Author: Michael Anthony

Michael Anthony is a Massachusetts based writer and the author of the graphic memoir "Just Another Meat-Eating Dirtbag," and the acclaimed memoirs "Mass Casualties" and "Civilianized." He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and is a volunteer for The Veterans Writing Project.
MFA Notes

MFA Notes: The Art of Juxtaposition

Michael Anthony

the art of juxtapositionQuick Notes: The Art of Juxtaposition in Creative Writing

Recently, I graduated from Lesley University with an MFA in creative writing, and I decided that I wanted to share what I learned in a series of blog posts.

I decided to share for two reasons:

1) My notes, although not too detailed, could possibly  help other writers.

2) Rewriting my notes forces me to re-read and re-think everything I learned, so it’s a win-win.

But before we dive in, please keep two things in mind:

1) These notes are neither complete nor perfect. The classes at Lesley were not typical lecture/note classes; the classes were filled with writing and thinking exercises and often this left no time for notes (in a good way). However, even with that, these sparse notes, I do believe, could still offer value.

2) I may, from time to time, include actual writing prompts from the classes, please bare with me, they’re first drafts and were done in the moment.

I hope you enjoy this series of notes and if you have any questions about the notes, Lesley University, or MFA’s, please feel free to contact me.

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is placement. It’s not metaphor or simile. Instead of having to spell things out or directly say something, you can put two things side by side and the juxtaposition can say it for you.

Juxtaposition between words and pictures.

Juxtaposition between facts and humor.

Juxtaposition between time; between tones; and between voices.

“Feel free to make fun of yourself.” – Sherman Alexie

“Art is the means of transferring feeling from one man’s heart to another.” – Tolstoy

“Openings are seeing someone for the first time.” – Richard Goodman

*Take out everything that doesn’t have to do with the story.*

In the beginning – raise questions, provide tension, arouse suspicion, create suspense, establish expectations.

In class writing prompt: Starting in the middle: “Jack had challenged me, again. Another brotherly competition he said. We had already discovered that he was the faster runner, the best.”

See different levels of reality in one situation…

Click here to see more MFA Notes…

Recommended book for this section: On Writing Well, by William Zinsser.

Picture: Flickr/Caleb Roenigk

MFA Notes

MFA Notes: Dialogue Across Genres

Michael Anthony

dialgue across genresQuick Notes: the importance of narrative dialogue

Recently, I graduated from Lesley University with an MFA in creative writing, and I decided that I wanted to share what I learned in a series of blog posts.

I decided to share for two reasons:

1) My notes, although not too detailed, could possibly  help other writers.

2) Rewriting my notes forces me to re-read and re-think everything I learned, so it’s a win-win.

But before we dive in, please keep two things in mind:

1) These notes are neither complete nor perfect. The classes at Lesley were not typical lecture/note classes; the classes were filled with writing and thinking exercises and often this left no time for notes (in a good way). However, even with that, these sparse notes, I do believe, could still offer value.

2) I may, from time to time, include actual writing prompts from the classes, please bare with me, they’re first drafts and were done in the moment.

I hope you enjoy this series of notes and if you have any questions about the notes, Lesley University, or MFA’s, please feel free to contact me.

Dialogue Across Genres

The dignity of an iceberg is that 90% of it is unseen, underwater. In writing, you, the writer, need to know and see everything, but sometimes it’s about what a character doesn’t do, or doesn’t say.

What dialogue can show: information, relationship, character intention, character personality, background, place, time, and produces tension.

How a character talks: diction, rhythm, slang, lingo, pauses, all tells us something.

Subtext

What’s below the surface?

What is left out and not shown or said?

Words -> Voice -> Image -> Action

Dialogue should be moving the story forward.

Dialogue needs to be accurate and realistic.

Click here to see more MFA Notes…

Recommended book for this section: Write Great Fiction – Dialogue, by Gloria Kempton.

Picture: Flickr/Dmitry Ryzhkov

MFA Notes

MFA Notes: The Inspiration and Imperative of Place

Michael Anthony

the inspiration and imperative of place in creative writingQuick notes: the inspiration and imperative of place in creative writing

Recently, I graduated from Lesley University with an MFA in creative writing, and I decided that I wanted to share what I learned in a series of blog posts.

I decided to share for two reasons:

1) My notes, although not too detailed, could possibly  help other writers.

2) Rewriting my notes forces me to re-read and re-think everything I learned, so it’s a win-win.

But before we dive in, please keep two things in mind:

1) These notes are neither complete nor perfect. The classes at Lesley were not typical lecture/note classes; the classes were filled with writing and thinking exercises and often this left no time for notes (in a good way). However, even with that, these sparse notes, I do believe, could still offer value.

