-
- Follow us!
Ploughshares is the award-winning non-profit literary magazine based at Emerson College in Boston. Most of our print issues are guest-edited, and our mission is to present varying viewpoints. Our blog is an extension of our print publication, and so we feature writing from guest-bloggers. We present their opinions to our readers in order to foster a lively discussion, but do not necessarily endorse all viewpoints published on our blog.
Comments: We moderate all comments on this blog, both to prevent spammers and keep the conversation civil. Comments will be published whether they agree or disagree with the post, as long as they are expressed respectfully and without personally attacking the author or other commenters.
-
-
Tag Archives: fiction
Ambiguity: The Boundary Between Psychosis and Reality in Science Fiction
Television culture means that we often lack the depth to deal with ambiguity. The complexity of novels eludes our attention; we often prefer the truncated and clear narratives of sitcoms, where a plot line is fully resolved in forty-three minutes. … Continue reading
Episodia 1.6: The Five Pillars of Place
As a writer, reader, and a creative writing teacher, I am—for now and forever—a staunch proponent of the place-based narrative. When we think of stories, we tend to focus on those bound to particular characters or events. And yet, some … Continue reading
The Best Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “The Lost Caves of St. Louis” by Anne Valente
I’m not sure about anyone else, but I can remember feeling stuck as a kid. I was an impatient child (and now I’m an impatient adult). A summer then felt like an entire year. A two-hour trip to the store … Continue reading
Do Characters Dream of Left-Justified Sheep? (Part Two)
How can you avoid bad dream-writing? Part One of this post appeared on Monday. All right, let’s talk about the good things dreams can do for your writing process. Let’s have some nice dreams. Real-ize Your Dream Have you ever used … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged Anthony Doerr, Dan Chaon, dream, Edwidge Danticat, fiction, George Saunders, inspiration, Margaret Atwood, writing process
4 Comments
Do Characters Dream of Left-Justified Sheep? (Part One)
I had the strangest dream about you last night, my husband said. You were surrounded by wood. There were wood walls, floors. All this old furniture everywhere. Of course, a wife is keenly interested in her husband’s dreams, especially if … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged dream, fiction, inspiration, Richard Bausch, writing process
7 Comments
The Best Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “Our Country” by Jill Schepmann
You know you’re reading something lovely when you come across a line in a story that makes you stop reading, get out a pen, and draw a dark line across the page. (And you know it’s exceptional if you even … Continue reading
Drones & Dystopia: Can Life Overlap with Literature?
Life is sometimes so surreal that you feel as though you’re in a story; as though the anecdote you’ve just related over drinks has an air of falsity about it, simply because it seems too strange to be true. You … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged 1984, Brave New World, C.S. Lewis, dystopian fiction, fiction, George Orwell, literature, Orwellian, science fiction, speculative fiction, We
1 Comment
Writing Is Like Baseball
Every March my eyes turn south toward spring training. The sunburned announcers report from director’s chairs on games that don’t count. The players work on their autographs and perfect their sunflower seed spits. Teenagers called up from the lowercase “a” … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged baseball, Caitlin O'Neil, craft, drama, fiction, narrators, plot, structure
1 Comment
Relationship Rescue! Courting Your Long-Lost Writing
First, a confession: I’m lousy at prioritizing fiction writing. I let everything else in my life take precedence. I even let other writing take precedence—articles, book reviews, syllabi, comments on student work, status updates, replies to all. And yet, good … Continue reading
Posted in Ploughshares Bloggers
Tagged absence, advice, anxiety, creative writing, fiction, prompt, return, writing, writing process
14 Comments
The Best Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “Mort Naturelle” by Ricardo Nuila
For most of us, our bodies can be mysteries, but in Ricardo Nuila’s story “Mort Naturelle,” we find them painfully explained. Here’s what happens to a spleen when a parachute doesn’t deploy; here’s how a jaw disappears when it’s been … Continue reading
