The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Category: Just Write

  • The Seattle Review

    The Seattle Review publishes long poems, novellas, and long essays through their submission manager year round.

    The Seattle Review is looking for exceptional, risk-taking, intellectual and imaginative poems between ten and thirty pages in length.

    The long poem can be:

    a single long poem in its entirety

    a self-contained excerpt from a book-length poem

    a unified sequence or series of poems

    They are also looking for novellas between forty and ninety pages long.

    Contributors will receive four copies of the issue in which their work appears, and a year’s subscription to the Seattle Review.

  • Writer Advice: Flash Fiction Contest

    I met B. Lynn Goodwin several years ago at a writing workshop.

    Lynn is the creator of Writer Advice, a resource for writers. Since 1997, it has grown from an e-mailed research newsletter for writers into an e-zine that invites reader participation and holds four contests a year.

    WriterAdvice seeks flash fiction, a story running 750 words or less. Sometimes fiction is based on real life, sometimes it stretches the imagination, but we always love or hate the characters. All fiction genres are welcome. Hopefully, your story will touch or move readers in some way.

    The last day submissions will be accepted:  Wednesday, June 2, 2021.

    Early submissions are encouraged.

    Lynn is the author of one of my favorite books, You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers (Tate Publishing), Talent, and her memoir, Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62. 

  • First line and Write Towards What You Want To Know

    Opening lines of books are so important, as you know. First lines should draw the reader in and inspire the reader to keep reading. Thanks to a book club friend who sent Colum McCann’s article to me, excerpted below.

    I also like his take on “write what you know.”

    Colum McCann:

    A first line should open up your rib cage. It should reach in and twist your heart backward. It should suggest that the world will never be the same again.

    The opening salvo should be active. It should plunge your reader into something urgent, interesting, informative. It should move your story, your poem, your play, forward. It should whisper in your reader’s ear that everything is about to change.

    But take it easy too. Don’t stuff the world into your first page. Achieve a balance. Let the story unfold. Think of it as a doorway. Once you get your readers over the threshold, you can show them around the rest of the house. At the same time, don’t panic if you don’t get it right first time around. Often the opening line won’t be found until you’re halfway through your first draft. You hit page 157 and you suddenly realise, Ah, that’s where I should have begun.

    So you go back and begin again.

    Don’t write what you know, write towards what you want to know.

    A writer is an explorer. She knows she wants to get somewhere, but she doesn’t know if the somewhere even exists yet. It is still to be created. Don’t sit around looking inward. That’s boring. In the end your navel contains only lint. You have to propel yourself outward, young writer.

    In the end your first-grade teacher was correct: we can, indeed, only write what we know. It is logically and philosophically impossible to do otherwise. But if we write towards what we don’t supposedly know, we will find out what we knew but weren’t yet entirely aware of. We will have made a shotgun leap in our consciousness. We will not be stuck in the permanent backspin of me, me, me.

    Excepted from “So you want to be a writer? Essential tips for aspiring novelists,” by Colum McCann, The Guardian, May 13, 2017

  • Tiny Love Stories

    Modern Love is a weekly New York Times column, a book, a podcast — and now, in its 16th year, a television show — about relationships, feelings, betrayals and revelations.

    What kind of love story can you share in two tweets, an Instagram caption or a Facebook post? Tell us a love story from your own life — happy or sad, capturing a moment or a lifetime — in no more than 100 words. Include a picture taken by you that complements your narrative, whether a selfie, screenshot or snapshot. We seek to publish the most funny and heart-wrenching entries we receive. We call them Tiny Love Stories. They are about as long as this paragraph. They must be true and unpublished.

    Love may be universal, but individual experiences can differ immensely, informed by factors such as race, socio-economic status, gender, disability status, nationality, sexuality, age, religion and culture. As in the main Modern Love column, we are committed to publishing a range of experiences and perspectives in Tiny Love Stories. We especially encourage Black and Indigenous people and other people of color to submit, as well as writers outside of the United States and those who identify as members of L.G.B.T.Q. communities.

    Share your story today.

    To read past Tiny Love Stories, go to nytimes.com/modernlove. There is also a book of some of our favorite Tiny Love Stories.

    Click here to read our reader submission terms.

  • How to Write a Personal Essay

    We aren’t born knowing how to write personal essays.

    So, how does one learn to write personal essays?

    The following is inspired from “A Few Tips for Writing Personal Essays,” by Robert Lee Brewer, March/April 2021 Writer’s Digest.

    Read personal essays!

    Then write. You will discover your style as you write.

    ~ Start with action. Save backstory for later in the essay. The beginning should have a compelling scene that hooks readers and makes them want to continue reading.

    The following is an example of “start with action.” The hook compelled me to read the entire essay.

    “When he walked into a San Francisco barbershop after the war, he was told by the owner, ‘We don’t serve Japs here.’

    The owner of the barbershop obviously didn’t know who the one-armed Japanese-American was – his name was Daniel Inouye. And, according to one website that honors heroes, he was one tough ‘badass.’” — The Jon S. Randal Peace Page, (Facebook) September 5, 2019

    ~ Build up to the reveal. Don’t reveal the ending at the beginning or even the middle. Rather, hint at a reveal or big conclusion early on and string out details to the big payoff at the end.

