Any idea can make a great piece of fiction. It’s all in the execution.
Here you’ll find the motivation, encouragement, and guidance you need to move forward with your novel or story collection, whether you are just starting out, revising a completed draft, or somewhere in between.
I don’t just look at your writing: I look at you as a writer. There is no greater freedom for a writer than the freedom to overcome mechanical issues that stand in the way of expression. My approach focuses on the central technical skills that can liberate you to focus on the creative process.
Why work with me?
I spend pretty much all my time writing, reading, and thinking about fiction. I’ve been teaching writing for about a decade at places like The New School and Rutgers, where my students—whether undergraduates, MFA candidates, or continuing ed students—have had lots of nice things to say about me. I’m the author of Trenton Makes, a literary novel which was shortlisted for a number of prizes. As a critic, I publish in the NY Times Book Review, the Times Literary Supplement, the Brooklyn Rail, and a bunch of other places, and in the last couple of years I judged the Center for Fiction’s Emerging Writers Fellowship and the William Faulkner Society’s Novel Prize.