February 14th, 2019 by J C Bronsted
A few years ago I joined a local fiction-writers’ workshop here in Naples, FL, which has helped me immensely in getting my writing done. I have to turn in a new story every few weeks, and I prefer to treat that deadline as sacrosanct, to practice finishing work. In addition, the feedback is excellent, and I am forced to confront my own writing with more and more discerning eyes, working ever to improve. Both of these things have been beneficial.
But perhaps more interesting than how the workshop has helped my writing, a little more than a year ago, I talked with Kristine, the founder of the workshop, about expanding it. We discussed putting on readings, starting a podcast, developing paid seminars and workshops, providing a writing space for local writers, and even perhaps one day creating a literary magazine. A couple of those things have already come to fruition.
I thought I should mention those projects here on my own site. Please visit the Naples Writers’ Workshop website for more information.
I am one of the hosts of our podcast, which launched with its first episode on this first of this month. It’s called Why Is This Good?, and we discuss excellent fiction to try to glean lessons that can help inform the craft and artistry of our own fiction. The first time I discussed this idea with Kristine, I thought it would be a great podcast for aspiring writers or anyone who is interested in thinking about the art of fiction, and I think the results are proving that intuition to be true. The first episode is now available on Apple Podcasts and Google Play, and the next will be available tomorrow (the 15th). Please check it out.
Kristine and I are also running a Teen Fiction Workshop geared to high school students who are interested in writing fiction. The high school curriculum does not encourage fiction writing, and we hope to provide some modicum of encouragement for young writers. So far our students are really excellent writers with enormous potential, and I’m encouraged for the future of this workshop. A few issues have come up, but overall I’m pleased with what we’ve been able to do.
We’ve also been able to host a couple of fiction readings at local venues, and we’re planning for the next one. These have also been successful. You can see some pictures from the events at the workshop page I linked above.
Anyway, I thought I should mention some of the things I’ve been working on this past year other than incomplete drafts of Death and Life, which progresses in spurts now and then as I find moments to press forward with it. We were running a novel workshop which helped, but that was a project we were forced to reconsider. In the meantime, my daughters are getting more amazing every day, and I love being their daddy.
* * *
November 15th, 2017 by J C Bronsted
While taking care of my daughters during the day, I have been working nights at various writing projects. These include Death and Life, various short stories, several incipient book proposals, and an academic paper based on my PhD dissertation. I wanted to take a moment to update my website with my progress on these projects.
Last week I finished and submitted the academic paper to a peer-reviewed journal, but I will have to wait four to five months to hear back. If it is not accepted, I will repeat the process elsewhere. I would like to develop these ideas into a critical opus, but that is still some distance in the future.
I’ve written a couple of short stories, and those are currently in rounds of submission, but once again it will take time to hear from the various places, and if they are rejected, I will have to submit them elsewhere. I’ve decided to be bold and aim high in where I am submitting, so the chances of rejection are quite high. However, the rewards if accepted are also great. Meanwhile, I continue to write more short stories.
The book proposals are a bit more difficult. I’ve developed a relatively comprehensive outline for one book based on the theoretical foundation on which my dissertation was based, but I’m having trouble figuring out an engaging way to introduce the ideas to a reader. I need to develop a more compelling introduction so that I can actually sell it. I’ve written several versions of this, but I don’t think I’m there yet. Meanwhile, a few other book proposals are in the outlining stage.
Death and Life moves forward apace, and I’m part of a novel-writing group that forces me to make progress in that writing while also offering incredibly useful feedback and advice. The work is nevertheless slow, as I am splitting my focus quite a bit. But it progresses.
As things go forward, I will continue to update this space.
Posted in Death and Life, Writing
* * *
May 8th, 2017 by J C Bronsted
I have at long last finished my degree and graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Studies. The program was highly interdisciplinary and self-directed. My dissertation incorporated Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Epistemology, and Literary Theory/Criticism and Poetics.
In addition, I welcomed my twin daughters into the world last fall. They are now six months old and strong and healthy.
I will be spending a lot of time taking care of my girls, but now that I’ve finished the PhD program, I should have much more time to work on the many novels I’d like to write. I would also like to turn some of the ideas I used in my dissertation into books. I’ll try to keep this space updated.
Posted in Life
* * *
July 12th, 2016 by J C Bronsted
I updated my “Projects” page to reflect the fact that I’ve advanced to candidacy in the PhD program and am now writing the dissertation.
I got a Summer Research Fellowship to support my dissertation writing, and this summer is focused on that writing. I’ve made good progress, though recently I’ve paused writing to read a few books. Within the week I’ll be writing more intensely again.
It’s not novel-writing, but it’s good to be once again so focused on writing.
* * *
May 22nd, 2015 by J C Bronsted
I’ve added two conference papers that I presented over the past academic year (one at FAU, the other at Purdue University) to the site. Find links to them on my “Other Writing” page.
The two papers are very similar, as the one is a revision of the other. I’m not sure which I would recommend people to read. One presents some features of a cognitive literary theory, while the other does so in the context of critiquing poststructuralism. It depends on one’s interests for which would be more useful. There is content in each that is not in the other.
I also added a poem to the site, linked as above, which I wrote in 1999. I’ve been thinking that I want to add more of some of my older writing to this website. Hopefully I will continue to do so.
As always, if you have any comments, please let me know.
Posted in Website
* * *
March 6th, 2014 by J C Bronsted
It’s a shame I don’t post more here.
