Need A Bridge? We’ll highlight two ways that the writer’s text can have a larger impact on the reader (or codeswitching into MFAtalk, to Show, to promote Feeling and Experience). John Gardner lists as a glaring writing failure “the needless filtering of the image through some observing consciousness. The amateur writes: ‘Turning, she noticed two snakes fighting in among the rocks.’ Compare: ‘She turned. In among the rocks two snakes were fighting . . .’ Generally speaking—tho

Culture Name or Reference or Activity What Can We Say? It’s The Culture "Music is the emotional life of most people." — Leonard Cohen Let us search the recent winning titles of the Booker, the Pulitzer, and the New York Times Bestsellers (ranked by time on the list) on for those that start with some mirror of the culture (think MUSIC and WRITING). This is a less-represented category, but as you’ll see has some strong candidates. A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, Daniel

A larger-than-life character and a moment of cowardice When you buy a book, do you use the Amazon book description (full of soft ambiguous words), or the jacket copy (a torrid one hundred words), or a friend’s recommendation, or the New Yorker 3,000 word review? Consider the first lines instead. Pay attention and perhaps your own first lines will become the immediate link to your best reader. Grab the Character If you are writing a book about A person, the best decision may b