Issue #2 of Terracotta Typewriter is complete and online in PDF format for your reading pleasure.

Read it here: Issue #2, July 2009 (814K)

The Summer issue features work by Prasanna Surakanti,  Michael Shorb, Charlotte Hyvernaud, Rob Schackne, R.J. Devoix, J. Whitmel Earley, Andrew Carpino, and Christopher Mulrooney.

We would like to thank everyone who submitted work for consideration. We hope to continue bringing this literary journal to our readers every quarter. Please continue to send your work for future issues.

If you haven’t already done so, you can also read issue #1.

Writers get compared often. We even do it to ourselves. We may comment that our work is inspired by another’s work, or our style is similar to that of another writer.

This week’s Mandarin Monday lesson is about comparison.

To express how one’s writing is similar to another’s we can usually use 和 (hé) …lèisì类似/xiāngxiàng相像

My story is similar to Hemingway’s stories.

我的故事和海明威的很相像。(wǒde gùshí hé hǎimíngwēide hěn xiāngxiàng.)

I think my style is like Faulkner’s stream of consciousness.

我觉得我的创作风格和福克纳的意识流很类似。(wǒ juéde wǒde chuàngzuò fènggé hé fúkènàde yìshíliú hěn lèisì.)

It’s summer. The weather is warm and the sun is still out, which means we really need to get outside again. Of course, we have to remember our friends in the Southern Hemisphere–sorry, it’s the start of winter for you.

It would make sense to have a summer-themed writing prompt today, but that would just be cliche. Instead, we’re going with the theme of grilling…and not the tasty kind. Grilling in this case refers to a tough interrogation.

Write a scene of a story or even a poem that involves someone or something getting grilled. You could even grill yourself and/or your conscience. Whatever or whoever you choose, get grilling. And, while your at it, would you send over some 新疆羊肉串.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled literary journal for a special announcement…

看看！太阳！The sun has come out! There’s blue sky and big bright thing up there warming the air. (In case you’re wondering, it’s been raining for the last two months.)

This is the perfect opportunity to recharge those batteries by going outside and soaking up some vitamin D. Writers, we urge you to get a little sun. Take your laptop and/or notebook and sit outside at a coffee shop or park. Or better yet, go for a hike. You’ll feel better and probably work more efficiently for the next while (unless you take a difficult hike and get exhausted and decide to pass out upon returning home).

This special announcement is brought to you by the weather forecasters that said it would rain today.

Pen (笔, bǐ)? Check. Paper (纸, zhǐ)? Check. What else do you need?

Every writer has a vice. In Mandarin, it’s 恶习 (èxí). Of course, writers’ vices come in many forms–and some writers have multiple vices. So, what’s yours?

你的恶习是什么？(nǐ de èxí shì shénme) What is your vice?

我写作时候的恶习是喝很多咖啡。(wǒ xiězuòshíhou de è xí shì hē hěnduō kāfēi) When writing my vice is drinking a lot of coffee.

Other vices:

smoking 吸烟 xīyān

drinking alcohol 喝酒 hējiǔ

doing drugs 吸毒 xīdú

I’m not talking about the topics of conversation that should be avoided in Mainland China. I’m also not talking about looking for buried treasure on The Simpsons. I’m simply talking about the letter and its use.

For this week’s writing prompt, try to see how far you can get with Ts. More specifically, use as many words that contain the letter T as possible. You might consider writing a line of poetry in which every word begins with T (you can even alternate letters for each line). Or only use words that contain at least one T.

For prose, you might have every character’s name begin with T. Or only have objects in the story that begin with T.

There’s a lot you can do with this. It might sound complicated and get difficult as you write more, but it can also be a lot of fun.

In a similar vein as this exercise, Christian Bök’s Eunoia has an interesting way of using vowels. Check out his homepage for a chapter of it.

We all have to answer questions about our writing. The most common of which is “What do you write?” Last week we covered the basics, including poetry 诗 (shī) and stories 故事 (gùshì). But we need to go more in depth when discussing writing.

Existentialism: 存在主义 (cúnzàizhǔyì); Existentialist: 存在主义的 (cúnzàizhǔyìde)

Jean-Paul Sartre is an existentialist writer. 让-保罗萨特是一个存在主义的作家。(ràng-bǎoluó sàtè shì yīgè cúnzàizhǔyìde zuòjiā)

He likes to drink because he’s an existentialist writer. 他喜欢喝酒因为他是存在主义的作家。(tā xǐhuan hējiǔ yīnwèi tā shì cúnzàizhǔyìde zuòjiā)

Note: The editor of this journal enjoyed reading Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre.

This week’s writing prompt is more of a lesson than a prompt. Many writers focus on poetic language and/or the plot of the story, but neglect the characters that drive the story. As an editor and reader, there’s nothing worse than encountering characters that don’t fit a story or act in ways that don’t fit their personality.

Often when a writer is stumped for ideas and calls it writer’s block there’s a problem with the characters. Poorly developed characters lead to failing stories. Sit down and talk with your characters for a little while and find what makes them important.

It takes more than dialogue and description of emotions to create a character that readers can connect with–a write must provide motivation and back story. Most of a character’s motivation or history can be written through subtle references–there is no need for info dumps. If your character does something that is integral to the plot, the reader needs to know why he/she came to that decision. Does his/her action seem plausible based on what the reader knows?

For some writers it can be helpful to create character sheets. Write down everything you know about the character before writing the story. This can help you create more realistic characters (even if your story isn’t based in reality).

Before you write your next scene or paragraph, think about your character. He/she may be able to tell you how to move your story along so that you can reach that end.

Today’s Mandarin Monday focuses on a few basic words we need to talk about writing.

Novel: 小说 (xiǎoshuō); Novelist 小说家 (xiǎoshuōjiā)

Poem: 诗 (shī); Poet: 诗人 (shīrén); Poetic: 有诗意的 (yǒushīyìde)

Story: 故事 (gùshì)

Verse: 诗体 (shītǐ)

Prose: 散文 (sǎnwén)

Rhyme: 押韵 (yāyùn)

As writers we should study the classics. We should also study contemporary works of literature. And everything in between.

The point is, we should learn from what we read. Many writers get compared–usually because writers are influenced by those who came before.

For this week’s writing prompt, try to emulate or channel another writer. Use classical or contemporary work. Or try to write in the style of a particular newspaper or magazine. You can use an idea or style from another writer. For poets, you can try using similar poetic imagery, rhyme scheme, or meter. Just be sure that you don’t plagiarize the work (unless you happen to have 100 monkeys on 100 typewriters for 100 years banging out Shakespeare).