Comments on: Mother Jones: The Death of Fiction? http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/ A National Blog of Literature & Discussion Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:47:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Steve Altman http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4284 Steve Altman Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:08:15 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4284 Speaking on behalf of writers who can't wait till the gatekeepers give them the go-ahead, here's our take at 317am.net on "The Death of Fiction?" Speaking on behalf of writers who can’t wait till the gatekeepers give them the go-ahead, here’s our take at 317am.net on “The Death of Fiction?”

]]> By: January writing links, part II – the State of the Union edition « Fog City Writer http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4057 January writing links, part II – the State of the Union edition « Fog City Writer Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:08:02 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4057 [...] Ted Genoways, the editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review, weighs in at Mother Jones on the death of literary magazines and the proliferation of MFA programs. Coincidence? He thinks not. And man, is debate raging about that, on the Mother Jones site, and in the comments of a related VQR blog post. [...] [...] Ted Genoways, the editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review, weighs in at Mother Jones on the death of literary magazines and the proliferation of MFA programs. Coincidence? He thinks not. And man, is debate raging about that, on the Mother Jones site, and in the comments of a related VQR blog post. [...]

]]> By: Teri http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4055 Teri Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:37:08 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4055 I agree 100% with Genoways's Mother Jones article. To Travis, who listed the salaries and then said that if he were making $150K a year teaching fiction he wouldn't care if anyone read his stuff --- wow. That's not exactly the point now, is it? First, let's not begrudge someone for making a good living at something they're good at. Secondly, "the point" is there are too many submissions and the readers have vanished. If you're a writer, is $50 a year really too much to spend on literary magazines? We buy coffee daily at $5 a cup, or pay $50 a month for bad cable TV, or $20 for a round of beers on a Friday night ..... but we have a fit when someone suggests paying to read good writing?!?!?! My head is about to explode. I am almost finished with my MFA. I edited a lit journal (albeit a small one) for a year --- small, but we received hundreds of submissions and had about zero subscribers. AND I buy lit journals. Not all of them, but I know which ones I like and I'm sure I spend 5 times that $50 on lit journals a year. I never understand writers (especially my fellow MFA'ers) who do not support the very art they create or the community in which they're a part. Genoways is right. The least we can do ---- the very, very least ---- is to support the lit journal community that all of us submit work to on a regular basis. If you think getting a piece of work accepted now is hard, just think how much harder it will be when all these journals shut down. Butter your own bread, folks. Or at least use that cable TV money to buy books and literary journals; you have a hundred TV channels to watch and nothing is ever on anyway. Invest in your future; read a lit journal instead. I agree 100% with Genoways’s Mother Jones article. To Travis, who listed the salaries and then said that if he were making $150K a year teaching fiction he wouldn’t care if anyone read his stuff — wow. That’s not exactly the point now, is it? First, let’s not begrudge someone for making a good living at something they’re good at. Secondly, “the point” is there are too many submissions and the readers have vanished. If you’re a writer, is $50 a year really too much to spend on literary magazines? We buy coffee daily at $5 a cup, or pay $50 a month for bad cable TV, or $20 for a round of beers on a Friday night ….. but we have a fit when someone suggests paying to read good writing?!?!?! My head is about to explode.

I am almost finished with my MFA. I edited a lit journal (albeit a small one) for a year — small, but we received hundreds of submissions and had about zero subscribers. AND I buy lit journals. Not all of them, but I know which ones I like and I’m sure I spend 5 times that $50 on lit journals a year. I never understand writers (especially my fellow MFA’ers) who do not support the very art they create or the community in which they’re a part.

Genoways is right. The least we can do —- the very, very least —- is to support the lit journal community that all of us submit work to on a regular basis. If you think getting a piece of work accepted now is hard, just think how much harder it will be when all these journals shut down. Butter your own bread, folks. Or at least use that cable TV money to buy books and literary journals; you have a hundred TV channels to watch and nothing is ever on anyway. Invest in your future; read a lit journal instead.

