Kurt Vonnegut's 8 rules for writing that I think everyone should consider: ⁣ 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.⁣ ⁣ 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.⁣ ⁣ 3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.⁣ ⁣ 4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.⁣ ⁣ 5. Start as close to the end as possible.⁣ ⁣ 6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.⁣ ⁣ 7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.⁣ ⁣ 8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.⁣

I constantly get DM’d asking for Fashion Theory recs, so I made a short thread 🫡

I'm seeing so many presses opening up to book and chapbook submissions right now and I know you want your book published really badly and this is not a subtweet. But do your research into presses, their editors and their catalog before you send them your precious manuscript.1/🧵

friendly reminder that National Poetry Month was inspired by the successes of Black History Month and Women’s History Month so you should have supporting and honoring Black poets and women poets as a central part of your April celebrations

I wrote about John Guillory's incredibly depressing new book about the past and future of academic literary criticism, for @nybooks nybooks.com/articles/2023/03…

I want to extend my gratitude to @fhill_official and @TheAtlantic for making space for this poem today. I hope you all enjoy it or find something that resonates with you in it. theatlantic.com/books/archiv…

Mystery book delivery! We do like some Etgar Keret short fiction here, but who could’ve known that…? Or sent it…? The whole thing is very, well, Etgar Keret!

☠️😹@natogreen

If you think the Memphis police officers had to be white in order to exhibit anti-Blackness, you need to take that AP African American Studies course Ron DeSantis just banned.

"Yes it is impossible, therefore it will take a little longer." Paolo Lugari

Since it's #InternationalMensDay, here's a thread of every part of the gynaecological anatomy that is named after a man, with a bit of trivia about each man. Some of the bits are very specific. Before you ask, there are no parts of the gynaecological anatomy named after women...

Someone show me a really good poem. Blow the top of my head off good poem.

which black thinker - who isn't basically canonical at this point (e.g., du bois, fanon, hartman) - should we probably be reading right now?

Many others have given this type of advice to artists, but when it comes from David Bowie, well it just sounds epiphanic.

Gerald Stern. One of the kindest, most encouraging poets I ever had the fortune to meet. “Pluma” from Last Blue and the five aphorisms from Not God After All. May his memory, fight, antagonism, pugnacity, kindness, & heart be a blessing forever.

Does anyone else have a superabundance of a certain name in your life? Mine is Chris (6 Chrises).

Wow, this: "Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating." ― Simone Weil