Allison K. Williams's Blog, page 36

Examining Authenticity in Memoir

By Amy Mackin

Authenticity has been at the forefront of my mind over the last year, and I’m clearly not alone. According to Merriam-Webster, “authentic” was one of the most looked-up terms in 2023, leading the company to designate it as their “word of the year.”

Writing memoir demands constant interrogation of authenticity, and it’s within this frame that I continued to re-read and tweak my manuscript even as I pitched this “final” draft to literary agents and editors. The book, which e...

A Village Approach To Removing Roadblocks

By Ann Kathryn Kelly

I thought I had written a gripping memoir. (Don’t we all?)

My story is about the mysterious and ongoing neurological issues I’d experienced from childhood into adulthood. A limp. Crossed eye. Severe headaches. Smaller and weaker muscles on my left side. An ice-cold foot.

After decades without answers, punctuated by doctors’ theories and workarounds, all I could do was adapt—until my symptoms worsened. Nonstop hiccupping for weeks. Dry-heaving every morning. Tingl...

What You Don’t Know About Publishing (Could Ruin Your Book)

By Peter Mountford

The publishing business is vast and byzantine. What does it mean that your agent is “taking your book to Frankfurt,” or what do you know about the mysterious film/foreign scout network, or Goodreads giveaways, or regional sales reps?

Unfortunately, most aspiring authors don’t understand the publishing world. Flustered, people often choose to self-publish, then feel crushed when only their loved ones (and not many of them, for that matter) buy the book.

Big Takeaway...

What I Learned About Essay Writing by Reading for a Literary Magazine

By Jillian Barnet

After Under the Sun published one of my essays, the editors, Martha Highers and Nomi Isenberg, invited me to read for an upcoming issue. My first thought was that I couldn’t possibly find the time. I already struggled to cobble together minutes in my writing chair. However, Martha and Nomi had nurtured my little essay, generously sharing written responses from themselves and eight other readers. Studying their feedback helped me tremendously in the revision process, not o...

Micro Memoir Recipe Box

By Heather Sellers

Micro memoirs are true stories told in tight packages—from a deft paragraph to a page or two. They are delicious to read, but devilishly difficult to write.  Micro memoir requires strong story-telling skills (plot! character! turns! depth!) alongside careful attention to metaphor, compression, and evocative language. And you have to do this all in about a minute. 

As a writer and as a teacher, I am wild about micros. Because so many crucial writing skills come into p...

Here’s the Thing

By Gary Reddin

You write the thing. Then you rewrite the thing. Then again and again until it’s done. That last part is key. Because you don’t decide when your writing is finished – it does. This, or some approximation of it, is the advice I give new writers when asked. And for the most part, I believe in it. But I’ve never been a planner, not when it comes to writing. Or, if I’m being honest – and the thing demands I be honest – that lack of planning extends to my life overall. The only p...

God Meets With His Editor

By Ali Solomon 

GOD: Did you get the new tablets I sent you?  

EDITOR: I did. All seventy-five of them.  

GOD: And? What do you think?  

EDITOR: Some good stuff in there—”Thou shalt not spit on the ground in public.” Solid. “Thou shalt not double-dip in thy neighbor’s honey.” Also gold. 

GOD: But? 

EDITOR: We’re trying to tighten this up, make it as relatable as possible.  

GOD: Spitting on the ground is gross.  

EDITOR: I agree. Totally gross. But do people hate it as...

What’s in a Name?—The Risks of Writing About Family

By Laurie Hertzel

When the editor of a literary journal asked me to contribute to his final issue a few years ago, I had only one essay that was ready to send, one I hadn’t planned on publishing. It was autobiographical, an account of the accidental death of my oldest brother, told through the eyes of nine-year-old me.

I knew I was taking a risk. Several members of my family deeply value their privacy, and they have let me know they disapprove of my writing about family. And I didn’t wa...

Year of Plenty: A Family’s Season of Grief

In his latest memoir, Year of Plenty: A Family’s Season of Grief, B.J. Hollars chronicles a year that brought the cancer diagnosis of his father-in-law, the intense uncertainty of covid, and the struggles he and his wife Meredith faced raising three young children in the midst of all this. Hollars writes in diary style, but with sharply rendered scenes, and accompanies the narrative with photographs and family interviews. Author Tessa Fontaine describes this small gem of a book as “one of th...

An Unlikely Writer

By Deborah Ann Lucas

We moved every year when I was young, making me the perpetual new kid. One day during the summer after fifth grade, I complained I had nothing to do. Busy making dinner, Mom sent me out into the small Michigan town to find a library—my first. I walked around the block, climbed the stairs, and entered a cavernous room. The smell of musty books enveloped me. As my anxiety grew, the room blurred. I couldn’t figure out the catalog system. But Mom expected me to bring home ...