University of Missouri Proposes New Model for Its UP After twenty years in the publishing business, I am at ease with and actively seek out new models: new production models (digital print replacing offset), new editorial models (taking risks with fiction and poetry rather than publishing solely for the backlist), new back-end models (it’s mostly … [Read more…]
If you know anything about Thomas Stearns Eliot, you know he was born in St. Louis. As an adult he moved to London and eventually became a British citizen. In the following audio I found on YouTube, he sounds more British than American: The accent sounds totally Midwestern, right? Sure it does. Compare the voice of … [Read more…]
My friend Jeff Kleinman at Foliolit has an informative post about how writers should act at writers’ conferences (at least in regard to interacting with agents; he reserves judgment on other shenanigans). Conferences happen year-round and can be important events in our writerly lives. Pay heed all those who enter: Jeff’s Guide to Conference Etiquette.
Tim O’Brien gives writers a lesson in dialogue during the last quarter of Going After Cacciato, when he writes: “It is humorous?” asked the captain. “You find desertion humorous?” “No,” Oscar said, “but I find it kind of funny.” (223) This brief exchange is excellent because of its realistic use of repetition. The variations make … [Read more…]
Shakespeareophiles have no doubt noticed couplets not rhyming in an occasional sonnet or soliloquy in a way that the context suggests they should. I know reading John Donne and Shakespeare myself I have encountered more than a fair share of lines that simply don’t rhyme — and it ruins an otherwise impressive structure — so … [Read more…]