Hi friends,

Some exciting new changes are coming to what you know and love as Forever Workshop! To those of you who are the true OGs ‘round here, you’ll remember we actually used to be called Write or Die 101. There is a whole history there that you can read about here, if you’re interested, but you don’t need to know it. What you do need to know is that we are now going to be called Write or Die Magazine.

Everything you love about Forever Workshop will remain as it is. With the same subscription you already have, you will continue to be able to access our complete workshop archive. And, we’ll be doubling down our focus on the key pillars of the writing world (which are also the most popular aspect of Forever Workshop):

• Education: Not only will you learn how to keep improving your craft, but we’ll also be diving into something that you don’t really see anywhere: namely, an in-depth analysis of the kinds of educational paths available to writers at any step of their practice and careers.

• Publishing: If you wanted to just write for yourself, you probably wouldn’t be here, that is…anywhere on the internet. We want to offer clear, actionable insights alongside data-informed deep dives on what’s happening in the publishing space today and how that impacts you as a working writer in the world.

• Career: Knowing how to write well and knowing how to write what sells can feel like two opposing things sometimes. We want to help bridge the gap here and also assist writers in every aspect of the practical economics of the writing life.

• Free Writing Resources: Alongside exclusive content for our paid subscribers, everyone will be able to benefit from biweekly free writing opportunities, resources, and other writer related goodies (free) that we gather, research, vet, and share.

So, to recap, things will look different (because of course we’ve got a whole new look and mascot whom I’ll introduce you to below) but they shouldn’t feel too different, rather they ought to and I hope and even promise that they shall!

We’ll be sending out a more detailed email about the revamp on October 1st, which is our official launch date for the new and improved Write or Die Magazine (formerly known as Forever Workshop), but just as a quick a teaser, our first column post will be the first iteration of a weekly column from Jane Friedman on The Business of Being a Writer!

And there’s so much more coming (hint: free submissions that pay writers!!).

Alright, for now, then, here’s a sneak peak at our new mascot, a lovely only slightly-snarky vulture:

—Shannan

Admin note: There will be some domain switching going on so if you’re looking for something and can’t find it, please email support@chillsubs.com and we’ll help you track it down.

Hey friends,

Welcome to another edition of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we ask our favorite literary experts about their specialist subject.

In Part 2 of our Q&A on Alternative Writing Forms, we’re talking all about the magic that happens when you create work that engages directly with audiences through performance, live readings & interactive fiction.

The Takeaways:

• How to build performative work from the skills and niches you already have

• Why interactivity (and breaking the fourth wall) is so much fun

• How including the audience in the process can transform your art

• Different approaches to writing with performance in mind

• Why collaboration is one of the most valuable things you can do as an artist

And, by the end of this Q&A, perhaps you’ll have a few new ideas for bringing your writing to life as an interactive performance…

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Meet the experts:

Representing the world of audio fiction is Joseph Fink, co-creator of the hit fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale and the Audible Original Unlicensed. He is also the creator of Alice Isn’t Dead and a NYT bestselling author. Joseph says the model for Night Vale’s unique approach to narrative was inspired by off-Broadway black box theater in New York City:

There’s not really money for set, costumes, or much of a cast, so it all comes down to: “How fully can you be transported by just a person standing on stage and telling you a story?” And often the answer is: “Very!” So that’s what we try to replicate with our audio fiction: doing as much as possible with the simplest ingredients. With just a voice telling you this story, can we fully transport you to a different place?

Since 2012, the podcast has gathered a cult following and critical acclaim, taking the fictional radio show on the road with tours across the world:

“Night Vale’s unforgettable live shows bring the audience into the story in surprising and thrilling ways. Over the years, our live shows have become the heart of the Night Vale experience. They are unique theatrical evenings that take you to our weird little town in a way you can’t get from listening to the podcast at home.”

And our interactive fiction connoisseur Katy Naylor is the founder & Void in Chief of the Voidspace, a community platform for interactive fiction, performance and playable art. She describes her work as “a playable literary medium” — think branching narratives and choose-your-own-adventure:

Storytelling and quality of writing are front and centre, but equally important is that the reader is given agency in some way. [And] because audience agency is at the heart of interactive fiction, I’m always thinking about the audience’s journey and how that perspective can change how they will perceive the piece.

Building on the success of Voidspace Lit, in 2023 Katy launched an annual festival of live events, narrative games and experimental performance pieces — which is exactly what we’re going to talk about today!

Find out more about Katy and Joseph’s work (along with comic essayist Aubrey Hirsch) in Part 1 of Writing Alternative Forms here:

And read on to find out how these creators write with a live audience in mind…

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Welcome to The Forever Workshop’s MFA Newsletter, a monthly column about career advancement in the literary space. Everything published here is free to enjoy, courtesy of our partnered universities. (Not interested? Turn off emails from this column here.)

