These are the Novels, Stories and Craft Topics I've discussed. Please scroll through:
3/16/24...The Road from Belhaven by Margot Livesey
Creating a guide character
2/23/24...Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith
The long approach: Opening a novel with a sweeping introductory vision
1/20/24...Witness by Jamel Brinkley
Creating a shadowed life: the slow trickle of an unsettled past
12/18/23...The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright
Using the structures a character creates as a window into the character
note: another recent novel that models this is Take What You Need by Idra Novey (see post from 7/07/23)
11/26/23..."Just Another Family" by Lori Ostlund in New England Review, Vol. 44.3
Using an object to reveal and distinguish a character
10/26/23..."Half Spent" by Alice McDermott in 2023 Pushcart Prize XLVII
Setting up a reversal
9/15/23...Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
Using a first person voice to drive the narrative
8/11/23...TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
Witholding the novel's intention
7/07/23...Take What You Need by Idra Novey
Using a small space to build tension between two characters
6/09/23...The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel
Defining character through dialogue
4/22/2023...The Pachinko Parlor by Elisa Shua Dusapin, trans. by Aneesa Abbas Higgins
Hiding the narrative design
3/26/2023... Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Planting a seed of disorder within each character to grow into a believable chaos
2/11/2023...Skinship by Yoon Choi
Using mystery to define the limits of a character's experience
1/6/2023...Today A Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket by Hilma Wolitzer
Using an image to show what the character is feeling
11/21/22...On Division by Goldie Goldbloom
The Ticking Clock: Using the calendar to escalate tension
10/31/22...The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Building a novel around a single theme
9/10/22...Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Defning character through dialogue
6/10/22....Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Achieving transparency in scene and dialogue to reveal emotional turmoil
5/20/22...The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
Balancing a novel's emotional terrain through character
4/4/22.....The Tenderest of Strings and Little Raw Souls by Steven Schwartz
Using plot to create false assumptions about what will happen.
2/28/22.....Ghosts of New York by Jim Lewis
Connecting different characters through the unifying element of shared disorder
1/23/22:....The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John
Developing a strong narrator presence through tone
1/1/22….. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
Sustaining a core mystery
11/19/21….. Improvement by Joan Silber
Changing the point of view to add emphasis
10/12/21….. Valiant Gentlemen by Sabina Murray
Witholding information to create a magnetic character
9/22/21….. All The Light We Cannot See by Anothony Doerr
Using objects to create time markers in a fluid timeline
7/24/21….. "Audition" by Dennis Norris II, in American Short Fiction
Staging a surprise ending
6/20/21….. The Mysteries by Marisa Silver
Using backstory to enhance the reader's empathy for a character
6/1/21….. The Book of Lost Light by Ron Nyren
Avoiding sensationalism in a novel about the abuse of boundaries
4/6/21…..Abigail by Magda Szabo
Giving the reader more information than the protagonist has
3/13/21…..Postcards by Annie Proulx
Maintaining two narrative timelines
3/6/21…..Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
Writing about a sibling relationship
2/21/21…..Sisters by Daisy Johnson
Writing about a sibling relationship
2/16/21…..News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Making a character come alive through visual details
11/30/20…..A Passage to India by EM Forster
Rising action leading to a climactic scene
11/22/20…..Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
Retelling the Oedipus Myth in a gender-fluid, time-fluid story.