August 2011
9 posts
“2011 Young Writers Workshop Online
Lab Blog Literary Magazine”
– The Lit Mag is pleased to feature the strongest work from participants in the 2011 Online Studio Challenge Intensive: Aria Pahari, Jack Nachmanovitch, Kathryn Diamant, and Julia Douglas. These students wrote in response to the Lab Blog prompts each day for 10 days, and received daily feedback from a...
A Meaning by Ethan Gould
she walks under layers.
compressed grace does
not resonate,
decayed voice scattered
across seconds;
she does not stumble.
in another place she is naked;
the venutian embers revealed,
the fractures rejected.
in another place she is naked;
manifest, diffibulated;
Queen Elizabeth's Paws by Shelley Osborne
Almost certain that he drowned them With his living sociability, He opened his cracked, gaping mouth Sputtering: “Mum tried to drown me once.” .(and then, there was one.) . As orderly as frozen fish Did the bodies lay under the Fresh, white snow; Like a toddler’s first teeth Or a corpse’s neck in the summer. . He sat on the embankment Pondering their crystallization Of...
Ambition by Dale Wolf
“My wife left me. It had nothing to do with what happened: this was just something else that happened. She won’t let my daughter see me. It seems like my life started going wrong the minute I let Caleb Evans in through the garden gate.” Joshua Steele was laid up in a hospital bed, and bitterness was infinitely too mild a word for his emotions at the moment.
“At least you’re not dead,” said his...
Porcelain Peace by Aria Pahari
The trees drip with melting jade.
A fawn colored dove vanishes into the bush
I wonder how my presence has stirred her.
The growls of a chainsaw followed by a neighbor’s drunken chuckles
Create cracks in the sky’s porcelain peace
And I worry about the tiny ears of ants.
A tiny brown bug crawls across the white pages of my notebook.
I think of how he has probably never felt more...
Untitled by Julia Douglas
Here there is an old burrow,
plowed under the rotted red shed;
a yellowjacket hovering
beside the dry brick wall, and
swollen wood cool
from yesterday’s downpour.
The yard is covered in early yellow leaves
from the Liriodendron, which hasn’t flowered
in so long it forgot it was supposed
to flower at all. Between the tree and the fresh
young azaleas, a robin slowly hops before
flying away: there...
Secability by Kathyrn Diamant
I’ve torn at my skin with
soft furs, and open it’s split,
my insides smiling and running
towards the air, veins curling
around soft tresses, globules
of fat sliding over leathery hides.
At the touch of velvet razor blades
my fingers have creaked open,
the nerves extending towards
vacivity, hoping, for once, to
stop sensing.
My lips call for nothing but
soft winter and playful air
to crack,...
Dear by Kathryn Diamant
whoever may read,
you should know that
I am interested.
To whom
it may cause anxiety (isn’t
that what concern means?)
please forgive me for my speaking.
To whoever may read,
I was never really interested.
Dear everyone,
you are lucky, I am interested
but have no eyes.
Dear above
writer, how can you
have no eyes?
To the last person to write,
How can you be so ignorant,
I am offended...
Father Watching Barn by Jack Nachmanovitch
Behind the still glowing mountains
the sun has gone down
The elegiac wind pushes the barn around in hot swells
inside, fresh sliced
hay has not yet been rolled
Red paint is starting to peel from the walls in such a way
the shape that remains
after you pull a strip away
is always portentous
The wind again,
cradling the barn
and wailing...
July 2011
24 posts
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS, LAB TEN: SAVE THE WORDS!”
– “it is a nice idea
that all names have secret meanings
and all meanings have secret names.
If this iS true, every act of vocitation
Enriches the world, until we
Spill, overflowing with meanings
That we did not give ourselves”
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—J.D.
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“I recognize you’re all human. But you’re also gods...
Lab Ten: Save the Words!
As a writer, I am in the business of “saving words.” They are the writer’s life blood. And just like different species, they can become extinct. Join each other in saving the words.
