http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/index.cfm?forumid=1 FuseTalk Enterprise Edition http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=248 2009-08-02T19:51:31 -05.00 Jim Kendrall 1
Well, here goes a topic:

Twitter Short Stories. Does anyone have a "story" that fits within the constraints of Twitter? i.e. 140 characters or less? For example, E.H's: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." is well within the 140 character limit.

Eileen? Mary? Anyone? ]]> http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=243 2008-10-22T10:39:53 -05.00 Mary Stojak 1
Each November is what we call National Novel Writing Month. I participated last year and it was lots of fun. The idea is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I made it to something like 51,000 last year even with a trip to Vegas thrown in around Thanksgiving. I've decided that whatever happens in my writing career, I'm always going to participate - that deadline makes all the difference. Most of the people I know who participate spend the rest of the year revising what they wrote in November. There are also events associated with Nanowrimo, as they call it. Write ins where people meet to write for a few hours (seems like Panera Bread is always a favorite) and parties and blogs of course.

If you're interested in joining us this year it's free (accepts donations) and you can sign-up at www.nanowrimo.org. M ]]> http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=236 2008-08-01T10:24:42 -05.00 Jim Kendrall 5
Virgil.


The Topic of the Month for August is Writers' Workshops.

Summer is a popular time to hold a variety of writers' workshops; some exclusive, others open; some held on vacated summer campuses, others at more exotic locations. Did you get away from it all and go to a writers' workshop this summer? If so, we'd like to hear about your experiences and impressions. ]]> http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=235 2008-07-14T17:03:50 -05.00 Mary Stojak 5
Epiphanies - Those moments we wait for when everything falls into place, NOT to be confused with that religious thing about the manifestation of the divine nature of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi - you know, the three wise men.

I do wonder if I have been incredibly dense sometimes. Do you ever have those moments when a way to improve your writing becomes suddenly apparent? Not too long ago, I believe I talked about making my writing simpler and more complex at the same time. The simpler part involved using obvious literary techniques (the emphasis on obvious) less - and in response to someone else's comments - I believe that was Jerri talking about red hair - the hair also needed to serve double duty. In the not so distant past, I might have given a character red hair merely to distinguish her from another character. Now, I would want the red tint to also signify something in her character such as her persistance or stubborn nature.

7/17 - Reading this over today, I realized that as usual, I'd talked about the upside instead of the downside. That's not always such a good thing. For the first time in my short writing career, I've been asked to do a reading based on something published and asked how many friends I plan to take to a launch party for the anthology. Gee, I almost deleted that email because I didn't recognize the sender! You would think that I'd be up, up, up. But in reality, I've been down.

I don't worry about the down days anymore. After being through it so many times, I understand that it's part of my process. I can't move on to the next level until I SEE what I've been doing wrong. Why did I think that sentence was clever? What happened to my plot? These are the days that come before my "aha" moments. When I was in school I don't think I ever talked about the bad days. That's just not my way. But I have them too.

Do you have epiphanies? What's your process like? ]]> http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=222 2008-06-11T11:26:13 -05.00 Jim Kendrall 10 http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=216 2008-05-03T12:07:08 -05.00 Mark Farrington 13
May's "forum topic of the month" is the forum. Over the next month or so, I'd like to come to a decision: should we close the forum? Should we keep it going as is? Should we keep it going but make changes? I'm hoping you will share your thoughts.

First, a little history. The forum grew out of a meeting I held for all current and former Hopkins fiction students three or four years ago. About 70 people attended that meeting, and to the question "what can Hopkins do, outside of the classroom, to improve your experience," by far the most popular response was to create some kind of an online community where students and alums could share ideas and experiences and questions. Two students, Eugene Chay and Jerri Bell, agreed to help (fortunately, they both had much more technological knowledge and experience than I did), and the three of us got together with Charles Chen, who handles web technology for the AAP program, and we came up with the forum.

From the beginning, there have been six to twelve enthusiastic posters, who use the forum quite a bit and seem to get a lot out of it. I commend all of you. But there's a very large segment of the population (we have more than 100 current fiction students and more than 250 fiction alumni) who don't seem to be using the forum at all. According to the site, 122 people have registered, but if they don't post, it seems impossible to tell if most of them are getting something from the forum by reading others' postings, or if they registered one time and then forgot about, or lost interest in, the forum.

Eugene and Jerri have done the bulk of the work maintaining the forum. (They make sure that new users get access; they check every posting to make sure it's "appropriate" for a Hopkins forum; they diligently respond to all technical questions that come up about how to do this or that on the forum.) Eugene is graduating this spring (congratulations, Eugene!) And Jerri I believe is planning to take Thesis in the fall. So one practical question is, if we do continue the forum, would anyone want to step in for Eugene or Jerri should either decide they aren't able to continue? (They may both continue if they want, but I don't want either to feel they must continue.)

