October 2015

Cynthia Joyce

Surfing the past

By Cynthia Joyce

Can memory and stories provide missing puzzle pieces? One writer is curating blog posts of Hurricane Katrina to find out.

Features

The light of the word

By Julie Krug

Poet Elizabeth Alexander blends meter and family narrative in a poetic memoir.

Crime of passion

By Alicia Anstead

K’wan Foye talks about falling madly in love with story.

Mystery professor

By Megan Kaplon

A master of criminal justice, Frankie Y. Bailey crafts stories about a sleuth and a cop based on real-life research.

To the pen

By Ali Shakir

Can writing for salvation turn dark?

Departments

WRITING ESSENTIALS

Yeah, right!

By Michael Kurland

Avoid plotting too-good-to-be-true coincidences.

POET TO POET

Grabbed by it

By Robert Hirschfield

Jacqueline Osherow offers thoughts on staying elastic in poetry.

OFF THE CUFF

One voice

By Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic

Writing partners volley stories and skills.

FREELANCE SUCCESS

Fan-tastic

By Sara Jackson

Keep your favorite story going.

WRITER AT WORK

Look back

By Bharti Kirchner

Immerse yourself in historical fiction.

CONFERENCE INSIDER

Flame to the moth

By Meredith Quinn

Do you know what attracts literary agents?

LASTING EFFECT

1989: Jack Womack

By Nicki Porter

Create real dialogue...for aliens.

LITERARY SPOTLIGHT

Making "Suspense"

By Melissa Hart

A lit mag offers genre thrills.

CLASS ACTION

Learning the craft within the craft

By Meredith Quinn

Need courses tailor-made for genre?

Also in Every Issue

From the Editor

Do you identify with a certain genre? Or do you shun labels for your work?

Take Note

Earth versus earth, the Everywhereist, Donald Margulies, Cynthia Joyce and more.

Markets

Magazines

Classified advertising

How I Write

Beverly Jenkins: “I revise as I go. It’s a slower process, but the manuscript is tight by the time I send it to my editor.”