We’ve all heard it.

“Don’t pay for your MFA.”

We’ve filled out applications for Iowa, Johns Hopkins, Oregon State, Brown–in hopes that we’d be accepted into their fully-funded programs. But maybe rejections were all we received, since of the hundreds of MFA programs in the country, only 53 are fully-funded, and they’re small, selective. For example, Vanderbilt only accepts four students per cohort.

Dominique Weldon mentioned the phrase when I asked if she’d applied to any fully-funded MFA programs. Like most emerging writers, her undergraduate professors warned her against spending thousands of dollars on a degree that sometimes has little to no return on investment. So, heeding their advice, she spent a year researching programs to apply to, prioritizing fully-funded ones. But her list also included MFAs that appealed to her personally. “I was willing to take a partially-funded program that worked better for my life and goals,” Dominique told me, which is how she ended up applying to Butler University. Although it wasn’t fully-funded, she wanted to stay in the Midwest and she was interested in the Butler community.

After she was accepted into Butler’s MFA program, Dominique reached out to ask if they had any scholarships that she didn’t know about. “They offered me a $10,000 scholarship,” she told me. It wouldn’t cover her whole degree, but Butler’s MFA checked other boxes that she deemed more important. To make up the remaining cost, Dominique worked part-time and took advantage of the opportunities that Butler offered, like a teaching assistantship and working as the Nonfiction Editor for the program’s literary journal, Booth, both which paid a stipend. She did have to take out loans, but the amount she has to pay back is feasible for her, especially since she doesn’t have any debt from undergrad. “My number one goal was to get better at my craft,” Dominique shared, and so getting this education was worth the money.

Like Dominique, Katie Mihalek prioritized location. She applied to MFAs near Boston because she and her partner lived there, and she wanted to stay local after spending years having their relationship long-distance. “Having a partner and him having this stable job allowed me [...] to have a little more flexibility,” Katie shared, because this meant that she had help with paying the mortgage and everyday expenses. So although she applied to fully-funded programs, she was comfortable with ultimately choosing to earn her MFA at Emerson College.

The biggest chunk of Katie’s funding came from part-time jobs and loans–between starting and finishing her MFA, she worked at a farmer’s market, sold furniture, and taught in Emerson College’s first year writing program. “If you’re a staff member or already a teacher, you can get tuition waived as a full-time student,” Katie explained, though because she was a part-time professor, those benefits didn’t apply to her. But if you’re currently working full-time at a college that houses an MFA program, you can see if those benefits would apply to you.

After her MFA, Katie worked as an AmeriCorps fellow for MassPoetry, which gave her a $7,500 Education Award at the end of her service year. “This could be applied to future tuition or a loan, so I applied it to my loans,” Katie said, since Emerson College is one of the many colleges in the country who partner with AmeriCorps. Although Emerson doesn’t, some MFA programs even offer discounted tuition to national service volunteers specifically.

National service is what funded both of Brandon Hubbard’s MFAs, his first earned at Lesley University, his second in progress at the Brooklyn Writers Foundry. Brandon served in the U.S. Army Reserve in the 2000s; this made him eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which, for him, covered 36 months worth of higher education and provided a housing stipend to help with the cost of residencies. Without this funding, Brandon said, “it wouldn’t have been an option for [him] to get an MFA.”

Brandon didn’t apply to any fully-funded programs, and neither did Amy Lees, a Navy veteran who also attends the Brooklyn Writers Foundry. “I didn’t want to go into a program with a lot of strings attached, and I wasn’t looking to relocate,” Amy explained. Brandon was in a similar mindset. “Applying and not getting in [to a fully-funded program] deterred me because I didn’t want to lose a year, six months,” he said. “I wanted to get it done.” These goals led Brandon and Amy to low-residency programs, and so fully-funded programs weren’t an option because none of them offer the low-residency model.

“I don’t want to come off as a platform for selling the GI bill to writers,” Brandon shared. Amy echoed his sentiment: “It’s a little chaotic for that.” But if you’re currently in the military, Amy recommends “[leveraging] as much of the education benefits as humanly possible.”

While Amy is still earning her degree, she’s set to be published in the EcoTheo Review this winter. Dominique now teaches for the Indiana Writers Center, a job which she landed because of teaching while getting her MFA. Katie now attends the University of Rhode Island, and she said her MFA was “worth it to pay and get to where [she is] now, which is a fully-funded PhD in English, with a creative dissertation but doing a lot of critical work and maintaining poetic practice on the side.”

So here’s my hot take: apply to the MFAs that aren’t fully-funded, the ones your professors warned you against, in addition to fully-funded programs. I’m not saying go into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt for them, but there are ways to fund your MFA without taking out huge loans.

