CRAFT
A Closer Look: WARNINGS FROM THE FUTURE
Warnings From the Future is a debut collection of ten short stories by Ethan Chatagnier, published by Acre Books. Chatagnier is clearly interested in playing with form in his work, and a number of these stories allow the form and…
Read MoreInterview: Katya Apekina
CRAFT: Your debut novel, The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, is written in short sections, with the POV shifting frequently between two main characters, but also giving us glimpses into more ancillary characters through occasional narration, but also…
Read MoreArtifacts: On Revising Older Stories
By Laura Rock Gaughan Faced with the happy prospect of preparing Motherish, my short story collection and first book, for publication, I panicked. Not only did the task demand a decisiveness I lack, but I wanted to be moving on:…
Read MoreA Closer Look: “The Lovers,” by Nick White
Nick White’s story, “The Lovers,” is the opening story in his collection, Sweet & Low, published in June, 2018. Originally published in The Literary Review, this story masterfully uses a point-of-view that moves back and forth between the two main…
Read MoreCRAFT Talks and Elements
Since we launched in October 2017, CRAFT has published quite a number of CRAFT Talks and CRAFT Elements on different topics. We’ve gathered them together here. Take some time this holiday weekend to read up on craft, as you prepare…
Read MoreMystery vs. Confusion
By Sarah Stone In writing fiction, we’re always looking for ways to manage the release and restraint of information, introducing our characters and situations while avoiding the dreaded exposition junk pile at the beginning (many of us do have a…
Read MoreInterview: D. Wystan Owen
CRAFT: Linked collections are so often the best of both worlds: the beauty of a short story combined with the scope of a novel. At what point as you were writing the stories for Other People’s Love Affairs did you…
Read MoreThe Hook: More Than The Opening Line
By Tommy Dean Think about your favorite verbal storytellers, those people in your family who have passed down the history of the joys and tragedies, the small coincidences, and the shared DNA that results in a similar nose, an ornery…
Read MoreObject Lessons: An Exploration
By Laura van den Berg This summer, I spent five weeks at an artists’ residency in Italy, where I had the good fortune of crossing paths with a Swedish composer-performer and visual artist named Charlotte Hug. Known for her musical-visual…
Read MoreA Closer Look: ORCHID & THE WASP, Caoilinn Hughes
In Orchid & the Wasp, Caoilinn Hughes has created a singular character in Gael Foess. From the opening pages, set in Ireland in 2002 when Gael is only 11, to the conclusion, when 20-year-old Gael is back in Dublin in…
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