]]> By: Even Writers Don’t Read Short Fiction » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4053 Even Writers Don’t Read Short Fiction » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:14:38 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4053 [...] Genoways, editor of the Virginia Literary Quarterly, notes that the supply of short fiction far exceeds the demand: Here at VQR we currently have more than ten times as many submitters each year as we have [...] [...] Genoways, editor of the Virginia Literary Quarterly, notes that the supply of short fiction far exceeds the demand: Here at VQR we currently have more than ten times as many submitters each year as we have [...]

]]> By: Sarah McCoy http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4034 Sarah McCoy Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:46:45 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4034 Dear VQR Editors, An excellent essay by Ted Genoways at MOTHER JONES. Having earned my MFA in Virginia, this article caught my eye. VQR is renowned as one of the leading literary magazines in the country and Genoways makes some excellent points. However, speaking from my own experiences during and after my MFA creative writing program, acceptance of a short story for publication in a literary magazine is a damn-near impossible feat. Now I know why. 60,000 new writers submitting work to a handful of paying publications does make the magazine editing task daunting. Most assuredly, brilliant writing is neglected simply due to the submissions volume. I do not flatter myself by thinking my writing in that pot of gold, but it does propose a thorny dilemma. How do we give new fiction the breath and light it needs to develop when the criteria is set almost beyond attainability? We joked that not even Hemingway could've gotten his work published in some popular lit mags. To this day, I don't disbelieve that. A solution to 'the death of (short) fiction' can only come when writers and editors discuss and debate. So thank you Genoways for getting the ball rolling. Another topic Genoways brought up in his MOTHER JONES essay was related to the lack of Iraq War fiction. I had to comment further: www.sarahmccoy.wordpress.com. Yours truly, Sarah P.S. Wa-hoo-wa! Dear VQR Editors,

An excellent essay by Ted Genoways at MOTHER JONES. Having earned my MFA in Virginia, this article caught my eye. VQR is renowned as one of the leading literary magazines in the country and Genoways makes some excellent points. However, speaking from my own experiences during and after my MFA creative writing program, acceptance of a short story for publication in a literary magazine is a damn-near impossible feat. Now I know why. 60,000 new writers submitting work to a handful of paying publications does make the magazine editing task daunting. Most assuredly, brilliant writing is neglected simply due to the submissions volume. I do not flatter myself by thinking my writing in that pot of gold, but it does propose a thorny dilemma. How do we give new fiction the breath and light it needs to develop when the criteria is set almost beyond attainability? We joked that not even Hemingway could’ve gotten his work published in some popular lit mags. To this day, I don’t disbelieve that. A solution to ‘the death of (short) fiction’ can only come when writers and editors discuss and debate. So thank you Genoways for getting the ball rolling.

Another topic Genoways brought up in his MOTHER JONES essay was related to the lack of Iraq War fiction. I had to comment further: http://www.sarahmccoy.wordpress.com.

Yours truly, Sarah

P.S. Wa-hoo-wa!

]]> By: The Prognosis « This Is Probably An Interesting Blog (But In The Offhand Chance That It's Not…) http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4025 The Prognosis « This Is Probably An Interesting Blog (But In The Offhand Chance That It's Not…) Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:42:41 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4025 [...] by Joshua Weichhand on January 23, 2010 From the Virginia Quarterly Review’s plead for help website: VQR editor Ted Genoways, writing in Mother Jones, has an editorial on MFA programs’ [...] [...] by Joshua Weichhand on January 23, 2010 From the Virginia Quarterly Review’s plead for help website: VQR editor Ted Genoways, writing in Mother Jones, has an editorial on MFA programs’ [...]

]]> By: Mitch Beales http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4011 Mitch Beales Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:20:20 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4011 Could VQR (and others) afford to offer a student subscription rate or a "starving artist" rate (with a copy of form 1040 perhaps)? I also like the idea of a "web only" option. With so many writers producing so much good work it can become difficult to store, much less read, everything one might like to. Supporting excellent publications is a good idea as is supporting the Post Office but receiving stacks of paper that I don't have time to read induces guilt on a number of levels. There was a time in my life when I wanted to be a writer but I eventually decided that I enjoy reading much more than writing. Frankly I find the modern trend toward everyone making their own art (much of it awful) appalling! This may be just one more symptom of the increasing economic stratification which allows self-actualizing "artistes" the luxury of writing volumes that most folks have neither the time nor the education to read. Literature, like democracy, requires a well educated (not just well trained) populace to flourish. Could VQR (and others) afford to offer a student subscription rate or a “starving artist” rate (with a copy of form 1040 perhaps)? I also like the idea of a “web only” option. With so many writers producing so much good work it can become difficult to store, much less read, everything one might like to. Supporting excellent publications is a good idea as is supporting the Post Office but receiving stacks of paper that I don’t have time to read induces guilt on a number of levels.

