I’ll be reading from my 2007 short story collection, You Can’t Get There from Here and Other Stories (which received a Florida Book Award Silver Medal), on Saturday October 5th, at 5:30. See the full schedule of events.
The September 8, 2013 event at Books and Books in Coral Gables, FL (moderated by Assistant Professor Julie Wade) included readings by FIU MFA recipients Joe Clifford, Barbara Lisette, Melanie Neale, Sarah E. Pearsall, and Parker Phillips.
Professor Les Standiford (Director of the FIU MFA Creative Writing Program) then offered a thoughtful remembrance of the late Elaine Winer, who received her MFA from FIU in 2001. Standiford’s remarks also included a message submitted by poet Nina Romano, also an FIU alumna.
I concluded the event with my own remembrance of Elaine Winer, my friend and longtime editing client. I also read her prose poem, “A Lifetime of Pets,” and several selections from her novel The Seagull’s Wife (2013, Midtown Publishing).
Please enjoy the HD Livestream at FIU Fall Alumni Reading.
You’ve written a short story, reread it once or twice, trimmed some words here and there, run a spellcheck, and you’re feeling confident. So you share this new masterpiece with your writing workshop, and a week later, the participants tear it apart. Or maybe your story is rejected by one literary magazine after another. There are no magic answers, but allow me to offer a few suggestions, by no means a complete list, and in no particular order. Much of it might sound familiar. That’s OK. Sometimes we need reminding.
1: When I approach a short story (or a novel), I want the author to grab me by the lapels, pull me in close, get in my face, and tell me (better yet, show me) a story. As early as the first word, suggest urgency, trouble, momentum, movement, conflict, fragility—some threat to the status quo. Suggest that something is out of kilter.
Here’s the first line of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: “Tom!”
One word, and already that boy’s in trouble.
2: By your thirtieth birthday, you’ve lived some 10,950 days, plus a handful of “leap days.” How many do you remember? Explore the days in your central character’s life that changed everything, or at least, something. If your character won’t remember this day, why will we remember your story?
3: Begin your short story in media res, or “in the middle of things.” Start as close to the end as possible. … Continued on Bridle Path Press
(Rosemary Beach, FL; Leonard Nash © 2011)
I am available to read and lecture at writing conferences and other literary events. I offer workshops in literary fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, and prose poetry. Reasonable fees and flexible scheduling. I am often available to travel on short notice. References available.
(Town Hall; Rosemary Beach, Florida)
Rosemary Beach Foundation Conference for Writers; Fall 2011
I’ll be there, along with featured authors: John Dufresne, Lynne Barrett, John Cottle, Miles DeMott , MichaelHettich, Michael Lister, Anne Petty, Nina Romano, and Laura Lee Smith.
Follow @LeonardNash on Twitter for my ramblings about writing, editing, left-of-center politics, upcoming author events, book reviews, job postings for writers and English teachers, real estate stuff (I’m also a Realtor in Hollywood, FL), and whatever else I feel like putting out there.
I’ll be teaching “Writing the Short Story” at the Florida Writer’s Institute (May 22-May 26, 2011) at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.
