In a biography of the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev by V.S. Pritchett, I came across these two sentences about the writing of Turgenev’s novel Rudin. “The first draft of Rudin was written in seven weeks. The manuscript was later rewritten, after severe criticism by his friends.” Hah! That made me smile, because the first sentence […]
In Praise of Beta Readers by Rich Chiappone Read More »
Why did the joke not cross the road? Because only the people on this side got it. When I first started writing, back in the 1980s, I was mostly re-examining some disturbing times from my own life by recreating them as fictions. I’d give my fictitious characters my troubles and see if they handled them
On Humor and Parochialism by Richard Chiappone Read More »
Recently a writer friend mentioned how much she depends on freewriting to get her writing process out of the gate each day. This is a sentiment I’ve heard often over the more than three decades I’ve been involved with writing classes and writing conferences etc. At times it seems that every good writer I meet
On Freewriting by Rich Chiappone Read More »
So, yesterday I was writing this sentence, and the fancy grammar-check tool in my laptop caught me failing to practice what we preach in “flash” writing workshops: ie. writing precisely and economically. Our motto is “A Few Good Words”. The sentence: He reverts back to his usual snarly tone. It’s not the worst sentence I’ve
Why Flash? by Rich Chiappone Read More »
Watch a recording of this event: READING AND CONVERSATION SERIES: RICH CHIAPPONE Recorded: Thursday, January 19 2023 | 6-7 PM Via Zoom Bio: Rich Chiappone is the winner of the 2021 Alaska State Foundation for the Arts and Culture Award and grant, a 2021 Alaska Press Club award, and an Edible Magazine award for
Reading & Conversation Series: Rich Chiappone Read More »
READING AND CONVERSATION SERIES: RICH CHIAPPONE Thursday, January 19 2023 | 6-7 PM Via Zoom Bio: Rich Chiappone is the winner of the 2021 Alaska State Foundation for the Arts and Culture Award and grant, a 2021 Alaska Press Club award, and an Edible Magazine award for food writing. He is the author of three
Reading and Conversation Series: Rich Chiappone Read More »
Our Active Voice: Writers Respond series asks Alaska writers to explore how current events and issues are shaping their work and their perspective on the state of our democratic values of justice, freedom, equality, and liberty. The most important role in Active Voice is yours: we want to hear from you. Do you like a post,
Active Voice | Richard Chiappone: Whoever Fights Monsters Read More »
My wife, a school counselor, came home from work this week with an anecdote about an event called The Battle of the Books, an oddly militaristic moniker for a reading activity, but an undertaking that has the students fired up about literature. She said one of the boys on her school’s team, a fourteen-year-old freshman,
Guest Blogger Rich Chiappone | Listen to this Sentence! Read More »
If I were asked to choose (hypothetically) one book to take with me into solitary exile on an island, I’d ask if I could bring my fishing tackle instead. But if that wasn’t allowed, I would choose the heaviest anthology of short stories I could find. Maybe The Story and its Writer edited by Ann
Guest Blogger Rich Chiappone | On Becoming a Short Story Junkie Read More »
That title is borrowed from an essay by venerable writer and publisher Nick Lyons that appeared in the New York Times Book Review some years ago. Lyons himself borrowed the title from a 1935 animated short film starring Betty Boop. In the cartoon, Betty wails those words to a villain trying to seduce her. But
Guest Blogger Rich Chiappone | No! No! A Thousand Times, No! Read More »