    ~ Share a takeaway. Many people who love personal essays aren’t in it just to read about people writing about themselves. Readers want a “takeway,” like a life lesson, a memorable event, or a good laugh. Figure out how to make your story meaningful to another person.

    ~ Let go of your fears. Don’t hold back. If you’re going to write a personal essay, write a personal essay. Dig deep into your story. You can only make a connection with readers if you are brave to tell all.

    Read personal essays to learn how to write personal essays:

    “What Have We Here: Essays about Keeping House and Finding Home ” By Susan Bono

    Magazines (print and online) featuring personal essays:

    Boston Globe Ideas

    Chicken Soup for the Soul        

    Modern Love (New York Times column)

    River Teeth

    Slate

    The Home Forum

    The Isolation Journals

    The Sun

    Just Write!

  • Real Names in Memoir?

    When writing memoir, the question often comes up, should you use real names?

    There are no cookie-cutter answers. No one-size-fits-all.

    In “Between Two Kingdoms” Suleika Jaouad handled the situation by stating in the front of the book, “To preserve the anonymity of certain individuals, I modified identifying details and changed the following names, listed in alphabetical order: Dennis, Estelle, Jake, Joanie, Karen, Sean, and Will.”

    Tara Westover, author of “Educated,” changed the first name of her parents and siblings.

    Phuc Tran, author of “Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In” decided to keep “the real names of all adults and changed the names of minors not related to him and adult names he forgot. He said his ‘tenuous’ relationship with his parents meant he didn’t care about their opinions and made his book easier to write, noting, ‘I wrote without worrying about trying to preserve the relationship, and wasn’t sure if they’d read it. I felt unencumbered and free to be incredibly truthful.’” —March/April 2021 Writer’s Digest magazine

    Write whatever you want to write. Later, if you publish your memoir, you can decide what to do about names. But before that, free yourself to write your truth. Write your story without worries about what anyone else might think.

    Tell what happened. Write Your Story.

    Just Write.

  • Scene Checklist

    Photo by Deborah Diem

    Every scene should be told through a character’s point of view. You can have more than one pov character in a book, (but no more than you need).

    One reason for this type of focusing is so that we feel the character struggle with a scene goal. The struggle takes place through action and dialogue with little internalization/exposition.

    A scene is a dramatic unit that includes scene goal, conflict (through action and dialogue) and resolution.

    What does your protagonist want in the story? This is the external plot.

    The external plot could be as simple as: Will Jane find the killer?? It is not something like: Will Jane find true happiness? This is internal conflict and may even be a subplot.

    What does your pov character want in this scene (scene goal)? Without a clear scene goal, you will not have a scene; you will have an event.

    What’s at stake? What will happen if the character doesn’t reach the desired scene goal?

    Where is the scene taking place?

    Scenes in most coffee shops and bars are weak. Take that scene in the bar and put it on a ski slope, on a sailboat, or in a factory that manufactures frozen enchiladas.

    What time is the scene taking place and what month? This will determine how the characters dress.

    Antagonist in this scene?

    What does character want in this scene?

    What does character do to get his/her way in this scene?

    Have you incorporated action in the scene?

    Have you incorporated dialogue?

    What is the emotional state of the protagonist?

    Resolution: How does scene end? Does character achieve scene goal?

    Adapted from outline by Bonnie Hearn Hill from a lecture by Cindy Wathen.

  • Quarterly West

    QW is looking for writing that is: Exciting. Challenging. Risky. Unpredictable. And Different.

    Send us your work. Seep in. Stomp in. Strike us. Set the familiar voice on fire.

    QW is open to submissions of new media, translations, and book reviews year round. We are also open for submissions to a special feature of short poetry: 100 Syllables.

    Quarterly West is open for regular submissions of poetry and prose from February 1 through April 1.

    Chapbook submissions will open in summer. Poetry and prose contest submissions in the fall.

    Submission Guidelines

  • Sycamore Review

    Sycamore Review is Purdue University’s internationally acclaimed literary journal, affiliated with Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts and the Department of English.

    Sycamore Review is looking for original poetry, fiction, non-fiction and art.

    POETRY manuscripts should be typed single-spaced, one poem to a page, up to five poems.

    FICTION & NONFICTION should be typed double-spaced, with numbered pages and the author’s name and title of the work easily visible on each page. There is not have a specific word count limit, suggest less than 6,000 words.

    NONFICTION should be literary memoir or creative personal essay, interested in originality, brevity, significance, strong dialogue, and vivid detail. There is no maximum page count, the longer the piece is, the more compelling each page must be.

    ART Sycamore Review is currently seeking artists for both the magazine’s cover and features artwork inside the issue. Interested artists should follow the instructions under the Art category on Submittable. You may attach 10-15 images or simply a link to an online portfolio. Cover letter is optional.  All media and mediums welcome.

    Submission Guidelines    

  • Notre Dame Review

    The Notre Dame Review is an independent, non-commercial magazine of contemporary American and international fiction, poetry, criticism and art. Our goal is to present a panoramic view of contemporary art and literature—no one style is advocated over another. We are especially interested in work that takes on big issues by making the invisible seen, that gives voice to the voiceless—work that gives message form through aesthetic experience.

    Submission Guidelines