Guest Blog Post, Terese Svoboda: Footnotes for Fiction

Terese Svoboda I’ve been teaching a class at Columbia which Gary Scheytgart calls Fiction for Dummies but is more accurately a fiction class for poets and creative nonfiction writers who want to steal from the genre. One of these students emailed me with her first story, exclaiming how hard fiction is to write, compared to nonfiction. You have to make everything up!

I have just concluded the opposite. I am writing a biography/memoir about the life of anarchist Modernist Lola Ridge who consorted with the likes of Marianne Moore and William Carlos Williams. You’ve never heard of her, partly because her executor has been promising a biography for the last forty years and is holding the papers, and partly because her work didn’t follow the Eliot and Pound maxims of staying divorced from life and politics.

My publisher suggested a fancy hybrid approach of biography/memoir, not me. Researching and then organizing that research along the lines of creative fiction, that is, with characters, plot, motivation, is a double job to start with. I’m triply challenged when I apply myself to the memoir aspect. Just having lived through events doesn’t give me anything approaching insight. Sure, there’s a nimbus of emotion surrounding the madeleine but where is causality when I need it? I strongly prefer to concoct fiction that slowly reveals itself while I am discovering the details to support it.

My fourth novel Tin God, reissued this April, started from a dream Tin Godabout a conquistador and a “drug situation” maybe my brother was involved in. All I had to do was figure out how to put two completely different stories together. With nonfiction, you have all these footnote-y details lying around everywhere that don’t quite go together. And where are they when you think you’ve got a match? But there is, I admit, big payoff when—voila!—I uncover a piece that illuminates everything, e.g., a letter that says Ridge regretted dropping her son off at an orphanage.

I say: footnotes for fiction! Let’s make those fiction writers cough up their sources, they (and me) who so easily assert that they’re crafting truth out of the dross of imagination. Let’s see the ticket that cop gave you that made your mother so mad you had to write a short story to figure out she was having an affair with him. You know you have it around somewhere.

Twitter® Handles for Superstition Review Contributors

Here is a list of our known contributors’ Twitter handles. If we missed any or have made any errors, please leave a comment and we will fix it. This is a great opportunity for our readers to follow their favorites.

Alan Cheuse @ahescee
Amanda Auchter @ALAuchter
Amanda Eyre Ward @amandaeyreward
Andrew Galligan @galligan_andrew
Andrew Scott @_AndrewScott
Ashley Caveda @AshleyCaveda
Ben Brooks @ben_brooks
Benjamin Vogt @BRVogt
BJ Hollars @BJHollars
Brenda Miller @BrendaMiller31
Carrie Moniz @Carrie_Moniz
Catherine Pierce @katieppierce
Chase Twichell @chasetwichell
Christopher Jagmin @chrisjagmin
Constance McBride @mcbride_connie
Courtney Mauk @courtneymauk
Dan Chaon @Danchaon
Daniel Elson @daniel_elson
Dara Wier @darawier
Diana Joseph @diana_joseph
Dorianne Laux @doriannelaux
Douglas Light @LightHappening
Duncan Hill @duncanhillphoto
Elena Passarello @elenavox
Eliza Gregory @elizagregory
Elizabeth Searle @StarWrit
Eugenio Volpe @MeBeingBrand
Faye Rapoport DesPres @MassWriter 
Floyd Skloot @fskloot

Frances Lefkewiz @YesFrances
James Valvis @JamesValvis
Jennifer Drucker @jenniferdrucker
Joan Colby @poetjm
John Grogan @JohnGroganbooks
Kazim Ali @KazimAliPoet
Kelle Groom @KelleGroom
Kelli Russell Agodon @kelliagodon
Lee Martin @LeeMartinAuthor
Marie Mockett @MarieMockett
Matthew Brennan @MatthewBrennan7
Matthew Gavin Frank @matthewgfrank
Meg Pokrass @megpokrass
Michael Martone @4foraQuarter
Miguel Murphy @MiguelMurphy
Pam Houston @pam_houston
Patricia Clark @poetclark
Paul Lisicky @Paul_Lisicky
Raina Gentry @RainaGentryArt
Roger Boylan @Killoyler
Ruth Ellen Kocher @ruthellenkocher
Samuel Kolawole @sammylaws1
Sankar Roy @SankarPoet
Shannon Ward @ShannonCamlin
Sherman Alexie @Sherman_Alexie
Sloane Crosley @askanyone
Stella Pope Duarte @StellaPope
Susan Wingate @susanwingate
Suzanne Marie Hopcroft @divinestsense
Terra Brigando @Terranisaur
Theodore Wheeler @theodorewheeler
Tim Flannery @Purple_World
Timothy Liu @arabadjisliu
Vanessa Blakeslee @vmblakeslee
William D. Hicks @wdhicks
Xavier Nuez @Xnuez

April is National Poetry Month

official National Poetry Month poster from poets.org

The art of poetry has been around pretty much as long as there have been words. Finally in 1996, Poetry was given its own month. That’s right, April is National Poetry Month, a month to celebrate poetry and poets and their impact on American culture. National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets, an organization that supports American poets and fosters the appreciation of contemporary poetry, in 1996. During this month the Academy of American Poets wants to especially increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture and highlight the legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets. One of the top goals is to introduce more Americans to the pleasures of reading poetry. My questions for our readers:

What pleasures do you gain from reading poetry?

Do you do anything specific to celebrate National Poetry Month? If so, what?

What role do you think poets play in American culture?

The Academy of American Poets lists 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month. You can find them all listed here.

One of my favorite options is “poem in your pocket day.”  The idea is to carry one of your favorite poems with you all day. I think this is a great concept to do in general. Glancing at a poem throughout the day can give you the strength, inspiration and motivation to get through the day or to even write a poem yourself. For National Poetry Month I aim to carry a poem in my pocket at least twice a week.

Anyone else have any National Poetry Month goals?

Author Spotlight: Denise Duhamel

Denise DuhamelThis week’s Author Spotlight is on renowned poet Denise Duhamel, whose books include Kinky, Queen for a Day, and The Woman With Two Vaginas. She has also published work in numerous literary magazines and has collaborated with Maureen Seaton on three books of poetry.

Duhamel received the Crab Orchard Poetry Prize for her book The Star-Spangled Banner, and is one of poetry’s premier voices. Her writing is unique, thought provoking, and edgy. She helps her readers have a new mindset when looking at the world, and uses seemingly innocuous subjects like Barbie to make her readers re-examine society. Click here to read her poem One Afternoon When Barbie Wanted to Join the Military.

Queen for a DayDuhamel currently enriches the lives of students at Florida International University, where she teaches Creative Writing. She is married to the poet Nick Carbó.

To read more about Denise Duhamel click here. To read more of her poetry, please click here, or purchase one of her wonderful books.

And don’t forget to check out her interview in the upcoming issue of Superstition Review!