Since my last posting, I began a PhD program at Florida Atlantic University in Comparative Studies (Cultures, Languages, and Literatures). My specific interest, and the focus of my study and eventual dissertation is a mixture of cognitive science, linguistics, and literary theory. Specifically, I want to argue for a more cognitive approach to literary critical practice rather than the post-structuralist assumptions that have guided its theoretical underpinnings for the past several decades. Our minds and hence our subjectivity are inherently pre-discursive, but post-structuralist thought denies this and assumes that subjectivity is constructed by external influences. A great many things fall out of this assumption, and my goal is to build up an alternate foundation for critical theory based on recent findings of cognitive science. This project may be much too large for me, but it’s where my fundamental interests in this domain lie, so forward I must go.
Meanwhile, I have not written any novels. This is wildly dissatisfying and leads to erratic moods as I contemplate further years passing me by without having published my writing. I don’t know how to overcome this, as the PhD program requires almost all of me. Through some naive optimism, I’ve kept a copy of Death and Life in my bag with the hope that I’ll take it out once in a while and write it. I do intend to write more this summer when I will only be adjuncting and planning for the fall semester.
I’ll write here that I intend to update this more often, and perhaps I will restructure the website to include a section for school and things that emerge out of the PhD program, but writing that is mere optimism.
Posted in Life
* * *
March 27th, 2013 by J C Bronsted
I’ve been playing with some of the old mythology of Raya that informs The Redemption Saga, revising and reworking some of the short tales that comprise it. I’ve been conceiving of them now as “Short Fiction” that perhaps I may send off to some journals or magazines and see if anything sticks. Even though there is absolutely no chance of its being accepted there, I submitted “The Quest of the Fire Heart” to the New Yorker Fiction. That is the tale of Adhenil Eniwi’s quest to reclaim the Nerrimadhe from Gollithis. See all those weird words that no one who has not yet read the story could ever understand? That’s one reason the New Yorker will never even consider it. Savages.
But in the meantime, I rewrote “the Despair of the Inaya”, the first part of the Anyaria (Creation of Raya). I finally (finally!!) worked out a metaphor for creation that I really like (its presentation still needs work). Ever after reading the Ainulindalë by Tolkien, with its description of the creation of the world being presupposed by music, I’ve wanted to discover something equally cool. I don’t think it’s equal, but what I’ve come up with at least satisfies me on the metaphor-of-creation level. Rewriting the Anyaria also caused me to rename Gollithis to Gollíkur, who is “wreaker of corruption,” rather than “worker of corruption.” This is important. No really.
I’ve long wanted to mimic Tolkien in creating a mythology that is the background for a language or languages. Hence, I spend equal time on the linguistics of the Shayatsi as I do their mythology.
Anyway, the writing of these myths and legends now serves two purposes: first, it allows me to think about the themes of the Redemption Saga which will help inform its new shape; and second, I am writing “short fiction” that maybe, someday, perhaps, who knows, I might be able to sell.
Posted in The Redemption Saga, Writing
* * *
February 16th, 2013 by J C Bronsted
I’ve reached 20,000 words on Death and Life, which is good. I feel like I’m on the verge of getting this stuck-in-the-mud train finally moving again. But I’ve felt that way before.
Meanwhile, my lingering dissatisfaction with Looming Thunderheads has led me at last to the decision that I will leave that novel aside and rework the entire Redemption Saga series from the beginning. I do not do this lightly. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while, but every attempt to rework the story has led me back to embracing Looming Thunderheads as it stands. Nevertheless, that dissatisfaction lingered.
Part of the problem with scrapping the book was that I love most of it. I want to keep it. There are moments in the story that I need to present in whatever final version of the Redemption Saga I produce. Therefore, I intend to use the Looming Thunderheads manuscripts as a junkyard, pulling scenes and stories to incorporate into the new version. I think this will immensely help the overall story.
But at the moment that project remains only in the planning stage, and my focus ought to remain on Death and Life. I do need to get that one written so I can get it out of my system. That too has been a long-time project, and its original version was a completely different presentation of the same story. Hopefully, as it benefited from reimagining, so too can Redemption.
The Redemption Saga page, the Looming Thunderheads page, and the Current Projects page have all been updated to reflect this decision.
Posted in Death and Life, The Redemption Saga
* * *
February 8th, 2013 by J C Bronsted
I’ve put up two seminar papers I wrote during the course of my Master’s program at UA.
Find them among my Essays at “Other Writing” on the menu above.
Posted in Website
* * *
January 22nd, 2013 by J C Bronsted
I did graduate last Spring, and I’ve moved back to Florida. I am now an Adjunct Professor at a local college.
Last fall I rewrote the prologue to Angie to give it a “softer” open, and Angie is now near some editor’s desk awaiting consideration. I also spent a bit of time reworking a few chapters of Looming Thunderheads to make them stronger, hopefully. I’m going to read through the text again and then hopefully Looming can go sit on some editor’s desk for a few months too.
I’ve applied to a few PhD programs, and we’ll see if I get accepted into those. If not, I may spend some of my time doing my own Literary Critical research and thinking. I have ideas, I do.
Meanwhile I think I want to return to Death and Life, as I have been mulling over how to narrate that story for some time, and I want to try and see if it works. That means redoing what I have, but for the better I think. We’ll see.
I also intend to update the website soon, and that may mean ditching this WordPress journal for something I write myself. Not sure if I want to spend the time programming that project, but for very many reasons I want to change this part of the site.
I apologize for the long-broken sections of the site, and the weird accumulation of various stages of page revisions. Hopefully as I move forward with this project I can fix that. We’ll see.
Hey, if you’re reading this, drop me a line. Thanks!
Posted in Angie Star, Death and Life, Life, The Redemption Saga, Website
* * *