Do characters need to be likable? This is an age-old question that frequently comes up in fiction writing. Does your narrator or main character need to be likeable? If he or she is not likeable, will readers turn away from your story, or at best find it less appealing than they otherwise might? The short […]
Guest Blogger Nancy Lord | Do Characters Need to be Likable? Read More »
I’ve loved reading ever since I was a child, and I loved doing book reports for school because I got to write and talk about books I loved. When I was in an MFA program I loved the required book responses (or annotations, as we called them) because I got to take those books apart
Guest Blogger Nancy Lord | Why I Review Books—and Why You Should Consider It Read More »
A few years ago Marybeth Holleman and I put together a panel for an AWP (Associated Writers and Writing Programs) conference that we called “Wild Writing Residencies.” With three other writers from around the country, we discussed our experiences with a variety of artist-in-residence programs that take place in national parks and other “wild” places.
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This is the final post from our December guest blogger Meagan Macvie. 49 Writers was pleased to sponsor Meagan’s southcentral Alaska book tour this month. I was nearly forty when I got serious about writing creatively, and once committed, I did so with a fierce urgency. I left full-time employment, joined writing groups, attended conferences,
Guest Blogger Meagan Macvie | Publishing (and Learning) with Ooligan Press Read More »
The first time I visited New York City, people asked me (after I revealed I was from Alaska) if I’d ever lived in an igloo. The truth disappointed them. I’d never even seen a real house made of ice. An igloo would’ve been much more exciting than our unremarkable middle-class house on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.
Guest Blogger Meagan Macvie | A Certain Necessary Faith Read More »
There are so many reasons I chose to quit my full-time job, start writing fiction, earn my MFA, and complete a novel. In part, I was frustrated by inequalities I observed in the world and angry about how helpless I felt to change them. I wanted to talk about racism and sexism, ask questions, challenge
Guest Blogger Meagan Macvie | Wading Into Deeper Water Read More »
I was a teen in 1990s Soldotna, Alaska—the setting for my debut novel—so people often ask me if The Ocean in My Ears is a thinly disguised memoir. The short answer is no. Sure, I was probably every bit as frustrating, angsty, and confused as Meri, my teen protagonist. She attends a high school that
Guest Blogger Meagan Macvie | The Fabricated Truth Read More »
“Guess what, Auntie C?” my niece tells me on the phone. “My class visited Emily Dickinson’s house in Amherst! We saw her room—her bed and her desk and everything. It was amazing.” Tamar is 13, an avid reader, and one of my favorite people. I ask her if she’ll go again with me when we
Guest Blogger Christine Byl | Investigating Emily Read More »
On a recent road trip to visit family in the Southeast, a rural church billboard caught my eye: “Grateful people are happy people.” I don’t generally look to church yard proclamations for advice, but this quote stayed with me. It’s far from a novel idea—myriad scientific studies support the correlative relationship between articulated gratitude
Guest Blogger Christine Byl | Thanks & Giving for the Arts Read More »
In graduate school, I began annotating the books I read. Unlike lots of things from graduate school that I should still be doing, this habit stuck. I do it to this day. I love making that short entry in my tiny notebook when I finish reading something—an intentional assessment of resonance, failings, delights—and I find
Guest Blogger Christine Byl | What Shall I Read Next? Read More »
