HILARY GAN
writer. klutz.
SPECULATIVE FICTION
WHAT BREAKS US IS WHAT SEPARATES US FROM THE ANIMALS | Jersey Devil Press
HELIOCENTRICITY| The Petrichor Review
THE PRAGMATIST | Jersey Devil Press
nominated for the Pushcart Prize
storySouth Notable Story
SEE CARNIFEX (GONE LAME) | Belletrist Coterie
86 ON THE FISH | Entropy
THE ARTIST AND
THE ASTERISK | Jersey Devil Press
MEMOIR
THE TOTALITY OF
SELFLESSNESS | The Matador Review
TRANSIT| After Happy Hour Review
nominated for the Pushcart Prize
SAD ROBOT #1| The Tishman Review
GYMNOPÉDIE PARIS| The Fiddleback
FOREVER HOLD YOUR PIECE | Wilshire Lewis
originally published in The Blue Guitar Magazine
HOW NOT TO PLAY POOL| Blunderbuss Magazine
WORK IN PROGRESS
RULES FOR THE ROAD, or THE ALCHEMY OF LONELINESS
It is the summer of 2008: the height of the recession, gas prices, and Phoenix temperatures. You are working as a line cook at a Mediterranean health food restaurant and haven’t written anything in three years. You have also just broken up with your college boyfriend and moved in with your other ex-turned-best-friend Peter. You have never felt so lost or alone. Armed with two $100 Subway gift cards and Peter’s book of seventeen rules for life, the two of you set out on a cross-country road trip to see all of your exes, get you writing again, and figure out where the hell you both went wrong. What you find is Peter’s rule number five: the answer to a question-not the answer to the question.
PUBLISHING
This site is a great overview that came recommended from a writer just starting out in the process.
These people seriously close down blogs as fast as I can find them, but these are my go-to agent blogs offering the best advice on how to find an agent and get published:
http://misssnark.blogspot.com/
http://www.rachellegardner.com/
Poets& Writers is where I find submission info on lit mags, contests, and more.
And these sites are how I manage my submissions:
RESOURCES FOR BURGEONING WRITERS
I get frequent questions about How to Become a Published Writer, the short answer to which is: write until your little fingers fall off, and then read even more than that.
The real answer is: spend years wildly googling every question you have looking for reputable sources on all manner of topics from traditional publishing to self-publishing to finding beta readers to How Do I Find the Right Lit Mag for My Work to Do I Need/Want an MFA?
While most likely I will be unable to personally read your work and give feedback (sorry kiddos, my time is worth money), I’m happy to help facilitate your journey with the resources I have found most useful in my travels:
WRITING BLOGS
These are blogs I personally follow and sincerely recommend, especially Chuck Wendig’s TerribleMinds blog: he’s funny and gives sage advice about the creative process. Bookmark his post “The Varied Emotional Stages of Writing a Book.” You will thank me. Or him, more likely.
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/blog/
MISCELLANEOUS
-Twitter is an amazing place for the publishing industry. Get yourself an account if you don’t already have one, and discover the magic of twitter pitch sessions, the #writing hashtag, and all of the agents/editors you’ve ever secretly fantasized about signing with sharing the latest in book news.
-If you’re in need of feedback, Meetup has lots and lots of writer meetups in every city that can help you find fellow writers to critique your MS.
-And for examples of things you should never put in a query, as well as a healthy dose of schadenfreude, visit http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com/
About
Hilary Gan lives in St. Louis, MO, with her D+D-playing husband and terrifyingly curious toddler. After stints as an ecologist, line cook, candlemaker, package tester, and museum educator, in 2013 she graduated with an MFA in fiction from the University of Arizona. Her debut story, “The Pragmatist,“ was selected as a 2010 Million Writers Award Notable Story, and that story and "Transit" have both been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her favorite books and collections include Factotum, the City of Brass trilogy, Spinning Silver, Bluets, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jane Eyre, Deerskin, The Blue Sword, Deaf Republic, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner, The Perilous Gard, Shanghai Baby, and Les Miserables. Her major non-literary inspirations include Bob Dylan, Epictetus, Neko Case, the Sonoran desert, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, an insistent orange cat named Harry, and an odd-but-loveably-goofy second set of claws named Bruce.
