Top Five: Carly Berg
Five Common Eye Problems in Writing
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Too much telling us people are looking at eachother or other things. It is usually assumed anyway.
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This also includes see, gaze, watch, glance, stare, watch, peer, and peek.
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A specific occurence of this is when it’s the point of view character. From that character’s perspective, he only notes whatever it is he sees, not the fact that he is seeing it. (this filtering no-no applies to hearing, feeling, thinking, knowing, etc. as well).
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Describing eyes as a way to describe a character. Along with descriptions of hair, it is overdone and not usually very interesting. Most of us have two eyes and they are a color. Tell us something that gives more insight into the person instead. Does he stutter? Does she wear a necklace made of beans? *note- extra points off for strange eye colors or eyes that change color when the character becomes angry.
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Having eyes do strange things. Roaming around the room, being glued to someone’s cleavage, smoldering. If you must tell us that people are looking at things, please use “gaze” at least.
See? Now your writing will look much better. (eye roll)
— Carly Berg
Top Five: Connor Holmes
Top Five Coolest English Words I’ve Never Written Into a Story
- antidisestablishmentarianism
- firmament
- quern
- canonical
- stippling
— Connor Holmes
Top Five: Jefferson Navicky
Top Five Reasons I Love to Write During Snowstorms
- Writing is way better than shoveling (much easier on the back).
- Snow quiets everything, especially my ego.
- Snow poems are very fun to write.
- Makes me think of Wallace Steven’s “The Snow Man” and Emily Dickinson’s “As Freezing Persons Recollect the Snow.”
- Poems are like snow storms; they’re tons of work to shovel out, but if one waits to work, everything turns to ice.
— Jefferson Navicky
Top Five: Townsend Walker
Top Five Authors
- Jeanette Winterson
- Georges Simenon
- Italo Calvino
- James Lasden
- Jean Anouillh
Top Five: Sarena Ulibarri
Top Five Pens on My Desk
- BiC round stic Grip med., purple/violet, caps featuring toothmarks of varying severity
- Wooden pen, built by my husband as part of fine motor skills occupational therapy following brain surgery to remove meningioma
- Black BiC with Carrabba’s Italian Grill logo, left over from when I was a server in 2007
- White with green clip and tip, featuring information for my dad’s company, Stump Removal and Daughter
- Silver with black rubber finger grip, with logo of an apartment complex I didn’t move into, jammed clicker
Compression: Carol Deminski
“Compressed fiction: saying more with less. Word choice is critical; poetic prose intention optional but desired. Readers who come ready to fill in what the author implies but does not state get more from the experience. ” — Carol Deminski
Compression: Allie Marini Batts
“Amy Sage Webb, one of my AULA professors, gives this advice, when it comes to writing in the compressed form: ‘Use the fewest amount of words necessary.’ This advice is deceptively simple, and contains the core idea that’s key to successfully writing poetry or prose in the compressed form: Not only must you select the fewest amount of words, but the words must also be the right words.” — Allie Marini Batts
Compression: Justin Bond
“To me, compression implies a certain degree of minimalism—immediacy, lean language, and a sense of urgency, all of which can result when using condensed language and imagery. ” — Justin Bond
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Upcoming:
03/23 • Kenneth Pobo
03/30 • Roberta Allen
04/06 • Avril Shakira Villar
04/13 • TBD
04/20 • TBD
04/27 • TBD
05/04 • TBD
05/11 • TBD
05/18 • TBD
05/25 • TBD
06/01 • TBD
06/08 • TBD
06/15 • TBD
06/22 • TBD
06/29 • TBD
07/06 • TBD
07/13 • TBD
07/20 • TBD
07/27 • TBD
08/03 • TBD
08/10 • TBD
08/17 • TBD
08/24 • TBD
08/31 • TBD
09/07 • TBD
09/14 • TBD
09/21 • TBD