Suspend Your Disbelief

Archive for 2010

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This is your brain on fiction

by Celeste Ng

Can neuroscience help you become a better writer? That’s what YA author Livia Blackburne, a graduate student in neuroscience at MIT, wonders on her blog Narrative and the Brain. …. the scientists used a brain scanner to see what regions lit up during the reading of a story. They watched the brains of volunteers as they read four short narrative passages. […] Motor neurons flashed when characters were grasping objects, and neurons involved in eye movement activated when characters were navigating their world. In summary then, different parts of the brain process different facets of our conscious experience, and those […]


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The Perils of "Contact Me"

by Celeste Ng

One of my new year’s resolutions is to reach out to other writers more often. But in a recent New York Times essay, Ben Yagoda looks at the downside of being in touch with one’s readers: Reader-to-author e-missives come in a few, quite specific, categories. The message above is an example of the most common (for me), queries tied to an author’s area of expertise. I have written books about Will Rogers, The New Yorker and grammar, and a few times a week I get a question on one of these topics. This is flattering… […] Less welcome are the […]


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Remembering DFW

by Celeste Ng

We still miss David Foster Wallace, and we’re not alone. In GQ, Deborah Treisman (head of the New Yorker‘s fiction department) discusses working with the late author: You’ve edited a lot of great writers—what was the process like with him? David was wonderful to edit because he was so involved with the minutiae of his work—he had a long explanation for every decision that he’d made, and yet, at the same time, he was willing to rethink anything that didn’t seem to be landing well for the reader. Editing him was sometimes a more painstaking process than editing most writers, […]


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The Stone Gods, by Jeanette Winterson

by Cyan James

Though not uniquely British, the notion that humans seem fated to eradicate themselves—like moths flinging themselves into the flame of Apocalypse—certainly has a long history in The Isles. British historian and journalist A.J.P. Taylor warns, “Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness.” H.G. Wells rasps, “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” And Jeanette Winterson has now penned The Stone Gods.


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Keyhole Press Joins Dzanc Books

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

While many publishers and literary magazines are closing their doors, Dzanc has opened theirs to Keyhole Press. As of January 1st, Keyhole will join Absinthe: New European Writing, OV Books, Black Lawrence Press, and Monkeybicycle, as part of the Dzanc collective. This from the Dzanc press release: “Keyhole has an impressive list of writers including William Walsh, Stephanie Johnson, Shellie Zacharia, and has forthcoming work scheduled from Aaron Burch and Matt Bell, and also publishes the wonderful Keyhole Magazine, a fantastic literary journal.  Furthermore, Keyhole is developing a strong presence in the Nashville literary scene.  Dzanc is excited to formalize our […]


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The Paris Review and Barnes & Noble Series in NYC

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

New York readers, ring in the New Year with a month of Monday readings to celebrate The Paris Review’s iconic interview series. Starting this Monday, January 4th, the Barnes and Noble flagship store at 86th and Lexington, in New York City, will host a month-long series of interviews showcasing authors, artists, and editors discussing writers, writing, and the writing life. The first event will feature Benjamin Percy–one of our favorite authors here at FWR–who will be interviewing Carol Sklenicka about her recent biography of Raymond Carver. Here is the schedule of the events: Monday, January 4th at 7:00pm: Benjamin Percy, […]




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