Recommended viewing: a mashup of Neil Gaiman‘s advice on writing and clips from movies about, what else?, writing. And for more about Gaiman and writing, be sure to check out our own review of his book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Neil Gaiman Gives Advice
Tayari Jones on Toni Morrison and Homer
Tayari Jones lists the most influential books of her life, ranging from Jesmyn Ward and Homer to Ann Petry and David Chariandy.
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Scaring Men
Here are a couple Halloween-related essays from the good people at The Literary Hub: This fascinating literary history of witches by Jess Bergman, and this piece by Tobias Carroll on non-fiction writers crossing the supernatural line between fantasy and reality.
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Stranger Danger
Siglio Press has just come out with a book version of Sophie Calle’s The Address Book, excerpts of which can be seen at The New Yorker.
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Arab Authors on Twitter
If you woke up this morning and thought, “You know, I could use more Arab authors on my Twitter feed,” then boy do I have the link for you.
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24-0
Over at The Paris Review, basketball columnist (and really great poet) Rowan Ricardo Phillips has written a compelling essay on Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry, hot streaks, and the tenability of genius. Jacob Lambert’s essay on reading about (and not watching) sports is a nice complement.
Write to the End
“This is worth repeating to yourself every day as you sit down at your keyboard: You must write to the end of the story. You must make progress toward that end today. A sentence, a paragraph, a chapter. You must push the story forward, forward, forward. Don’t stop until you get to the end.” Hugh Howey on the Amazon Author Insights blog about how to write a rough draft. Pair with a popular and wonderfully motivating piece by Nick Ripatrazone, “Don’t Worry. Don’t Wait. Write.”
How Many Loans Did This Take?
Meet Michael Nicholson, the 71-year-old Michigan man who’s earned 29 college degrees. I guess somebody hasn’t read the latest issue of n+1.