Step 1: Go to the following site: http://savethewords.org/
Step 2 (10 min): Browse the site as you like but, eventually, click on the “Adopt a Word” tab.
Step 3 (25-30 min): You will be given a choice to...
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS, LAB NINE: Subtlety Through Description”
– “The way she sighs, Barns sigh too. It’s not a sound that you can locate from a place within it’s structure, it comes from the collective weight of decomposition manifesting.”
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—A.S.
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“the hayloft lies tousled and unkempt
like a teenage boy’s hair
after racing home on his...
Lab Nine: No F-Bombs Here: Subtlety Through...
I always encourage students in my fiction workshops not to make their stories like Michael Bay movies. It’s not what you think, though—I’m fascinated by the CGI and the explosions; what bothers me is how his movies often hit the viewer over the head, be it with dialogue, a blatant moral, or music that never lets us think but instead directly tells us, “This is a dangerous person” or “This is a...
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS, LAB EIGHT: FICTION ALCHEMY & LAB EIGHT ½: HOW TO...”
– “his hands so practiced in the art
of reduction, how he peered into the nature
of a thing, finding what he needed to
take away to make it perfect”
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—J.N.
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“In the gallery of rejects
Standing on a bear skin rug
In the gallery of rejects
Joanna still looked smug
Must’ve been a long cold...
Today we offer you two prompts
Claire: Why?
Andrew: Why not?
Claire: Do them both?
Andrew: Yes!
Claire: Yes!!
Lab Eight and 1/2: How to Write a Song with Two...
This is going to be a very simple lesson, because songs should be simple things. Not to say that writing a song is simple! Sometimes it’s very hard to write in a way that sounds simple.
Step 1 (10 min): Listen to the two following very simple, beautiful songs. Read along with the lyrics as you do. 1. “Everything has Changed” by Lucinda Williams: ...
Lab Eight: Fiction Alchemy
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We’re often told, “write what you know,” but writing what you know, especially when it’s based on your own experience, can be tricky. It’s hard to know what to change, what to leave out altogether. Do all the scenes you want to write actually move the story forward? Which real-life details lend your story an air of authenticity, and which are superfluous? Do you need all 10 characters or could...
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS, LAB SEVEN: The Epistolary Tradition”
– “I know it’s silly but I keep on expecting you to just show up. I went back to that pond we found last summer and every noise I heard I thought was you. November can’t come soon enough.”
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—J.D.
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“they are the first few centimeters
of the cigarette which are not
at all like the last, so...
Lab Seven: The Epistolary Tradition in Writing and...
This prompt has two options for you, depending on where your writing process is at the moment: either 1) trying to generate ideas for developing drafts; or 2) working through existing drafts into a larger, polished work to send out to a publisher. Both options draw on the time-honored epistolary tradition (the writing of letters); the first, in terms of inventing the creative work itself, like a...
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS, LAB SIX: CHARACTERIZATION THROUGH CONFLICT”
– “I think about Maryland; the things I did, the people I saw, the red things I felt. I think about the window where I watched people walk, laugh, fall.”
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—S.O.
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“A: You think the whole world is one big bad idea
M: Jesus! Name one other time I’ve been ‘negative-‘
A: You wouldn’t...
Lab Six: Characterization Through Conflict
In English class you have probably learned that authors develop characterization both through direct ways (i.e, physical description, access to a character’s thoughts) and indirect ways (i.e., gesture and dialogue). In this lab we’ll be focusing on the latter by creating two characters and having them interact with each other through indirect techniques.
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This exercise works best for...
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS, LAB FIVE: THE COVER SONG”
– “Rock back and forth in your bed
Hold on to that pretty head
Don’t forget what the doctor said:
“It’s just a phase, you aren’t really dead.”
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—S.O.
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“After all, he had not been himself,
This was no reflection on his character,
On his desires (conscious or not),...
