Category Archives: craft

Tryouts

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Lindsey Crittenden

I’ve always loved the form of the personal essay. As a teenager, I loved reading Mademoiselle and Glamour magazines, largely because of the personal essays in their pages by writers such as Mary Cantwell. A Google search leads me to … Continue reading →

Posted in craft, reading, teaching, writing | Tagged Best American Essays, braided essay, Brenda Miller, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Nonfiction classes, essais de Montaigne, essayer, Glamour, Glen Online, Julia Reed, Lindsey Crittenden, lyrical essay, Mademoiselle, Mary Cantwell, Michel de Montaigne, Montaigne, personal essays, Suzanne Paola, Tell It Slant, the hermit-crab essay, UC Berkeley Extension, Walt Whitman, West Village, women's magazines, writing | 4 Comments

Sharing Our Work

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Lindsey Crittenden

The first time I showed someone a story I’d written, I thrust the pages at her and fled her office. This was in 1992, another lifetime, when I’d come to realize that if I wanted to write someday, I’d better … Continue reading →

Posted in community, craft, teaching, writing, writing groups | Tagged " Publishers Weekly, "Bees for Honey, character development, craft, criticism, feedback, intuition, Lindsey Crittenden, publication, readers responses, reviews, revision, sharing work, starred reviews, The View from Below: Stories, writers workshop, writers' groups, writing conferences | 2 Comments

Mystery Surprise

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Lindsey Crittenden

I’ve never much liked mystery novels. I get either helplessly confused by the third chapter (Smiley’s People) or impatient that no one else figured out early on that of course the wife did it (Presumed Innocent). In fourth and fifth … Continue reading →

Posted in craft, reading | Tagged Barbara Vine, Crown Publishing Group, Death and Judgement, Donna Leon, Duplicate Keys, Guido Brunetti, Henry James, henry james turn of the screw, Jane Smiley, key to rebecca, keys to the street, Lindsey Crittenden, mysteries, mystery novels, mystery writers, Nancy Drew, Patricia Highsmith, Patrick McGrath, plot, precise characterizations, Presumed Innocent, Ruth Rendell, Smiley's People, Spider, The Crocodile Bird, The Key to Rebecca, The Keys to the Street, the Romanovs, The Russia House, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Turn of the Screw, The Water's Lovely, unreliable narrator, Venice, Winston Churchill | 2 Comments

Let It Shine

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Lindsey Crittenden

There will be no post next week, January 13. I’ll be back January 20. Epiphany. That’s what today is, on the church calendar: the Feast of the Epiphany. Twelfth night. The magi—three wise men—showed up to pay homage to the … Continue reading →

Posted in craft, faith, spirituality, teaching, writing | Tagged " "Guests of the Nation, " Denis Johnson, " Edith Wharton, " Edna O'Brien, " Frank O'Connor, " lyricism, "Beverly Home, "Roman Fever, "The Dead, "the Love Object, Araby, Aristotle, Bullet in the Brain, Dubliners, epiphany, feast of the epiphany, fiction writing, Hollywood, James Joyce, Lindsey Crittenden, literary technique, magi, manifestation, manifestation of the divine, power, revelation, storytelling, teaching, three wise men, Tobias Wolff, transcendence | 1 Comment

Don’t ask, don’t tell

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Lindsey Crittenden

Note: there will be no post next Friday, 12/30. Check back 1/6/12. Happy New Year! The question comes up at parties, over dinner with new friends, next to a chatty traveler on an airplane. The inevitable ice-breaker— What do you … Continue reading →

Posted in craft, writing | Tagged 1969 moon landing, anguished question, Away from Trees, childhood, courthouse, creative process, drafting process, fiction, fiction themes, fiction workshop, fiction writing, ghost town, intuition, kidnapping, loss, planting symbols, revision, Wallace Stegner | 4 Comments

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