tuesday, had a way of making explanations — of gags, of stories, of the whole creative enterprise — sing louder and funnier and truer than punchlines. The maxim “Show, don’t […]
There has been one single experience that taught me more about storytelling than anything else in my life: telling bedtime stories to my children. Live audiences can be merciless; ask any comedian. Workshopping fiction can be rough, too. But I’d submit that while your own children won’t heckle you or carve up your prose with […]
A MAN IS being murdered outside a child’s window. A prisoner of Auschwitz, he was caught fighting with another captive. As punishment, he’s being drowned in a river. We can’t see the incident, but the child can. He moves over to the window and looks out beyond our field of vision. Almost immediately, he withdraws […]
Tone words are essential elements of your writing skillset, pivotal in shaping the reader’s perception and emotional response to your text. These words carry the capacity to subtly influence a narrative’s atmosphere, character dynamics, and overall message, making their selection crucial in writing. This guide is designed to provide an in-depth exploration of tone words, […]
Love in the Archives: A Patchwork of True Stories About Suicide Loss by Eileen Vorbach Collins EILEEN VORBACH COLLINS’S new memoir-in-essays, Love in the Archives: A Patchwork of Stories About Suicide Loss , is about the liminal space of parental grief and the big questions that inevitably follow: What happened to that which animated my […]
Stepping into The Ripped Bodice is like a fairytale come to life, but it’s also a missed opportunity for a writer’s paradise. Illustration by Clara Waldheim Welcome to Writes & Bites — a series where Creative Writing MFA student Arianna Gundlach periodically reviews a place in New York City you could write at and tackles […]
There are no unread comments at this time. Good evening, writers, or good morning, good afternoon, or good night, depending on where on Earth you are. Tonight I want to talk about Octavia Butler. I’ve only read a little of her stuff (I’m reading Kindred and Parable of the Sower right now, in fact — […]
It may be fun to wax lyrical about the nostalgic days of click-clacking away at a typewriter or scrawling your novel into a leather-bound journal, but those romantic ideals are impractical for the modern-day writer. Nowadays, a writer’s laptop is their best friend. Like any best friend, a good laptop should be there for you […]
Writing a screenplay is an exciting endeavor that requires creativity, structure, and careful planning. With the advancement of AI technology, tools like ChatGPT OpenAI have become valuable companions in the screenwriting journey. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore how to effectively utilize ChatGPT for crafting engaging and compelling screenplays. How to Use ChatGPT for Writing […]
ON THE BALCONY, in a wide-angle shot, smoking a cigarette. She has the phone to her head. She’s wearing a rugby shirt. In the background, the chirping of crickets, Los Angeles at sunset. The camera zooms in; you can hear the sound of her cigarette burning. She smiles. This is one of the only moments […]
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