Neil Connelly teaches writing at Shippensburg University. His seventh book, Into the Hurricane, is due out in June.
“We must lie and lie well in order to make the reader cry, or sigh, or slam their fists on the table in anger”: Neil Connelly and Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith talk about crafting fiction from life.
Back in the 90’s, I was teaching a multi-genre creative writing class at Cape Fear Community College, a name I am not making up. There were almost thirty students, with a wide variety of backgrounds, interests, and abilities. At the time, inexperienced, I was still letting folks workshop whatever they wanted, without any restraints on content or pre-screening by me. I was more giddy cheerleader than true teacher, with vague hopes of leaping onto my desk, Robin-Williams like, and inspiring bemusement and admiration from my young students. All this led to some unusual situations, like the young man who plagiarized […]