There was a time in my life when I wanted to be a writer but I eventually decided that I enjoy reading much more than writing. Frankly I find the modern trend toward everyone making their own art (much of it awful) appalling! This may be just one more symptom of the increasing economic stratification which allows self-actualizing “artistes” the luxury of writing volumes that most folks have neither the time nor the education to read. Literature, like democracy, requires a well educated (not just well trained) populace to flourish.

]]> By: Lee http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4009 Lee Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:38:02 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4009 @Lorraine, not reading? Now that is scary! (And meanwhile there are people/writers like myself who would love to have free i.e. affordable access to all those unread journals.) @Lorraine, not reading? Now that is scary! (And meanwhile there are people/writers like myself who would love to have free i.e. affordable access to all those unread journals.)

]]> By: Lorraine Berry http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4008 Lorraine Berry Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:33:50 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4008 It's not just that fiction writers aren't reading literary journals. I'm finding, increasingly, that in my classes, my students aren't reading, period. They want to be writers, but they don't read. They watch television, read an occasional newspaper article online, but cannot name a novel they've read in the past year. I subscribe to as many literary journals as my school budget allows me to. Many of them sit unopened by the students. I have forbidden students to tell me that they don't like to read: I've told them they can't be writers if they don't like to read. How can they learn about the mechanics of writing if they don't see it put into form in front of them? I would like to believe that they are observers of the world. But, for many, the only thing they observe are their navels. I see my job as their instructor to change that. I challenge them. I present them with exemplary writing. I make them buy notebooks and take notes on the world. I have them perform writing exercises almost every day in class, as if they were practicing scales. Some of them come out of my classes convinced that writing is what they want to do. And some of them realize that the only reason they wanted to be writers is that they want to be "published" and "famous." The wheat gets separated from the chaff. Those who love it, will keep at it. And those of us who love good writing will continue to do our best to support small literary journals AND believe that writers and editors deserve to get paid for the hard work that they do. It’s not just that fiction writers aren’t reading literary journals. I’m finding, increasingly, that in my classes, my students aren’t reading, period. They want to be writers, but they don’t read. They watch television, read an occasional newspaper article online, but cannot name a novel they’ve read in the past year.
I subscribe to as many literary journals as my school budget allows me to. Many of them sit unopened by the students. I have forbidden students to tell me that they don’t like to read: I’ve told them they can’t be writers if they don’t like to read. How can they learn about the mechanics of writing if they don’t see it put into form in front of them?
I would like to believe that they are observers of the world. But, for many, the only thing they observe are their navels.
I see my job as their instructor to change that. I challenge them. I present them with exemplary writing. I make them buy notebooks and take notes on the world. I have them perform writing exercises almost every day in class, as if they were practicing scales.
Some of them come out of my classes convinced that writing is what they want to do. And some of them realize that the only reason they wanted to be writers is that they want to be “published” and “famous.” The wheat gets separated from the chaff. Those who love it, will keep at it.
And those of us who love good writing will continue to do our best to support small literary journals AND believe that writers and editors deserve to get paid for the hard work that they do.

]]> By: The Death of the Literary Journal « Gerry Canavan http://www.vqronline.org/blog/2010/01/15/mojo-death-of-fiction/#comment-4005 The Death of the Literary Journal « Gerry Canavan Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:20:56 +0000 http://www.vqronline.org/blog/?p=4447#comment-4005 [...] a comment » Here at VQR we currently have more than ten times as many submitters each year as we have subscribers. And there’s very, very little overlap. We know—we’ve checked. More on what’s happened [...] [...] a comment » Here at VQR we currently have more than ten times as many submitters each year as we have subscribers. And there’s very, very little overlap. We know—we’ve checked. More on what’s happened [...]

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