Applying to MFA programs that aren’t fully-funded allowed these writers to fulfill their artistic goals, and they wouldn’t have been able to achieve them if they waited for an acceptance to a fully-funded program or if they gave up when the rejections came in. But if you do apply for an MFA you have to pay for, remember to make intentional financial decisions, be honest with yourself about what you can afford, and supplement the tuition with outside aid. If you want a place to start exploring, many of our MFA partners offer competitive or partial funding, in addition to all of the opportunities they provide their students (not least, access to Chill Subs!).

“If you live and breathe writing and want to be in community with other writers,” Dominique said, “go for the partially-funded program.” She doesn’t regret it, and neither will you.

How did your fund your MFA? Let us know in the comments!

Leave a comment

Hey friends,

Welcome to another edition of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we ask a bunch of literary experts about their specialist subject.

Many of us here at The Forever Workshop tend to write in ‘traditional’ formats — novels, short fiction, poetry, memoir, personal essays — but have you ever considered exploring something a little different when it comes to form?

Today we’ve invited some of our favorite creatives to tell us all about the alternative forms they use to craft unique and innovative stories — from comics to audio drama to interactive fiction.

Our Experts:

Joseph Fink is the co-creator of the hit fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale and the Audible Original Unlicensed. He is also the creator of Alice Isn’t Dead and a NYT bestselling author.

is the author of Graphic Rage: Comics on Gender, Justice, and Life as a Woman in America. Her comics have appeared in Vox, The Washington Post, TIME, Businessweek and elsewhere.

Katy Naylor is the founder & Void in Chief of the Voidspace, a community platform for interactive fiction, performance and playable art. She hopes that you will come along and play.

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The Takeaways:

• How different forms can grab a reader’s attention, create deeper connection, and include them in the narrative journey

• The differences and similarities between traditional and more unusual formats

• Why experimenting with alternative approaches can open up whole new layers to your writing

• Tips on getting started with a new medium and how to avoid common issues

• Insights on publishing and producing alternative forms of writing

And hopefully, by the end of this Q&A, you’ll be inspired to experiment with telling your own stories in a brand new way.

Now, time to pick the brains of our trio of creative masterminds…

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Hey friends,

We had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with literary agent Jenna Satterthwaite to talk about all things publishing. And today we’re sharing her insights on the subject of the dreaded synopsis — a necessary part of any querying novelist’s submission package (and an unholy pain in the ass).

Our Expert:

is a literary agent with Storm Literary, as well as the author of four thrillers with HarperCollins, Sourcebooks and PRH UK. She writes a weekly Substack about all things publishing: the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Takeaways:

• What do agents look for in a synopsis anyway?

• Why the synopsis is a vital part of your submissions package

• Dos and don’ts of a successful synopsis

• Tips on structuring the perfect synopsis

• PLUS: A round-up of excellent synopsis-writing advice from The Forever Workshop and beyond!

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And, by the end of this workshop, you might just have a new perspective on the necessary evil of the synopsis, and why it could make all the difference in your query journey.

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Sometimes we simply don’t have enough experience to truly understand the perspectives we wish to represent within our stories — so we turn to others. Interviewing experts, witnesses, and avatars for character-building is its own art form, one many writers find daunting. You don’t have to be a journalist to learn the skill.

In this workshop, I’ll share what I’ve learned about interviewing as both an anthropologist and author of an award-winning interview-based book. You’ll learn:

• how to find people

• how to structure your interview process

• the ethics involved, and

• what to do once you have a pile of interviews to work with

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Hey friends,

Welcome to another edition of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we ask our favorite literary experts about their specialist subject.

Today, we’re talking about what it’s really like to work with a literary agent — because there’s a whole lot of stuff out there about how to query an agent, but not so much about what to expect after the yes.

Our Experts:

is a literary agent with Storm Literary, as well as the author of four thrillers with HarperCollins, Sourcebooks and PRH UK. She writes a weekly Substack about all things publishing: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Anna Sproul-Latimer, cofounder and president of Neon Literary, has worked in book publishing for more than two decades. She's sold numerous New York Times bestsellers and prizewinning books as well as translation deals in more than 50 languages. Her bestselling Substack, How to Glow in the Dark, goes deep on the emotional and existential struggles as well as practical realities of life in book publishing.

The Takeaways:

• Insights on the how the publishing process differs for fiction and nonfiction

• Questions to ask before accepting an offer of representation

• What happens when a book goes out “on submission”

• And how long does the process take?

• PLUS: What’s on our agents’ wishlists, and what the industry is snapping up at the moment

By the end of this Q&A, you’ll be prepared for your very own “after the yes” journey, and a clearer idea of what goes on behind the publishing curtain.

After the “Yes!”

So, you’ve written an amazing novel and bravely waded through the querying trenches… Now let’s just imagine for a moment that you get that hallowed call from your dream literary agent — an offer of representation!

What do you say? What do you do? What happens next? What if you’re not sure if this is the right decision?

Let’s get some expert advice from our resident agents and see things from the other side of the desk — from both a fiction and nonfiction perspective:

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Hey friends,

Welcome to another edition of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we ask our favorite literary experts about their area of speciality.

Today, we’re talking about publishing with an indie press with three wonderful editors from BULLSHIT LIT, Thirty West, and Two Sylvias Press.

Our Experts:

is a bi/queer poet, editor, book cover designer, and co-founder of Two Sylvias Press

Veronica Bennett is a writer, editor, visual artist, founder and EIC of BULLSHIT LIT

is a writer, poet, founder and EIC of Thirty West and co-host of the Bring a Blanket reading series in Philadelphia

The Takeaways:

• How the small press selection process works and what indie editors are looking for in submissions

• The benefits of publishing with an indie publishing house — from greater control over editorial decisions to higher royalties!

• Tips on submitting your work to small presses and what to expect from the publication journey

• A quickfire round of ‘ask an editor’ questions, including ‘fastest ever acceptance’ and the most surprising aspect of publishing…

By the end of this Q&A, you’ll have a clearer understanding of what it’s really like to publish with a small press, all the love and hard work that goes into creating such beautiful books, and why you should definitely submit your work to an indie!

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Q. How does the small press process work — from acceptance to publication?

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Us writers mercilessly hunt for the perfect hook. We know how critical it is to catch the attention of an agent, editor, publisher, and yes reader in mere moments. They have no shortage of choices; we want ours to be work they choose. Don’t crumple another sticky note. Stop pulling your hair. I’ve been in your shoes and I’ll show you the way out.

We’re going break down the mechanics of:

• first lines

• first paragraphs

• and the sticky hook

so you always find your irresistible opener!

What makes a compelling first line?

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Welcome to The Forever Workshop’s MFA Newsletter, a monthly column about career advancement in the literary space. Everything published here is free to enjoy, courtesy of our partnered universities. (Not interested? Turn off emails from this column here.)

Ciera here. Wiping the sweat off my brow in this August humidity. Cracking my fingers. Taping the broken stem connecting the lenses of my glasses.

I’ve spent the last month scouring the websites of a bunch of MFA programs to curate an application deadline megalist, and sometimes, finding the MFA’s deadline meant clicking through 15 different pages and reading through a giant paragraph until finally, the deadline jumped out at me. I needed a machete to whack through the webpage jungle. How are you meant to create a quality writing sample, a succinct resume, a thorough statement of objectives, and to plead for recommendation letters when you’ve spent all of your time in search of a deadline?!

Locating an application deadline shouldn’t take up all your time and energy. Here’s a list of the upcoming deadlines for our MFA partners I’ve made so that you can focus on creating the best MFA application ever. If these 20 programs aren’t the best fit, visit the Chill Subs blog and check out this other list I cobbled together, which features 30+ more programs from all around the world.

I promise, you won’t need a machete to find your way through.

Full Residency Program Deadlines

University of Minnesota

Deadline: December 1

In addition to mentorship by their stellar faculty, the top-tier MFA program at the University of Minnesota offers writers three years to fully devote themselves to the creation of a manuscript. Students form a close-knit community of writers, readers, and scholars.

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Deadline: December 15

Among the oldest and most respected MFA programs in the country, the MFA for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst champions the creation of new and important writing, and for over fifty years has been a place for writers to concentrate on their work and to write their books.

Colorado State University

Deadline: January 1

The MFA in Creative Writing at Colorado State University is for students with advanced abilities in the writing of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Their program offers a balance of intimate and intensive writing workshops with courses in literature, form and technique, and related electives.

Florida Atlantic University

Deadline: January 1

The MFA in Creative Writing at Florida Atlantic University is a place for community, experimentation, and exploration. They encourage students to take classes across the genres and to take risks in their writing. It’s home to the Swamp Ape Review.

Bowling Green State University

Deadline: January 15

Founded in 1967, BGSU is home to Mid-American Review and the undergraduate journal Prairie Margins. Graduates have won such awards as the Yale Younger Poets Award, the Guggenheim, NEA Individual Artist Fellowships, and the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

University of Idaho

Deadline: January 15

Situated in the panhandle of Northern Idaho in the foothills of Moscow Mountain and the Palouse Range, the Creative Writing MFA Program at the University of Idaho offers the time and support to train in the traditions, techniques, and practice of nonfiction, poetry, and fiction.

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Deadline: January 15

The University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s MFA joins students who share a common passion with faculty members who provide critical support. While students focus on one genre, cross-genre study is required. Publishing experience is offered through Lookout Books, and the literary magazines, Ecotone and Chautauqua.

Emerson College

Deadline: February 1 (priority), April 1 (final)

In the Emerson Creative Writing MFA, you can pursue your passion, choosing from the genres of literary fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, and explore writing as both an art form and a professional career.

Northern Michigan University

Deadline: February 1

Create in a supportive community next to big, beautiful Lake Superior, by writing at Granite Island lighthouse or rustic cabin weekend residencies; studying special topics courses such as nature writing and experimental literature; or interning with acclaimed journal, Passages North.

Arkansas Writers MFA Workshop

Deadline: February 1

The Arkansas Writers MFA Workshop is an intentionally small, deeply engaged program that nurtures a vibrant community of literary artists. Emphasizing mentorship, publication, and pedagogy, it provides a supportive home for your writing journey—now and for years to come.

McNeese University

Deadline: February 21

Louisiana’s oldest MFA program in Creative Writing provides a multifaceted path toward creative and academic growth: small class sizes, teaching and editorial experience, one-on-one conferences with visiting writers, and the opportunity to earn a concurrent MA degree in English.

University of Alabama

Deadline: February 21

The University of Alabama MFA Program has long been considered among the best in the nation, renowned for its visiting writers series, for its spirit of experimentation and flexibility, and for housing the award-winning Black Warrior Review, which is run entirely by graduate students.

Butler University

Deadline: May 31

At Butler, writers find a home—a figurative one in our community of mentorship and support, and a literal one in the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing. Students join a vibrant literary ecosystem that includes Booth, an acclaimed visiting writers series, and rich connections to the literary life of Indianapolis.

Low Residency & Online Program Deadlines

Warren Wilson College

Deadline: September 1

The MFA Program at Warren Wilson emphasizes student writing, revision, critical thinking, and reading, and encourages students to see themselves as writers and active participants in the creation and study of literature.

Whitworth University

Deadline: November 1

Launched as the new home for the former Seattle Pacific University MFA, the Whitworth Writers Workshop preserves that program’s excellence while embracing a vibrant, intentionally Christian community.

Brooklyn Writers Foundry

Deadline: November 1

The Brooklyn Writers Foundry seeks writers from across the country and around the world who dedicate themselves to excellence in creative writing, and who want to take advantage of the literary life in New York City.

Wilkes University

Deadline: December 1

The Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University empowers writers through craft, community, and career support, no matter where they are in their writing journeys, in an affordable, low-residency format.

Emerson College

Deadline: March 1 (priority), May 1 (final)

Emerson College’s Popular Fiction Writing and Publishing MFA program is a flexible, online graduate program that allows you to work on your writing from anywhere in the world, with online workshops, literature seminars, and publishing courses that fit your schedule.

University of Nevada, Reno

Deadline: March 1 (priority), May 1 (final)

Each January and August, writers gather on the Lake Tahoe campus, where the surrounding natural beauty becomes a catalyst for literary exploration that dovetails with the environmental stewardship and research efforts across the Tahoe Basin.

Lesley University

Deadline: March 2 (priority), May 1 (final)

The MFA in Visual & Literary Arts program combines both art forms in one MFA degree. Through communal residency work and in-depth semester study, students discover the urgency that drives their stories and train in their ability as makers and thinkers to blend word and image into original new stories.

Western Colorado University

Deadline: May 31

At Western Colorado University, they believe that becoming a writer shouldn’t be a lonely endeavor. Their low-residency Graduate Program in Creative Writing is designed as a literary home, a place where your unique voice is met with the warmth of a vibrant, deeply human community.

You made it to the end! (I hope no machetes were needed to navigate this list.) As a reward, here’s a sneak peek from the list of deadlines featured on the Chill Subs blog—head over now to find even more MFAs and their application deadlines.

DePaul University | Deadline: Rolling

Chicago, IL | Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction | Full residency

Tell your story in long form. DePaul’s MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing will prepare and empower you to write a novel, memoir, or poetry collection. With the opportunity to take publishing and pedagogy courses, you’ll have the choice of a career in publishing or teaching.

Tell us which MFA program you’re hoping to be accepted into!

Leave a comment

Hey friends,

Welcome to another edition of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we ask our favorite literary experts about their specialist subject.

Today, we're talking about the submissions process for indie presses with someone who has experience on both sides of the literary curtain…

Our Expert:

Kelli Russell Agodon (she/her) is a bi/queer poet, editor, book cover designer, and co-founder of Two Sylvias Press.

Two Sylvias Press is an independent press located in the Seattle area that publishes poetry, memoir, essays, books on the craft of writing, and creativity tools, including the bestselling resource for poets, The Weekly Muse.

The Takeaways:

• Why the selection process is just as hard for editors as it is for writers!

• The subjective reasons your work might be turned down (that has nothing to do with its quality)

• How to deal with rejection (without catastrophizing)

• Submission red flags to avoid

• And how to make your poetry collection as strong as it can be

By the end of this Q&A, you'll have some new insights on the submissions process at an indie press, hopefully feel a little less angsty about sending your poetry collections out there!

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Hey friends,

Welcome to another round of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we source a panel of literary experts and ask them questions about whatever the heck. Today, the heck is award nominations and our instructors are experienced editors from three top-tier literary magazines:

The Experts:

• Derek Askey — senior editor at The Sun

• Rachel Dillon — award-winning poet, teacher, and managing editor of Ploughshares

• Steve Chang — co-founder of Lit Match Collective and fiction editor at Okay Donkey

The Takeaways:

• How do lit mag editors decide which pieces to nominate for awards?

• What are the qualities editors look for in an award-winning story or poem?

• How subjective is the whole process? (And how to deal with rejection)

• Advice on crafting and submitting your very best writing

  ---

By the end of this workshop, you might just be inspired to write an award-winning piece of your own…

Let’s Talk Writing Awards…

Every year, lit mag editors put forward their favorite pieces for a variety of writing awards. It’s a badge of honor and a massive confidence boost for writers, but what goes on behind the scenes? How do editors choose? What makes an award-winning story? (And how can we write one?)

We asked three experienced lit mag editors about the whole process and here’s what they had to say:

The Nomination Process

How does it work & what goes on behind the scenes?

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Today’s workshop is brought to you by literary agent Erin Niumata. She’s Senior Vice President over at Folio Literary Management and has been in the publishing world for almost three decades, working on multiple NY Times Bestsellers throughout her career. She’s lectured extensively on this subject for workshops and universities over many years, and we’re excited to bring that experience and expertise into this week’s forever workshop! Welcome, Erin.

There is a single sentence standing between your manuscript and an agent’s inbox. It is not your synopsis or your bio or even your first page. It is your logline or the ‘elevator pitch.’

If you have been querying without one or pasting in a vague blurb that gestures loosely at your story, or just struggling to figure out the best way to pitch your book, then this post is for you. Below, I’ve broken down exactly how to write a logline that hooks agents and editors, expanded with examples and practical advice to help you put it into practice and master the logline.

The rest of this post is for paywalled because paid subscriptions help us keep going. To learn how to craft an excellent logline (with a detailed 7-step process) with annotated real-world examples, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

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What is a Logline?

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Hey friends,

Welcome to another edition of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we source a panel of literary experts and ask them questions about whatever the heck. Today, the heck is author marketing and our instructors are three wise women of publishing:

The Experts:

• Jane Friedman — Decodes the publishing industry for writers who'd rather not learn the hard way. Featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and the BBC.

• Karin Gillespie — Simon & Schuster novelist, Substack bestseller, and a working writer who tracks the industry at Pitch Your Novel. 20+ years in the trenches.

• Erin C. Niumata — A literary agent at Folio who's been reading queries for decades and representing NYT bestsellers when she finds the good ones.

The Takeaways:

• How to approach author marketing as a total newbie

• The most important ingredient in your marketing plan

• Where to focus your efforts without getting overwhelmed

• Do you need a publicist? If so, when!?

• How to find extra support and broaden your reach

• How to play to your strengths and use the resources you already have

By the end of this lesson, you’ll have a bunch of ideas on how to put together an author marketing plan that feels authentic and manageable — and maybe even a few ways you can make book publicity fun!

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Let’s Talk Author Marketing…

Wait, as if writing a book isn’t hard enough — we have to figure out the whole marketing thing, too?!

Promoting your work can feel daunting (especially for us introvert writers) but it’s an integral part of being an author. And luckily there are a load of different ways to approach it without feeling like you’re turning into a salesperson.

Because at its core, author marketing is about showing people who you are as a writer, and encouraging them to get just as excited about your stories are you are.

But it’s all too easy to get overwhelmed by the bombardment of advice online, so we turned to our trio of publishing experts to get their take on the most effective ways to approach author marketing in a way that suits you (and doesn’t give you the ick):

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Hey friends,

Welcome to another edition of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we source a panel of literary experts and ask them questions about whatever the heck. Today, the heck is sample pages and our instructors are a trio of publishing mavens:

The Experts:

• Derek Askey — Senior Editor at The Sun

• Rachel Dillon — Managing Editor of Ploughshares, whose work appears in the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Pleiades, and Poet Lore.

• Steve Chang — Fiction Editor at Okay Donkey and MacDowell Fellow.

The Takeaways:

• Why “experimental” is not the same as decorative, and how to experiment with intention

• How writers can avoid cliché through image

• What editors mean when they say a piece must have a “so what”— and why “weird” isn’t enough

• How different magazines define “experimental” work

• Why successful experimental writing often creates two layers of meaning

By the end of this workshop, you’ll be able to let your strangeness loose while handling the reins of meaning with mastery!

How do you feel about ‘experimental’ writing?

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Welcome to The Forever Workshop’s MFA Newsletter, a monthly column about career advancement in the literary space. Everything published here is free to enjoy, courtesy of our partnered universities. (Not interested? Turn off emails from this column here.)

Low-residency MFAs are hybrid programs that allow for flexibility while earning your degree. Most programs consist of week-long residencies that take place in-person on the university’s campus and happen a few times a year. During these residencies, you’ll meet your professors, attend intensive seminars and workshops, and write alongside your cohort. When you aren’t meeting in-person, you’re writing from home towards deadlines set by a mentor or writing instructor, who may then meet with you virtually or send you a “packet” with feedback on your manuscript. Some low-res programs have you take online courses in between residencies, too, either synchronous or asynchronous, to round out your degree.

Because you only meet in-person a few times, attending a low-residency program means that you can still work full-time, raise a family, and live where you’re comfortable while earning your MFA—plus, you get to take a planned vacation from home life once or twice a year and talk about writing with likeminded people. Low-residency programs often accept less students than traditional MFAs, too, so you’ll have more individualized attention given to your manuscript by your mentor. And the hybrid structure of a low-res program forces you to incorporate your writing into your already busy schedule, which helps you create a writing routine that you can stick with after you receive your degree.

Have we sold you on low-residency programs? If so, here’s a list of low-res MFAs from all over the world (and their upcoming deadlines) that we think you should check out!

Low-Residency MFA Partner Programs

University of Nevada, Reno

Deadline: March 1

Whitworth University

Deadline: November 1

Brooklyn Writers Foundry

Deadline: November 1

Western Colorado University

Deadline: August 1

Lesley University

Deadline: March 2

Warren Wilson College

Deadline: September 2

Low-Res Programs Around the World

Wilkes University

Deadline: December 1

• Offers concentrations in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, spoken word, playwriting, screenwriting, writing for TV, or publishing

• Each thesis is evaluated by a working agent, editor, publisher, or producer

• Has week-long residencies that are “intense, motivating and rewarding”

Rainier Writing Workshop

Deadline: February 1

• Has the choice to complete the program in either two or three years

• Offers four 10-day residencies which take place in the Pacific Northwest

• Faculty includes acclaimed writers, such as Kelli Russell Agodon, Rick Barot, Barrie Jean Borich, and others

Goucher College

Deadline: June 26

• Offers an MFA in nonfiction only

• Faculty specializes in personal essay, literary journalism, memoir, lyric essay, biography, flash nonfiction, and genre hybrids

• Winter residencies meet in New York City, where you learn about the publishing world, meet agents and editors, and pitch your projects

Cedar Crest College

Deadline: August 1

• First graduate program run by an American college that includes exclusive European residencies

• Offers concentrations in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, travel writing, screenwriting, or dual-genre

• Residencies are designed to inspire writing with a sense of place through the study of each European city’s culture

Institute of American Indian Arts

Deadline: February 1

• Emphasizes the importance of Native writers and voicing the Native experience, but open to writers of all backgrounds

• Mentors include Native and non-Native writers who have won Lannan Literary Awards, Whiting Awards, the National Book Award, among others

• Week-long residencies happen twice a year in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Bluegrass Writers Studio

Deadline: August 1

• Summer residencies can take place in both Kentucky and Portugal

• Offers publishing internships with the Appalachian Book Company, Jelly Bucket, Martin Sisters Publishing, and more

• Alumni have been finalists for or won several notable awards, such as The Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction, The Fulbright Scholars Program, The PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction, among others

This list too short? Check out the Chill Subs blog for even more low-residency MFA programs!

Have a friend looking for the perfect low-res MFA program? Save them a search and send them this list!

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“Writer’s block” gets thrown around a lot in writing spaces but is rarely defined. In theory, it doesn’t need to be defined because we all know the feeling…and giving it too much attention is akin to looking at the monster too closely in a horror movie. It invites the bad thing in. But I think it’s useful to actually talk about what writer’s block means, because it comes in many different forms. Acknowledging this can help defeat it.

Despite the trope commonly found in movies, rarely does writer’s block actually look like literally staring at an empty document or page, slack-jawed and glass-eyed, no thoughts arriving. More often, it looks like getting stuck in a novel draft, unsure what comes next. Writing an essay that feels like it’s moving in circles rather than ever arriving at a coherent point. Knowing a sentiment you want to express in said essay but struggling to find the right words to do so. Concocting a character for fiction who you’re not quite sure what to do with. Having some but not all of the pieces can lead one to feeling stuck, uninspired, and overwhelmed by ideas (yes, I believe blocks are born from an abundance of ideas but lack of focus rather than a dearth of ideas). Blocks can take different shapes and sizes. Which is why I also don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all approach to getting yourself out of them.

The most common advice is to read. That is great advice. It works in many cases and for many people. Engaging deeply with literature gets the gears moving.

But what about the times it doesn’t? Or what if your writing practice already builds in plenty of time to read, so doing so isn’t really a change of course? Because that’s what a block often requires: a disruption. You must do or seek out something slightly out of the ordinary. That’s where your creativity lives and thrives.

For this reason, I often go beyond the old “just read” adage when I feel a block looming over my writing sessions; I seek out inspiration and reinvigoration from other artforms. If you’re a multidisciplinary artist, you already know the power of letting different mediums feed each other. But even for those who work in multiple art forms, my advice is to step outside of all of them and seek out art in areas in which you do not work. See what you can learn from the practices you aren’t constantly trying to master. Story is everywhere: in songs, short films, paintings, tapestries, photographs, a child’s mosaic made of shells. Sometimes, looking at stories that take different shapes than your body of work can help you unlock new ideas and pull you right out of that block.

So yes, read a book, but also go to a museum. Maybe one where you live that you have not been to before; maybe one you’ve been to many times. The beauty of museums is that you likely haven’t engaged deeply with every single piece on display; even the small ones usually have rotating exhibits. And yes, I realize “go to a museum with a notebook and find inspiration” is a frustratingly broad prompt, which is why I won’t send you empty-handed. Here is the writing prompt I’ve used time and again, in all kinds of museums, which begins as a sort of straightforward journaling prompt but has often led to fully realized essays, short stories, and flash pieces.

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What you’ll learn

1. Why Stephen King never lets a character just “grab a beer” — and what he reaches for instead

2. The sensory trick that drops readers straight into your scene

3. How to spot the one unique detail that does the work of a whole paragraph

4. Two exercises to train your eye for what you’ve been walking past

By the end, you’ll have a repeatable way to find details that make readers feel a scene instead of skim past it. The three exercises below are where that starts — and they’re yours to keep.

✰

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Why Do Details Matter So Much

Details are the building blocks of description. The words and bits of information you choose can bring characters, settings, objects, and feelings to life on the page. They create the images readers see in their minds and connect them to the story through their senses and emotions. Details also ground readers by establishing the places and people in the story, distinguishing one character or setting from another, and creating a sense of reality, or in some stories, otherworldliness. Details also support the story’s larger purpose and can serve as meaningful touchstones throughout a piece.

As writers, we often become deeply immersed in our own narratives and stories and can forget that the reader can’t see, sense, or feel what we’ve experienced or imagined. We must continually show them through storytelling, with the action, scenes, and carefully chosen details.

How to Mine for Details

To find the right details for your writing, you need to pay attention, observe closely, and notice what’s happening in the world around you that might otherwise be overlooked or ignored. This takes practice.

Here are two exercises to get you started.

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Hey friends, welcome to The Forever Workshop. First time? Read this. Back again? Here’s what we’ve got for you today…

A workshop for:

Poets who want to learn the fundamentals of sonnet structure and how to break all the rules to create boundary-pushing, emotive poetry.

Your instructor:

Madeleine Bazil: poet, writer, filmmaker, and author of Field Guide, an ecopoetics newsletter.

Key takeaways:

• Learn how the sonnet works as both a formal container and a site of experimentation

• Learn how to make the volta the emotional engine of a sonnet

• What contemporary poets borrow from traditional sonnet structure (meter, rhyme, 14 lines) and what they deliberately break

• Why constraint in poetry can sharpen language and deepen invention, rather than limit expression

By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a new understanding of how the sonnet structure can be transgressed, manipulated, and played with to create emotionally affecting poetry.

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Hey there, welcome to The Forever Workshop.

First time? Read this.

Back again? Here’s what we’ve got for you today…

A workshop for:

Short fiction writers who dream of seeing their work in the Wigleaf Top 50 (and want to peek behind the curtain to find out how it all happens).

Your instructor:

Shome Dasgupta — former Wigleaf Top 50 series editor and author of 13 books

Takeaways:

• How the Wigleaf Top 50 actually works, from reader nominations to the final shortlist

• What one series editor looks for: opening lines, language, and rhythm—and why the first line isn’t a dealbreaker

• What reading thousands of flash pieces taught Shome about his own writing

• Why the Top 50’s annual release brings Shome to tears every year

Few people have seen the Wigleaf Top 50 from both sides. In this Q&A, Shome Dasgupta gives us a peek behind the curtain. You'll walk away with a clearer sense of what the selection process asks of a story, and what the literary community asks of all of us.

So, without further ado, over to Shome…

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