2) I may, from time to time, include actual writing prompts from the classes, please bare with me, they’re first drafts and were done in the moment.

I hope you enjoy this series of notes and if you have any questions about the notes, Lesley University, or MFA’s, please feel free to contact me.

The Inspiration and Imperative of Place

Nature abhors a vacuum.

Writing also abhors a vacuum.

Combine place and people. Allow one to stand in for the other. They can highlight one another.

Landscape can invoke memoires and emotions.

Place matters when setting a scene. Two people in a restaurant are different than two people in the woods.

In Class Writing: Place: Raining:

“It pours down, each droplet seeping into the ground, into my uniform, into me. It begins to pool. The ground is full, my boots are filled, neither of us have anywhere else to go. I must stay put, guard duty knows no weather. The rain must rain, it knows nothing else.”

“A flare goes into the sky, highlighting a thousand drops in mid-air, I look around, moving between the drops, between the trees, my enemies approach. It is merely a training exercise, but we are both wet, tired and angry. We need enemies. We both raise our rifles, water flows into our forward sights. We fire. Neither hits.”

*Use all your senses, if you can.*

Click here to see more MFA Notes…

Recommended book for this section: Description & Setting, by Ron Rozelle.

Picture: Flickr/madame.furie

MFA Notes, Uncategorized

MFA Notes – Journalistic Imperative

Michael Anthony

journalistic imperativeMFA Notes from Lesley University

What does it take to be a journalist?

Recently, I graduated from Lesley University with an MFA in creative writing, and I decided that I wanted to share what I learned in a series of blog posts.

I decided to share for two reasons:

1) My notes, although not too detailed, could possibly  help other writers.

2) Rewriting my notes forces me to re-read and re-think everything I learned, so it’s a win-win.

But before we dive in, please keep two things in mind:

1) These notes are neither complete nor perfect. The classes at Lesley were not typical lecture/note classes; the classes were filled with writing and thinking exercises and often this left no time for notes (in a good way). However, even with that, these sparse notes, I do believe, could still offer value.

2) I may, from time to time, include actual writing prompts from the classes, please bare with me, they’re first drafts and were done in the moment.

I hope you enjoy this series of notes and if you have any questions about the notes, Lesley University, or MFA’s, please feel free to contact me.

Journalistic Imperative

Always collect more data and research than you need. The goal should be to use the top 15%. The other 85% isn’t wasted; you need it all to be able to find that top 15%.

Types of research: Travel, eating, interviews, online, archival data, retrace steps/restage, public records, journals, immersion, photos, letters, etc.

Involuntary memory: a smell, sight, touch or sound, that reminds us of something or someone.

Eventually you’ll come across information and research that contradicts one another. This can be good, because where there’s contradiction there’s a story. (Also, if you come across two things that contradict each other, you don’t have to chose one or the other, you can report both–or dive into the story of the contradiction.) If one side of the contradiction feels better than the other, go with your gut.

*Research from all angles and perspectives*

*What’s the theme?*

Different narration perspectives: The me as a child, the me now. My friend, my brother, father, etc. The “we” and “us.” Don’t use these different voices as a gimmick, though.

How do you know when you’re done researching? Or when you’re done with your project?

  • Deadlines.
  • When the dots are all finally connected.
  • When things start repeating themselves; if five people say “blue,” and then so does number six, then maybe you can be like, “Okay, it’s blue. I can move on to something else.

Click here to see more MFA Notes…

Recommended book for this section: The Situation and the Story, by Vivian Gornick.

Uncategorized

New Blog Design…

Michael Anthony

The new blog design is almost done!  We should have it fully functional in another week, but for now you should be able to see all the great changes.

Bringing the block back online is exciting.  I’m going to be changing things up a little bit.  I’ll still be blogging about writing, ptsd, and veteran issues, but I’ll be adding some other stuff as well.

Inspired by Austin Kleon, and his “Black OUT poetry,” I ordered a subscription to The Army Times.  I’ll be adding a few black out poems every week with articles from the paper.

Also, I’ll be adding book notes/reviews from some of the books I read.  I’ve been reading about two books a month every since I started grad school and I’ve always kept notes and reviews for my personal library, but I thought it would be beneficial to share the notes and reviews.

More soon!

 

 

 

Blogishness

Happy People At War – Paulo Coelho – The Zahir

Michael Anthony

paul coelho on warHey!  I was reading through an old Paulo Coelho book that I had lying around the house and I came across a passage that I wanted to share (no context is really needed–and emphasis added is mine):

“Yes, the answer lies in some words written by the Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin, the same man who said that our world is surround by a layer of love.  He said: ‘We can harness the energy of the winds, the seas, the sun.  But the day man learns to harness the energy of love, that will be as important as the discovery of fire.'”

