Archive - No Failure, Only Practice

#45: A Close Reading of the Surprising Omniscient POV in LOOT by Tania James

Tania James, plus a reading list of excellent contemporary fiction

Apr 8 •

January 2024

#44: Goals, Not Resolutions: Setting Outcome and Process Goals for Writing

Plus some of my favorite books of 2023—and a few to look forward to in 2024.

Jan 1 •

September 2023

#43: Train Your Weaknesses, Write Your Strengths (What I Learned About Writing From Running, and Vice Versa)

Andy Jones-Wilkins, Paul Terranova, Meg LeFauve, Lorien McKenna, Nick Fuller Googins, my Uncle John

Sep 5, 2023 •

August 2023

#42: Managing Difficulty in Fiction

Ben Marcus, Lance Olsen, Paul Kingsnorth, Eimear McBride, David Mitchell, Marlon James, Brian Evenson, Catherynne M. Valente, George Perec, Peter…

Aug 2, 2023 •

June 2023

#41: Frodo Baggins Dreams of Hobbit Helmets

J.R.R. Tolkien, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, C.L. Clark.

Jun 5, 2023 •

May 2023

#40: Imagining a Future of Mutual Aid

Rebecca Solnit, The Last of Us, Cormac McCarthy, N.K. Jemisin, Jonathan Lethem, Diane Cook, Ander Monson, Kerry Howley, Victor LaValle, John Cotter.

May 1, 2023 •

March 2023

#39: Enlivening Dialogue with Telling Action

Raymond Carver, Cormac McCarthy, Michael Keaton, Gene Hackman, Iron Man, Thor, Julia Armfield.

Mar 1, 2023 •

February 2023

#38: The Protagonist Trap

Brian Evenson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Alyssa Songsiridej, Danya Kukafka, Annie Ernaux.

Feb 1, 2023 •

January 2023

#37: Chapter Beginnings (and Transitions)

Meg Howrey, Torrey Peters, S.A. Cosby, Victor LaValle, Julia May Jonas, Sam Lipsyte, Tom Robbins, Ann Hood.

Jan 5, 2023 •

December 2022

#36: No Failure, Only Practice

Gordon Lish, Hilary Mantel, Bonnie Nadzam, Matthew Salesses, Jane Smiley, Melissa Febos, Montesquieu

Dec 1, 2022 •

October 2022

Exercise #35: Entry, Transition, Exploration

Portal Fantasy, C.S. Lewis, Alix E. Harrow, Karen Russell, Alan Moore, Seth Dickinson, Stephen King, Peter Straub.

Oct 4, 2022 •

September 2022

Exercise #34: The Annotated Debut

Stephen King, Megan Giddings, Jonathan Franzen, Douglas Adams

Sep 2, 2022 •

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