The Ploughshares Round-Down: Why Lena Dunham’s New Book is Worth $3.5 Million
When I talk to a new potential client, one of the things we go over is potential advances. Most nonfiction writers get between $25,000 and $75,000; fiction writers, a fraction of that. Everyone who gets more than that did something remarkable to get there. During this conversation, many writers have
Experiments in Perspective
A crucial lesson I learned early on in my attempts at writing fiction is that every character is you–and not you. Characters have parts of you inside of them because you wrote them. But they are still not you. Chris Abani once said in a workshop that readers
Lit GIFs: The Giver (and why I haven’t seen the movie)
Let’s talk about The Giver. The Giver is a wonderful book by Lois Lowry. Many of us probably read it for school. Recently it was made into a movie, which I refuse to see because why in the world is Jonas cast as a teenager? He’s supposed to be twelve, people.
Literary Boroughs #55: Mexico City, Mexico
The Literary Boroughs series will explore little-known and well-known literary communities across the country and world and show that while literary culture can exist online without regard to geographic location, it also continues to thrive locally. Posts are by no means exhaustive. The series originally ran on our blog from May 2012 until April 2013.
The Ploughshares Round-Down: We’re Over-Reliant on the Bucket List
Having long hated the term “bucket list,” and having nevertheless thought about making one for myself (#MomentsOfWeakness), I was a complete sucker for Rebecca Mead’s recent New Yorker essay in which she questions its merits. In “Kicking the Bucket List,” Mead asks whether such a list actually helps us carpe diem-ize our otherwise thoughtless lives, arguing that
I Have To Tell You
I Have To Tell You Victoria Hetherington 0s&1s, 2014 69,000 words $6.00 Buy: ebook While reading Victoria Hetherington’s novel, I Have To Tell You, I occasionally found myself wanting to shake one or two of the characters for a host of self-destructive behaviors and dysfunctional relationships. And just as
Private Tutor to the Stars: On THE HOOPS WHISPERER by Idan Ravin
The Hoops Whisperer: On the Court and Inside the Heads of Basketball’s Best Players Idan Ravin Gotham Books, 2014 246 pages Buy: book | ebook As a national champion during his only year of college, as the third overall pick in the NBA draft, and as a recipient, this
Likeable, Relatable, and Real
When I was a junior in high school, we read The Great Gatsby in English class. I hadn’t read the book yet, but I knew the rest of my family hated it. (They’re Hemingway fans.) “Ugh, that Daisy,” my mom said. “Who cares?” Obviously a lot of readers care
The Ploughshares Round-Down: Never Tell Me the Demographics
I’ll read anything if it’s great. A romance novel, or a soldier’s tale; a book about Zsa Zsa Gabor, or one about Obama. I know what kinds of books dorky, urban-literary type of guys are supposed to be reading–those by Jonathan Safran Foer, and things titled Introduction to Banjo–but I hate
Welcome to the Literary Jungle
Several times a year I am the recipient of emails or phone calls from friends, colleagues, parents, or complete strangers in search of writing guidance. Often the messages begins, “Hello, my name is Barbra. My daughter wants to be a writer. She’s very talented. Jill Matthews said you might