“And you could only learn that by going to a war zone?”

“I’m not sure, but it did allow me to see that, paradoxical though it may seem, people are happy when they’re at war.  For them, the world has meaning.  As I said before, total power or sacrificing themselves for a cause gives meaning to their lives.  They are capable of limitless love, because they no longer have anything to lose.  A fatally wounded soldier never asks the medical team: ‘Please save me!’  His last words are usually: ‘Tell my wife and my son that I love them.’  At the last moment, they speak of love!”

“So, in your opinion, human beings only find life meaningful when they’re at war.”

“But we’re always at war.  We’re at war with death, and we know that death will win in the end.  In armed conflicts, this is simply more obvious, but the same thing happens in daily life.  We can’t allow ourselves the luxury of being unhappy all the time.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I need help.  And that doesn’t mean saying to me, ‘Go and hand in your notice,’ because that would only leave me feeling even more confused than before.  We need to find a way of channeling all this, of allowing the energy of this pure, absolute love to flow through out bodies and spread around us.  The only person so far who has helped me understand this is a rather otherworldly interpreter who says he’s had revelations bout this energy.”

“Are you talking about the love of God?”

“If someone is capable of loving his partner without restrictions, unconditionally, then he is manifesting the love of God.  If the love of God becomes manifest, he will love his neighbor.  If he loves his neighbor, he will love himself.  If he loves himself, then everything returns to its proper place.  History changes.”

“History will never change because of politics or conquests or theories or wars; that’s mere repetition, it’s been going on since the beginning of time.  history will only change when we are able to use the energy of love, just as we use the energy of the wind, the seas, the atom.”

“Do you think we two could save the world?”

“I think there are more people out there who think the same way.  Will you help me?”

“Yes, as long as you tell me what I have to do.”

“But that’s precisely what I don’t know!”

 

{{This passage really spoke to me when I initially read it–I came across it because I had it highlighted–and it spoke to be again finding it all these years later.  Originally, I had read the book that the passages comes from (The Zahir) while in Iraq, and that passage was filled with so much truth.  Especially this part: “”…people are happy when they’re at war.  For them, the world has meaning.  As I said before, total power or sacrificing themselves for a cause gives meaning to their lives.  They are capable of limitless love, because they no longer have anything to lose…..””

It’s 100%.  War is and was hell for me, and all of us who served, but the truth was that even amongst all the bullshit that comes with a  deployment, we were all also (for the most part) happy at war.  The world does tend to have a little more meaning while you’re at war, while you’re so close to death and know it.  I worked in a hospital in Iraq and all of us who worked in there dealt with death on a daily basis and I can tell you from first hand experience that it’s true: “”A fatally wounded soldier never asks the medical team: ‘Please save me!’  His last words are usually: ‘Tell my wife and my son that I love them.’  At the last moment, they speak of love!””

That’s what it’s all about!}}

 

Picture: Flickr/Paulo Coelho

Blogishness

Graduated From Lesley University: MFA in Creative Writing

Michael Anthony

lesley university low-residency mfa in creative writing

So… I just graduated from Lesley University with an MFA in creative writing, and it looks like good times, and bad times, are ahead for this newly minted graduate.

The Good: Being done with school is going to be great, in a sense. No more deadlines, no more reading books that someone else chooses for me, and I’ll finally be out in the real world again with my writing–instead of waiting to finish my MFA to get back out there.

The Bad: I’ll miss the intense learning that went along with the program. No deadlines means no room to slack, and throughout the years I actually enjoyed several assigned books that I wouldn’t have normally read, and now I’ll be back out in the real world of writing, instead of in the warm embrace of an MFA program.  Publish or perish and all that ballyhoo!

The Future: I’ll be spending some time searching for a teaching position here in Massachusetts (English or creative writing) and will be working towards publishing my thesis (a post-war, post-Mass Casualties, memoir). I’ll start blogging again at the Good Men Project where I’m the editor for the War and Veterans section.

The Reflections: Several months back I briefly covered my thoughts on whether or not it’s worth it to get an MFA, and I still feel the same.  An MFA is definitely worth it, as long as you put in the work.  But really, it’s the years afterward, which I can now only assume, that makes the difference. I’ve heard too many stories of people graduating from MFA programs only to do nothing with it later.  Either they give up writing, or put it on the back-burner only to pick it up again five or ten years later.  Some will go on to become teachers, some will never finish the novel/memoir that they worked so hard on, some will finish but never publishing, and I suppose there’s a few who will actually make a splash for themselves in the writing world. The goal now, I guess, is to become one of those few.  How to accomplish it though, I don’t know.