I often see discussion about whether or not there really are tiered rejections at literary magazines. There are! Since I received a rejection letter this morning, I thought I’d share what I know as an editor. For ours, we use a simple content management system that allows us to collect and respond to submissions. It’s [...]

After experimenting with a new medium (digital video), I remain convinced that writing conveys character and complexity better than any other I’ve encountered thus far (and I’m including CAVE writing in that). But after watching a couple of television series back-to-back on pirate television stations, I think the best plot-writers are probably working in television [...]

This month editorial control of the Paris Review, a pre-eminent American literary magazine, changed hands from Philip Gourevitch to Lorin Stein, now a former senior editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux (and an occasional contributor to this magazine). While at FSG, Stein made his name finding and refining such authors as Elif Batuman, Lydia Davis, [...]

We’re supposed to do this with yarrow stalks, but “coins,” he says, “are more indicative of global currency flow.” I stand to leave. Scraping my chair back. He shakes his head and swirls his coffee: “more modern,” he says. I sit down again. Take a sip of mine. Given the swirling streams of capital – [...]

BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT – Myrtle Ave. Not every nexus needs glamour but where Myrtle and Wycoff Avenues meet there is – of a seedy sort. Where the M- and L-lines cross, where Ridgewood, Queens slopes down to meet Bushwick, Brooklyn, lies the densest concentration of beauty supply stores in New York City. Here, for the [...]

Port Lightning would have been an important pitstop along the Silk Road or an alternate sea route. During the immediate pre-history of Feral City, the Island would have been played a prominent role during the Iran-Iraq war and Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan. As the story progresses (1989-1999), the island would have been at least a [...]

Alzheimer’s and parents’ deaths lose their force as plot devices/ emotion tweakers after the 100th read or so; Plagiarizing premises’ from famous short stories dilutes their power; Using graduate school as a setting or graduate students as characters seems lazy and boring; Plot remains paramount – well-written plotless stories dominate slushpiles; The ability to convey [...]

Remove dust jackets from hardcover books before use; Drafts should be completed and started over from the remembered remnants; “Real writing” takes place over winter break; Anxiety is normal and should be encouraged (i.e. the productive kind); Workshop leaders will continue to confuse first-person narrators with their progenitors — even in graduate school; Writing about [...]

I’m including this because during the application process I couldn’t find a single example of a successful MFA statement, so here’s mine: PERSONAL STATEMENT My literary practice began as a reaction to an alien environment, and at its best retains the defiant posture of exile. I was born in London but dragged through a progression [...]