When I was in grad school, one of the things that most struck me was the way other writers, (especially the other grad students), talked about their achievements. All of them, it seemed, had a neatly canned bio listing off the magazines where they’d been published, academic positions they’d held, and, of course, awards they’d won.
I found the formulaic aspects of these bios fascinating. Their components were more or less interchangeable, their lengths (always a short paragraph) never seemed to vary, and most noticeably, I never seemed to recognize most of the journal and award names. How was I to know, I wondered, whether a literary award or journal I hadn’t heard of was significant, or just some hot air to make the writer look like hot shit?
When I started gathering ideas for MFA Thesis Novel, I knew right away that I wanted all of the pretentious writer characters to have their own bios—all of which would be filled with imaginary magazines, literary awards, and academic positions that would disorient readers the same way I’d been disoriented in the academic writing world. Here’s a snapshot from the first page: Continue reading
