Larina's Lit Lounge Issue 17
An internal debate about writing rules and a poem by Richard Leis
American Rural: Monologues is available now from Amazon. Print edition: $10.99. Ebook: $2.99.
Reader/Writer: An Internal Debate
Characters
ReaderMe: A 48-year old woman with a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Education Leadership (emphasis: ethics) who loves a wide variety of genres and writing styles, but who especially appreciates an excellent story.
WriterMe: A neurodivergent 48-year old woman with an undergrad degree in English and a minor in political science who has read a wide variety of “how to” books about writing, listens to podcasts like “Writing Excuses,” subscribes to magazines like Writers Digest and Poet’s & Writers, and who has never actually published a book and gets annoyed by editing/revising.
Setting
A dark bedroom. ReaderMe has just put down her before-bed reading and is fast asleep. WriterMe is laying awake, staring at the ceiling, with a Boston terrier laying over her legs and a something-something mutt dog curled up under her left arm.
WriterMe: Pssst. ReaderMe, wake up.
ReaderMe: Go to sleep. Dear God, go to sleep!
WriterMe: Do you think that book had three acts?
ReaderMe: Who cares? It was a great story.
WriterMe: But if it doesn’t have three acts, how did it get published? And how do you define an ‘act’ in a short story?
ReaderMe: Nontraditional narratives are a thing now—and that’s good.
WriterMe: But all the writing books say…
ReaderMe: It’s fiiiiiineee. Go to sleep.
A few minutes pass in silence.
WriterMe: Hey.
ReaderMe: Oh. My. God. Shut. Up.
WriterMe: Did the character really have agency if she never got into a situation she didn’t plan to get into?
ReaderMe: You liked the character. Hell, you loved the character. Precisely because she never got into a situation she didn’t plan to get into.
WriterMe: But all the writing books say…
ReaderMe: Why are you still listening to all the writing books? Times are changing.
WriterMe: Are they, though?
ReaderMe rolls over, buries her head under the pillow. The something-something mutt grumbles. The Boston terrier resettles over the now upside-down feet.
WriterMe: Do you think the pacing was off?
ReaderMe: Is this because that rejection letter said the pacing in your story was too slow?
WriterMe: No. Of course not! I just want to analyze this so I can be a better writer is all.
ReaderMe: Did you like the book?
WriterMe: Well, yeah.
ReaderMe: Then you’re analyzing the wrong thing. Shut up and go to sleep.
WriterMe continues to analyze every component of the book, noting every place an MFA instructor would mark the author’s grade down while simultaneously recognizing that it shouldn’t matter at all. The world is changing, and new ideas about writing are starting to get traction in the publishing world. Nontraditional narratives. Characters with different kinds of agency and different motivations. Slow, quiet pacing.
Whatever writing advice I’ve gleaned from the mountains of “How To” books I’ve read, this single piece of experiential learning seems the most important: There is a market and an audience out there for a wide range of styles and approaches—finding the right market and audience is more urgent than writing to a market and audience that won’t accept the truest writing version of yourself.
Richard Leis has been published in Impossible Archetype, The Laurel Review, Harpy Hybrid Review, the Adult Children anthology from Wising Up Press, and several speculative anthologies and journals. A recent poem was runner-up for a Kay Snow Award from the Willamette Writers and the Timberline Review. Richard’s poems have also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and he was a finalist in the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards in 2018 and 2021. He is a Rhysling Award finalist and secretary of Oregon Horror Writers Association. richardleis.com
The Bird is Not Heralding Itself The bird arrives with a warning. Pressed against the glass, beak open, one eye looking back, wings splayed out like angels caught flapping in church while the Lord is speaking, goddamn it, it transmits its terror and contrition. You haven’t been outside in days. The neighbor said find a dead bird near the feeder, don’t fill it for a while. The feeder is full of bees anyway. You check the window’s closed, no breaks, no holes through which a bird could crawl down from heaven. You finally determine you left the flue open. All that draft and ash and maybe why you smell marijuana. If all troubles were as easy as closing a vent. Opening up a vein, you feed the brown bird with the message written all over it. I’m coming, it says.
Larina’s Writing Updates
Number of submissions out right now: 33
Number of acceptances since last update: 0, but one hold on a story
Number of rejections since last update: 2 (2 stories)
Number of Publications This Year: 3 (3 poems)
“Failed Start” in SpecPoVerse Issue 1 (new)
“Autumn Waltz” and “con * stant” in SFWP Journal Issue 32 (new)
“Programmer’s SciFiKu” in Star*Line
“Mermaids” in Eye to the Telescope
“Carrie Talks Herself Down” at Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Saturday Book Feature for American Rural: Monologues
Forthcoming Publications:
One horror flash piece coming soon
One apocalyptic poem, coming soon in Space & Time Magazine
May 9 Writing Prompt
Aim for up to 1000 words of fiction/creative nonfiction or a single poem.
Spring has sprung! Go outside. Take a walk. See the sees. Hear the hears. Feel the feels. And make something up about two people or things you come across.
Send your responses to larinamichelle@gmail.com (full guidelines here). If I select it for publication in a future issue, I’ll send you or your favorite non-discriminatory charity $20!
Obligatory Dog Picture