Beyond the practical functioning, though, I wonder if the forum is serving the purpose it was created to serve? Is it helping to foster a sense of community among fiction students and alumni? Will it ever become a place where a large number of students might turn, in order to feel more a part of the community of Hopkins fiction writers? Or is whatever limited purpose it serves now enough? It doesn't "cost" us anything to keep the forums open, beyond the work that Eugene and Jerri have to do, and the work I do in updating student lists and posting messages like this one. However, this can amount to quite a bit of work at times for all of us, and it's work that must be fit into an already jam-packed schedule.

A few students have suggested ways to increase use of the forum, and I should address a couple of them. More faculty participation has been cited as something that could help. I agree, to a point, and I have invited all faculty members to visit and join the forum. However, personally I don't think this should become a faculty-driven site; its original intent was to provide a place for students and alumni to communicate with each other, and I like that intent. That doesn't mean faculty shouldn't post if they want to, but if they don't, that shouldn't "kill" the forum.

Another suggestion has been to ask instructors to encourage students in their classes to use the forum to continue discussions that might have begun in those classrooms. Unfortunately, this is something we've been forbidden to do. Hopkins has a program called WebCT, which they want to be the sole avenue used by instructors who wish to have class-based discussions on the web. When we first began looking into the possibility of the forum, this is one of the first "warnings" we received: we can do nothing on our forum that could (and should) instead be done on WebCT

So, whither the forum? Let's hear from you - especially if you're someone who has been reading posts but not posting yourself. I think it would be easier for all of us involved in the forum to feel a real value in continuing the forum, if it's being used by 122 users rather than 12.

Mark ]]> http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=208 2008-04-02T07:36:35 -05.00 Mark Farrington 8 http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=206 2008-03-24T13:26:42 -05.00 Eugene Chay 2 US Immigration officials denied him entry for 'moral turpitude.' The article from the Post discusses Horsley's autobiography:

A party was set to kick off a week of television and radio appearances to promote the U.S. launch of Horsley's autobiography, "Dandy in the Underworld."

It's a squirmingly brutal book that starts with his mother's attempts to abort him, and splatters readers with so much sex and feces and heroin and crack that Chapter 12, in which Horsley has himself crucified in the Philippines as part of an art project, seems to almost make sense.

"I'm an artist -- depravity is part of the job description," says Horsley, who warns readers with a wink at the opening of his book: "I've suffered for my art. Now it's your turn."

In a small airport office, the agents asked about drugs and prostitutes. It's all in my book, Horsley said, offering them a promotional flier that quotes English musician Bryan Ferry calling it "a masterpiece of filth."

"If I had to live my life again," he told them, "I would take the same drugs, only sooner and more often."

Horsely sought entry to the U.S. without a visa, as British nationals are permitted to do. He was denied entry, supposedly, because he was previously a drug addict, and being a drug addict -- even a recovering addict -- is apparently enough to be denied entry into the U.S. under the no-visa rule:

Horsley is now permanently banned from using the Visa Waiver Program. If he wants to come to the United States, he must apply for a visa and "the State Department will decide," Cirillo said.

Naturally, Horsley's case was seen differently in the artistic community. There, it was viewed as the equivalent of being prosecuted for driving 26 mph in a 25 mph zone -- technically correct, but nutty.

I don't know about any of you, but this whole episode just makes me want to read this man's autobiography. I had never heard of him before this, but he sounds just screwed up enough to be really, really interesting. ]]> http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=204 2008-03-18T18:31:02 -05.00 Arlene Sanders 4 Tracking Our Story Submissions

Eugene! I didn't mean for this to have a gold star. How did I do that? Can you remove it?

In this post, I don't mean to be telling everybody what to do -- I'm just going to explain how I do this.
If I (mother of three) sound like I'm trying to tell you what to do, that's only because......nevermind!

You can do all of this on the computer, but I don't.

The goal here is to get your system going on automatic. With this system in place, you will not have to
struggle, or think, or remember anything.


The shopping list:

NOVEL & SHORT STORY WRITER'S MARKET, latest edition. This is for sending out
fiction or poetry. For non-fiction, I don't know. Now there's also a book titled
WRITER'S MARKET -- you don't want that one for short fiction. You want
NOVEL & SHORT STORY WRITER'S MARKET.

Six 3-ring binders in various colors. Buy at least 6 to start with.

