I haven’t yet!! but really need to read more Monroe—the “What Is Remembered” story was so gorgeous and I found myself very attached to her style by the end of it
I love that you mentioned Joy Williams. She was the first short story writer whose work I really fell in love with, followed just weeks or months later by Grace Paley. An undergrad professor gave me a copy of Williams's Taking Care. Then, in my first year of grad school, a different professor gave me Jayne Anne Phillips's story collection BLACK TCKETS. The professor was a giant of a man who played football in college and as a roadie for Journey before he started writing his very masculine novels and teaching in an MFA program. Looking back, I loved the incongruity of this, how he selected exactly the right book for me to read, how he knew which voice would speak to me--based on the little he had read of my work.
When I started Fiction Attic Press more than twenty years ago, these were the voices in my head: Williams, Paley, Jayne Anne Phillips, Lars Gustafson (Stories of Happy People). I loved the specificity and--how to say it, exquisiteness? --of these stories. The flash of light and life.
All of these writers were shared with me by professors--and to me that was the true value of the MFA. Not workshops, certainly. The best education was simply being led to these books that I didn't know about and wouldn't have known how to find. (commenting here as Fiction Attic... this is the editor of Fiction Attic, @MichelleRichmond )
Michelle!! Thank you for this, I really love hearing about how people discover particular writers and become attached to them. It sounds really special to have a mentor pluck out the perfect book for the moment. The incongruity you shared is also so lovely—someone who writes and behaves so differently, but is able to understand what YOU need for your own work!
I’m trying to think what my own experiences have been…on the nonfiction side, my grad school advisor recommended me Malcolm McCullough’s Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand, an amazing book about computing as a medium in the 1990s and how people creating things with computers (he focuses on architects specifically) had very craftsmanlike approaches. The book really shaped my understanding of software and technology and gave me a language to write with! In both nonfiction and fiction, I end up assembling a kind of pantheon of writers—people who help demarcate the space, aesthetic, concerns I want to work in.
I love the title of McCullough's book, and even though I'm not a software person, your description makes me want to pick it up. I love the idea of a self-assembled "pantheon of writers." It is part of why the turning away from liberal arts in high schools and colleges is sad: young people can't build that pantheon if they aren't exposed widely to literature they don't expect and wouldn't choose for themselves. There are other ways to find these books, of course, but there is a point in life when one needs to be led to the well--because drinking from it expands everything.
I really liked this issue (I even signed up!). Not only for the splendid examples you gave and how you wrote it, but also because you gave weight to a reflection not only on the content but on the format. I particularly appreciated the initial part where you mentioned possible reasons why a certain format is chosen. For me, experimenting with different formats and/or choosing one that feels right and carries over is very important. Change is always possible, but I think it also encourages consistency and feeling inspired about what you sign up for. Thank you so much for sharing.
thank you Riccardo! (and thank you for subscribing!!)
I have a very selfish and personal reason for wanting to understand the forms people choose—I want to expand my understanding of possible genres/forms and how they lead to different opportunities to explore an idea, create a particular emotional outcome, touch the reader differently…
and then within a form, there are so many specific strategies (e.g. novel as interview transcripts, short story as fake New Yorker journalism) to explore too
so happy to hear you enjoyed this, and I hope it's useful for your writing practice too!
Can't wait to read these!! "Farewell, Africa" especially, and your honesty about not writing fiction makes me wonder if i'm the same jajajaj—I don't think I've thought about form/structure in the way Gonzales does, which was inspiring to read
thank you for reading this post! I really find “Farewell, Africa” remarkable…I also learned a lot from the ending, which uses certain narrative journalism tactics to create a very satisfying and lingering mood
also, the realization that I don’t REALLY want to write fiction is probably the most valuable thing I learned about my writing practice in 2021! but it took me basically 2 more years to figure out what I DID want to do
It is a respectable publication but given the progressive record of Celine Nguyen I don’t understand why she writes for them. Aren’t there more progressive publications?
In my opinion, because they have so many writers and contributors, I think there's a little bit of everything. I thought it was a respected and reputable publication.
Have you read Alice Munro's short story collection Runaway? Beautiful...
