Five Mysteries of Publishing

(Lessons from a 40-year writing career)

Despite two and a half years in a top-ranked MFA program, nobody told me anything about what the writing life was like—especially outside the shelter of academia. In our writing workshops we analyzed the short stories everyone was writing in terms of plot, POV, structure, characterization, scene building, and even diction. The attention to detail could sometimes be excruciating, as when one professor insisted I shouldn’t have a character “sit next to” another character but “sit by” them. He thought three words were too many; me, I liked the rhythm. “Sit by” seemed too abrupt for my narrative. But zooming out from that narrow focus, when I got my degree I had no idea what the writing life was like and over the years I’ve learned five key things the hard way.

You can read the list at the Black Fox website. Feel free to comment there or below:

https://blackfoxlitmag.com/2024/10/24/five-mysteries-of-publishing-by-lev-raphael/

Image by Vitor Dutra Kaosnoff from Pixabay