A ream of 3-hole paper, unlined, the least expensive you can get

Dividers (alphabet), two packages

A little box or basket for progress notes

100 9" x 12" envelopes (white or manila pull-and-seal). Get pull-and-seal, or you'll
have to struggle with finding the Scotch tape every time, and you probably won't do it,
so you won't send the story. Get pull-and-seal!

100 letter-size (4 1/8" x 9 1/2") white envelopes, pull-and-seal. These absolutely have to be
pull-and-seal, because these are for your SASEs that literary magazine people will
return to you, so you don't want to make them struggle with finding the Scotch tape.

19 postcards from the Post Office, already stamped. You need 19, because when
your story is accepted for publication, you need immediately to withdraw it
from the other 19 magazines that have it. (You always have each story at
20 places -- remember?) Get plain postcards -- not pretty ones, because you don't
want to draw much attention to these.

100 stamps. Get plain American flag. Do NOT get Wonder Woman or Minnie Mouse.
You want everything to look conservative and professional. Well in advance of the date
of the next postage stamp price increase, start putting on your SASEs the extra stamps
needed to cover the cost of the increase. By the time the magazine sends the SASE
back to you, the price of stamps may have increased, and you don't want to make the
magazine pay for the difference in postage. Your consideration and foresight may be
noticed and appreciated.

Many reams of 20 lb (or 24 lb if you prefer, but that's more expensive) plain white paper
with brightness approximately 92 - 96 to print your stories on.

100 Avery white mailing labels 2" x 4"

100 Avery white address labels 1" x 2 5/8"

Clear view, long lasting, packaging tape 2" wide (the Post Office sells this). Sometimes you
may need this tape to reinforce your 9" x 12" mailing envelopes.



I know. This stuff is expensive. But try to STOCK UP. If you run out of one thing, the whole system can
break down (temporarily). Just try to stay ahead of the game.

Print your return address on the address labels. Put them on the 100 9" x 12" envelopes. Keep this stack
right at hand.

Get a case of beer. Curl up in a big, soft armchair and browse through NOVEL & SHORT STORY WRITER'S
MARKET. This is a lot of information to cover, and I think it's best to creep up on it, a little at a time.
Cross off the magazines that aren't for you. Put a check or something by the ones that look possible.
Take your time. Enjoy this process of psyching out your market!

There are little symbols in the front of NOVEL & SHORT STORY WRITER'S MARKET identifying magazines
like this:


"Publisher accepts agented submissions only" (So don't send to these
unless you have an agent to submit for you. Be sure to cross them off
so you won't read these entries over and over again.)

"Market is closed to submissions" (Don't send to these either.)

"Actively seeking new writers" (Bingo!)

"Seeks both new and established writers" (Bingo again!)

"Prefers working w/established writers" (Go ahead. Send.)

"Only handles specific type of work" (Maybe.)

"Award-winning market" (I don't even know what this means. Send.)

"Canadian market" (Why ever not? Send.)

"Market located outside of U.S. and Canada" [Send! My work has been
published in Ireland (THE DUBLIN QUARTERLY), India (THE TAJ MAHAL REVIEW)
and Spain (TERRA INCOGNITA). Why? Because I sent to "markets located
outside of U.S. and Canada"!]

"Market pays" (SEND!!!!!!!!!)


If you want to buy a sample copy, flag that now so you can buy it later.

Go to Eugene Chay's post about literary magazines and find these on the Internet. Visit the website of each one.
Make a list of possibles.

Make a folder. Label it "Literary Magazines." This is where you put the names of magazines you discover on
the Internet or hear about in class or from friends. You can get specifics and put a separate sheet for each one
of these magazines in your 3-ring binders later.

Use one of the 3-ring binders for stories. Label it "Stories." In that binder, put a package of alphabet dividers
and use one sheet of paper for each story. This is where you keep track of submissions by story
(in the rest of the 3-ring binders, you're keeping track by magazine). Put the title of a story at the
top of a page. Then all you do is enter the date, the name of the magazine you sent it to, and the date you
received a progress note.

Use the rest of the 3-ring binders like this. For each magazine in NOVEL & SHORT STORY WRITER'S MARKET,
make a separate page. Put the name of a literary magazine at the top of a page. Use the alphabet dividers
to file these pages in the 3-ring binders (after about 3 years of working this system, I have 19 3-ring binders).
On a page you have for one magazine, note the date, the story title, the date of the response, and the nature
of the response. THIS IS THE HEART OF THE TRACKING SYSTEM.

Note: I tried to place a sample page here, but the software won't let me do that. Everything runs together!
Eugene, can you tell me how to do this?

Each page shows a running commentary of what happened. I make these entries by hand. When I receive
a progress note, I just put a little "N" by the story title. That means "no" (the story was not accepted). When
I write YES!!! in red, that means the story was accepted. In the right column, I write ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION
in red and highlight that in yellow.