I haven’t yet!! but really need to read more Monroe—the “What Is Remembered” story was so gorgeous and I found myself very attached to her style by the end of it
I love that you mentioned Joy Williams. She was the first short story writer whose work I really fell in love with, followed just weeks or months later by Grace Paley. An undergrad professor gave me a copy of Williams's Taking Care. Then, in my first year of grad school, a different professor gave me Jayne Anne Phillips's story collection BLACK TCKETS. The professor was a giant of a man who played football in college and as a roadie for Journey before he started writing his very masculine novels and teaching in an MFA program. Looking back, I loved the incongruity of this, how he selected exactly the right book for me to read, how he knew which voice would speak to me--based on the little he had read of my work.
When I started Fiction Attic Press more than twenty years ago, these were the voices in my head: Williams, Paley, Jayne Anne Phillips, Lars Gustafson (Stories of Happy People). I loved the specificity and--how to say it, exquisiteness? --of these stories. The flash of light and life.
All of these writers were shared with me by professors--and to me that was the true value of the MFA. Not workshops, certainly. The best education was simply being led to these books that I didn't know about and wouldn't have known how to find. (commenting here as Fiction Attic... this is the editor of Fiction Attic, @MichelleRichmond )
Michelle!! Thank you for this, I really love hearing about how people discover particular writers and become attached to them. It sounds really special to have a mentor pluck out the perfect book for the moment. The incongruity you shared is also so lovely—someone who writes and behaves so differently, but is able to understand what YOU need for your own work!
I’m trying to think what my own experiences have been…on the nonfiction side, my grad school advisor recommended me Malcolm McCullough’s Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand, an amazing book about computing as a medium in the 1990s and how people creating things with computers (he focuses on architects specifically) had very craftsmanlike approaches. The book really shaped my understanding of software and technology and gave me a language to write with! In both nonfiction and fiction, I end up assembling a kind of pantheon of writers—people who help demarcate the space, aesthetic, concerns I want to work in.
I love the title of McCullough's book, and even though I'm not a software person, your description makes me want to pick it up. I love the idea of a self-assembled "pantheon of writers." It is part of why the turning away from liberal arts in high schools and colleges is sad: young people can't build that pantheon if they aren't exposed widely to literature they don't expect and wouldn't choose for themselves. There are other ways to find these books, of course, but there is a point in life when one needs to be led to the well--because drinking from it expands everything.
I really liked this issue (I even signed up!). Not only for the splendid examples you gave and how you wrote it, but also because you gave weight to a reflection not only on the content but on the format. I particularly appreciated the initial part where you mentioned possible reasons why a certain format is chosen. For me, experimenting with different formats and/or choosing one that feels right and carries over is very important. Change is always possible, but I think it also encourages consistency and feeling inspired about what you sign up for. Thank you so much for sharing.
thank you Riccardo! (and thank you for subscribing!!)
I have a very selfish and personal reason for wanting to understand the forms people choose—I want to expand my understanding of possible genres/forms and how they lead to different opportunities to explore an idea, create a particular emotional outcome, touch the reader differently…
and then within a form, there are so many specific strategies (e.g. novel as interview transcripts, short story as fake New Yorker journalism) to explore too
so happy to hear you enjoyed this, and I hope it's useful for your writing practice too!
Can't wait to read these!! "Farewell, Africa" especially, and your honesty about not writing fiction makes me wonder if i'm the same jajajaj—I don't think I've thought about form/structure in the way Gonzales does, which was inspiring to read
thank you for reading this post! I really find “Farewell, Africa” remarkable…I also learned a lot from the ending, which uses certain narrative journalism tactics to create a very satisfying and lingering mood
also, the realization that I don’t REALLY want to write fiction is probably the most valuable thing I learned about my writing practice in 2021! but it took me basically 2 more years to figure out what I DID want to do
Very good topic
Do you realize that the Atlantic is the journal of the liberal orthodoxy, pro-war and with MAGA talking points?
How can a leftist like you write for that garbage?
Are you sure?
They are the definition of neoliberalism and of corporate/centrist democrats.
It is a respectable publication but given the progressive record of Celine Nguyen I don’t understand why she writes for them. Aren’t there more progressive publications?
In my opinion, because they have so many writers and contributors, I think there's a little bit of everything. I thought it was a respected and reputable publication.