Lab Five: The Cover Song
As Young Writers goes underground and online for this summer, I thought I’d take the chance to write up a prompt that’s been on my mind for a while. I can’t wait to see what you all do with this!
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On St. Patrick’s Day, 1903, Mark Twain, learning of plagiarism accusations against her, wrote to Helen Keller:
“I must steal half a moment from my work to say how glad I am to have your...
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS, LAB FOUR: The Backpacker’s Questioned Mark”
– “The train rumbles to a halt
Trees stand still
Clouds hang motionless
The large pack marks me
As an outsider, a foreigner.
Everyone stares at me
No one smiles or blinks”
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—S.O.
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“When I open the door there are smells everywhere. Some of them are expected— just city smells: gasoline,...
Lab Four: The Backpacker’s Questioned Mark
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Ni hao! Namaste! My name is Carly, and I’m writing to you from an Internet cafe in Pokhara, Nepal. I made my way here from China, and next I’ll venture down to India, then over to Sri Lanka. During this trip, which is two months, I’m traveling with just a pack and meeting people who are also traveling with packs. While in Pokhara, which is very popular with backpackers, I’ve begun to explore...
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS,
LAB THREE: Into the Wildness”
– “Here there is an old burrow,
plowed under the rotted red shed;
a yellowjacket hovering
beside the dry brick wall, and
swollen wood cool
from yesterday’s downpour.”
.
—J.D.
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“As a child there was an accident on the farm—
another hand in the thresher and we call it bad luck.
Put your thumb...
Lab Three: Into the Wildness: writing about nature
No matter where we live, nature surrounds and supports us. Parks, forests, ponds, or farms are probably not far from your home. Even the built environment of a city is composed of elements we discovered on this Earth. Nature is even inside of you – look out! In today’s exercise we’ll seek nature both inside and outside of ourselves, and will relish some of its elegance and...
“Excerpts from Submissions, Lab Two: You Autocomplete Me”
– “My uncle has calluses on his knees from praying so much. Or maybe from some old injury. But they are permanently red and bulbous like no other knees I’ve ever seen. I’ve only asked him about it once, when I was too small to know it was rude, and he just said it was because of...
Lab Two: You Autocomplete Me
O Young Writers! I come bearing an Internet challenge. Should you choose to accept your mission, these will be your steps:
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1. Choose a current favorite text. The only requirement is that it has words. Poems, fictions, plays, movies, lyrics, transcripts of radio broadcasts or manic street preachers’ speeches, etc. are all fair game. I used Billy Collins’ poem, “Marginalia”: ...
“EXCERPTS FROM SUBMISSIONS, LAB ONE: EXCAVATION CENTRAL STATION”
– “Political how?” I ask. But he must not want me to understand, not really, because he invites me to sit and asks if I still prefer water over wine. I am beginning to feel that we are not friends anymore. He is too well-dressed to be a vintner’s son. There are too many secrets in the folds of his...
Lab One: Excavation Central Station
We happened upon this prompt when Henry’s mother pulled out a 2nd grade manuscript of Henry’s, entitled “Father Quest.” Inspiration ensued as Merkel read this juvenile epic out loud.
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Step 1: Find a piece that you wrote five (or more) years ago. It can be a school assignment, a fantasy epic, a valentine to your kindergarten crush, or anything else created by an earlier version of you.
Step...
“The Young Writers Workshop is on hiatus this summer, but that’s no reason for...”
– From July 12 to July 21, we invite all YWW alumni (poets, scriptwriters, songwriters, fiction writers and creative non-fiction writers—and especially those who had hoped to return to the program this summer) to fuel their writing practice with daily creative writing challenges online.
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This...
3 tags
Lab Zero: Contraband!
This is a collection of photographs of contraband seized at JFK Airport in New York City. Some of these objects reflect American consumer demand, some reflect cultural conventions that conflict with Western rules, some are just CRAZY.
bird corpse (identified as home decor on customs papers)
counterfeit Louis Vitton handbags, disguised
insect larvae & pupae
gold dust
cow...
