The Creative Writer's Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist
by John McNally
University of Iowa Press, 2010 eISBN: 978-1-58729-949-0 | Paper: 978-1-58729-920-9 Library of Congress Classification PN147.M478 2010 Dewey Decimal Classification 808.02
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Beginning with “The Writer’s Wonderland—Or: A Warning” and ending with “You’ve Published a Book—Now What?” The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide is a must-read for creative-writing students and teachers, conference participants, and aspiring writers of every stamp. Directed primarily at fiction writers but suitable for writers of all genres, John McNally’s guide is a comprehensive, take-no-prisoners blunt, highly idiosyncratic, and delightfully subjective take on the writing life.
McNally has earned the right to dispense advice on this subject. He has published three novels, two collections of short fiction, and hundreds of individual stories and essays. He has edited six anthologies and worked with editors at university presses, commercial houses, and small presses. He has earned three degrees, including an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and taught writing to thousands of students at nine different universities. But he has received far more rejections than acceptances, has endured years of underpaid adjunct work, and is presently hard at work on a novel for which he has no guarantee of publication. In other words, he’s been at the writing game long enough to rack up plenty of the highs and lows that translate into an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to become a writer or anyone who is already a writer but doesn’t know how to take the next step toward the writing life.
In the sections The Decision to Become a Writer, Education and the Writer, Getting Published, Publicity, Employment for Writers, and The Writer’s Life, McNally wrestles with writing degrees and graduate programs, the nuts and bolts of agents and query letters and critics, book signings and other ways to promote your book, alcohol and other home remedies, and jobs for writers from adjunct to tenure-track. Chapters such as “What Have You Ever Done That’s Worth Writing About?” “Can Writing Be Taught?” “Rejection: Putting It in Perspective,” “Writing as a Competitive Sport,” “Seven Types of MLA Interview Committees,” “Money and the Writer,” and the all-important “Talking about Writing vs. Writing” cover a vast range of writerly topics from learning your craft to making a living at it. McNally acts as the writer’s friendly drill sergeant, relentlessly honest but bracingly cheerful as he issues his curmudgeonly marching orders. Alternately cranky and philosophical, full of to-the-point anecdotes and honest advice instead of wonkish facts and figures, The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide is a snarky, truthful, and immensely helpful map to being a writer in today’s complex world.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
John McNally is the author of three novels, After the Workshop, The Book of Ralph, and America’s Report Card, and two story collections, Troublemakers (Iowa, 2000) and Ghosts of Chicago. He has edited six anthologies, including When I Was a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving High School and Humor Me: An Anthology of Humor by Writers of Color (Iowa, 2002). His fiction, book reviews, and essays have appeared in more than a hundred publications, including the Washington Post, the Sun, and Open City, and he is a contributing editor to the Virginia Quarterly Review. A native of Chicago’s southwest side, he is an associate professor of English at Wake Forest University.
REVIEWS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
The Writer’s Wonderland—Or: A Warning
Part One: The Decision to Become a Writer
Part Two: Education and the Writer
Part Three: Getting Published
Part Four: Publicity
Part Five: Employment for Writers
Part Six: The Writer’s Life
Notes
Ten Rules to Keep near You
My Five Favorite Movies about Writers
Recommended Reading
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
The Creative Writer's Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist
by John McNally
University of Iowa Press, 2010 eISBN: 978-1-58729-949-0 Paper: 978-1-58729-920-9
Beginning with “The Writer’s Wonderland—Or: A Warning” and ending with “You’ve Published a Book—Now What?” The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide is a must-read for creative-writing students and teachers, conference participants, and aspiring writers of every stamp. Directed primarily at fiction writers but suitable for writers of all genres, John McNally’s guide is a comprehensive, take-no-prisoners blunt, highly idiosyncratic, and delightfully subjective take on the writing life.
McNally has earned the right to dispense advice on this subject. He has published three novels, two collections of short fiction, and hundreds of individual stories and essays. He has edited six anthologies and worked with editors at university presses, commercial houses, and small presses. He has earned three degrees, including an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and taught writing to thousands of students at nine different universities. But he has received far more rejections than acceptances, has endured years of underpaid adjunct work, and is presently hard at work on a novel for which he has no guarantee of publication. In other words, he’s been at the writing game long enough to rack up plenty of the highs and lows that translate into an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to become a writer or anyone who is already a writer but doesn’t know how to take the next step toward the writing life.
In the sections The Decision to Become a Writer, Education and the Writer, Getting Published, Publicity, Employment for Writers, and The Writer’s Life, McNally wrestles with writing degrees and graduate programs, the nuts and bolts of agents and query letters and critics, book signings and other ways to promote your book, alcohol and other home remedies, and jobs for writers from adjunct to tenure-track. Chapters such as “What Have You Ever Done That’s Worth Writing About?” “Can Writing Be Taught?” “Rejection: Putting It in Perspective,” “Writing as a Competitive Sport,” “Seven Types of MLA Interview Committees,” “Money and the Writer,” and the all-important “Talking about Writing vs. Writing” cover a vast range of writerly topics from learning your craft to making a living at it. McNally acts as the writer’s friendly drill sergeant, relentlessly honest but bracingly cheerful as he issues his curmudgeonly marching orders. Alternately cranky and philosophical, full of to-the-point anecdotes and honest advice instead of wonkish facts and figures, The Creative Writer’s Survival Guide is a snarky, truthful, and immensely helpful map to being a writer in today’s complex world.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
John McNally is the author of three novels, After the Workshop, The Book of Ralph, and America’s Report Card, and two story collections, Troublemakers (Iowa, 2000) and Ghosts of Chicago. He has edited six anthologies, including When I Was a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving High School and Humor Me: An Anthology of Humor by Writers of Color (Iowa, 2002). His fiction, book reviews, and essays have appeared in more than a hundred publications, including the Washington Post, the Sun, and Open City, and he is a contributing editor to the Virginia Quarterly Review. A native of Chicago’s southwest side, he is an associate professor of English at Wake Forest University.
REVIEWS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
The Writer’s Wonderland—Or: A Warning
Part One: The Decision to Become a Writer
Part Two: Education and the Writer
Part Three: Getting Published
Part Four: Publicity
Part Five: Employment for Writers
Part Six: The Writer’s Life
Notes
Ten Rules to Keep near You
My Five Favorite Movies about Writers
Recommended Reading
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE