Randy Susan Meyers on Using an Outline, Speaking With Don Share, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
10.18.13

Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories:

“Anyone who averts his eyes from the hopeless lives many of our fellow citizens lead and tells himself and others that these men and women only have themselves to blame, is either a fool or a soulless bastard.” Poet Charles Simic weighs in on the current state of American society. (New York Review of Books)

On the most recent New Yorker Out Loud podcast, Norman Mailer and Alice Munro are discussed.

Meanwhile, 2paragraphs speaks with Poetry magazine editor Don Share.

Khaled Hosseini doesn’t use an outline when composing his books, yet Justin Cronin says, “There’s an outline for each of the books that I adhere to pretty closely.” Author Randy Susan Meyers examines this tool for writers. (Beyond the Margins)

On Graywolf Press’s blog, Susan Steinberg shares thoughts on punctuation.

And on Matt Debenham’s blog—a look at what writers can glean from popular television shows. “You have to remain true to your character, and you have to make the hard choices. You can’t think about what will upset people or turn people off.”

The Onion found ten sandwiches that look like novelist Martin Amis.