You'll do these things your own way, but the idea is to be sure and make the entries. Just as you would make
entries in your checkbook. This way, you won't have to remember anything. It's all right there in your notebooks.

When You enter an "N" (or record in some way that a story was not accepted), IMMEDIATELY send that story to
another magazine.

When you receive a progress note in your SASE, how long do you wait before sending that magazine another story?

I don't know. This is your call. Some magazines say not to send them more than 2 or 3 stories a year. You don't
want to blitz anybody with submissions, but you don't want them to forget you either. Just use your best judgment.

Do you send out stories before they've been edited or workshopped? Not if you can help it, but I had no choice.
I wasn't in school and couldn't afford all the editing help I needed, so I submitted the stories anyway. Some
were accepted, and some have never been published.

Simultaneous submissions. I know I shouldn't say this, but you simply CANNOT submit stories to one magazine
at a time, especially if you have to wait several months for a response. The reason is obvious -- you're not going
to live that long.

If a magazine is known to respond quickly, then okay. When you do make simultaneous submissions, it's only
fair to let editors know that. But if a magazine forbids simultaneous submissions, and you tell them your story
is a simultaneous submission, they won't read your work. What I'm saying here is that you need to be sensible.
Nevermind. Just use your best judgment.

Pretty soon, you will need two 3-ring binders, and then three. Make a place for them within reach of your computer.
Your system has to be right at hand. When a progress note comes in, put it right in its own little basket. Deal
with progress notes once a week (record them in your system and throw them away), but the MINUTE a progress
note comes in, IMMEDIATELY send that story to another place. This positive action will help deflect that horrid
little pang of pain that progress notes may create, no matter what you call them.

Try to support the literary magazines as much as you can. I know submitting stories is expensive, but if you can
find a way to buy even a few sample copies and take out some subscriptions, you will strengthen the world of
"little magazines" so they can publish your work.

How long do you operate this sytem? Maybe FOREVER!!!

When do you give up? NEVER!!!

Relax! Write stories! Have fun! You're on your way to getting published!


Arlene ]]> http://advanced.jhu.edu/ft/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=76&threadid=199 2008-03-05T15:21:37 -05.00 Eugene Chay 9 From today's Baltimore Sun:

For the second time in less than a week, a memoir that was passed off as fact has turned out to be fiction, causing observers to wonder if the industry should be doing more to regulate itself.

Margaret Seltzer and Misha Defonseca's names have been added to the pantheon of recent fabulists headed by James Frey, who admitted exaggerating and inventing parts of A Million Little Pieces, his 2003 best-selling account of his recovery from drug addiction.

. . . .

On Monday, Riverhead Publishing announced that it is recalling the 19,000 copies of Love and Consequences that have been released and is offering a refund to consumers who purchased the memoir. The book purportedly was the story of a half-Native American, half-white girl named Margaret B. Jones who sold drugs for a gang in Los Angeles.

Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, also is canceling planned book tours for the author, whose real name is Margaret Seltzer, and who comes from a privileged background.

"Riverhead is saddened by this turn of events," says a statement released by the company.

"Riverhead relies on authors to tell us the truth. ... When it became known that the author was misrepresenting her personal story, we took it seriously, moved very quickly and attempted to corroborate new information we were presented with."

Riverhead can take comfort in the knowledge that it isn't the only publishing entity to be hoodwinked recently. This past Thursday, it was revealed that Misha: A Memoir of the Holocaust Years also had been falsified.

The author, Misha Defonseca, a Belgian woman, is not Jewish, as she claimed. Nor was she orphaned at age 4 and forced to wander alone through the forests, where she was protected by a pack of wolves.

Defonseca's book apparently has not yet been published in the U.S., but it has been disseminated worldwide, translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France.

. . . .

Here's another look at the Jones matter from today's Washington Post.

I remember I was in a class at Hopkins a few years ago when James Frey was revealed to have fabricated much of his best-selling "memoirs." The professor leading the class made mention of the Frey situation and brushed it off as being much ado about nothing. The professor commented only briefly on the situation, and from what I recall, said something about whether the memoir was fictionalized or not does not change the quality of the writing, which should stand on its own. That people feel duped was unfortunate, but Frey shouldn't be villified one day for his writing when he was being celebrated just the day before.

What do other people think about this? Is it wrong to hold memoirists to a standard of factual accuracy? When we celebrate the memoirist, do we celebrate the life events that they chronicle or the quality of their writing? Does praise for the latter lose legitimacy if we discovery the former was wholly fabricated? ]]>