Fiction:
Cara Diaconoff, “I’ll Be a Stranger to You,” Vol. 10 No. 2
Orson Scott Card, “The Elephants of Poznan,” Vol. 11 Nos. 1 & 2
Darin Cozzens, “The Treading of Lesser Cattle,” Vol. 11 Nos. 1 & 2

Creative Nonfiction:
Jaren Watson, “Of the Drowned,” Vol. 11 Nos. 1 & 2

Poetry:
Donnell Hunter, “Children of Owl,” Vol. 10 No. 2
Doug Talley, “Finding Place,” Vol. 11 Nos. 1 & 2

Congratulations to the nominees!

Also, our Spring/ Fall double issue (Vol. 11 Nos. 1 & 2) is still at the printer but will be mailed out within the next week or two. If you haven’t subscribed yet, remember that if you subscribe or renew your subscription during the month of November, you will also receive a complimentary copy of the excellent anthology The Best of Mormonism. You still have a few more days, so don’t miss this opportunity.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays!

Angela Hallstrom
editor, Irreantum

The following letter will be sent to all past Irreantum subscribers. Of course, the incentives described below will apply to anybody who chooses to subscribe. So don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Subscribe!!

Dear Friends of Irreantum,

Irreantum’s Spring/Fall 2009 Anniversary Double Issue will soon be released. As we celebrate Irreantum’s tenth year, we’re offering special incentives for all subscribers—past, present, and future.

The upcoming issue is one of Irreantum’s best yet, including fiction by Orson Scott Card, essays by Terryl Givens and Patrick Madden, poetry by Holly Welker, and photography by Val Brinkerhoff. You won’t want to miss it! (See a complete table of contents at the end of this message.)

This issue celebrates another milestone as well: having caught up with past issues, Irreantum now pledges to deliver Spring and Fall issues in a timely manner. Change, and even tragedy, has challenged Irreantum’s short history—including the death of our editor and dear friend Laraine Wilkins. Delays have resulted. But with this issue we’re officially back on track.

As a thanks to those who’ve stayed with us, the double issue will count as a single issue for current subscribers. If your subscription was due to end with the Fall 2009 issue, you’ll now receive a Spring 2010 issue before your subscription lapses. You’ll also receive another bonus: a complimentary copy The Best of Mormonism, courtesy of Curelom Books, the book publishing arm of Sunstone. This collection, which includes the best writing by, for, or about Mormons from 2007-2008, is packed with award-winning work from several national publications—including fiction, personal essays, book chapters, poetry, and a play. (A table of contents of The Best of Mormonism also can be found at the end of this message.)

A special offer for new subscribers and those whose subscriptions have lapsed: if you purchase a one-year subscription to Irreantum in the month of November 2009, you will receive Irreantum’s Fall 2009 Anniversary Double Issue, The Best of Mormonism, and next year’s Spring 2010 issue, edited by our new co-editor, Jack Harrell.

Irreantum is at a crossroads. Subscription rates have declined. If the numbers don’t improve, the magazine’s viability may be at risk. No matter how dedicated our staff, how excellent our contributors, Irreantum cannot continue without the support of paying subscribers. Please take this opportunity to renew your subscription. Pass this message along to friends and encourage others to subscribe. Or buy Irreantum subscriptions as Christmas gifts. The $25 one-year subscription to Irreantum includes membership in the Association for Mormon Letters, a non-profit organization advancing Mormon literature since 1976. To subscribe, please visit http://irreantum.mormonletters.org/subscribe. Your subscription will help ensure Irreantum’s survival and deliver the best in Mormon literature to your door.

Sincerely,
Angela Hallstrom
Jack Harrell
co-editors, Irreantum

Irreantum Spring/Fall 2009 Double Issue Table of Contents:

Fiction:

Orson Scott Card “The Elephants of Poznan”
Darin Cozzens “The Treading of Lesser Cattle”
Larry Menlove “Path of Antelope, Pelican, and Moon”
Charmayne Gubler Warnock “Nightshade”
Joshua Foster “Cheddar”

Critical Essays:

Terryl Givens “Paradox and Discipleship”
Jack Harrell “Human Conflict and the Mormon Writer”
Eric Samuelsen “The Association for Mormon Letters: Toward a Mission, Minus the Statement”

Poetry:

Doug Talley “Overcoming the World,” “Caelestia,” “Finding Place”
Paul Swenson “Behind the Mask,” “Traces of Laraine”
Holly Welker “Barren,” “Creation”
Michael R. Collings “Contrition,” “Damon Again”

Creative Nonfiction:

Jaren Watson “Of the Drowned”
Ryan McIlvain “Confessions of a Secular Mormon”
Patrick Madden “The Path of Redemption”

Reviews:

Patricia Karamesines, “No Better Off: Amy Irvine’s Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land”
Phyllis Barber “Big Love Before Big Love: Dorothy Allred Solomon’s In My Father’s House: A Memoir of Polygamy”
Laura Hilton Craner “A Mother Must Leave Behind Her Illusions: Kathryn Lynard Soper’s The Year My Son and I Were Born”
Heidi Hart “Fierce Voices: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History”

Best of Mormonism by Curelom Books Table of Contents:

Neil Aitken. TRAVELING THROUGH THE PRAIRIES, I THINK OF MY FATHER’S VOICE
FROM The Lost Country of Sight

Brittney Carman. BELIEVING OWL, SEEING OWL
FROM Black Warrior Review

Johnna Benson Cornett. GATHER
FROM Segullah

Darin Cozzens. REAP IN MERCY
FROM Irreantum

Lisa Torcasso Downing. CLOTHING ESTHER
FROM Sunstone

Joshua Foster. GOD DAMNED THE LAND BUT LIFTED THE PEOPLE; OR, A REDEMPTION IN THREE LEVITATIONS
FROM South Loop Review

James Goldberg, PRODIGAL SON
FROM New Play Project

Angela Hallstrom. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
FROM Bound on Earth

Lance Larsen. A FEELING IN YOUR HEAD
FROM Iowa Review

Patrick Madden. A SUDDEN PULL BEHIND THE HEART
FROM The Best Creative Nonfiction, vol 2

Scott Russell Morris. NOTHING IN PARTICULAR
FROM Prick of the Spindle

Kathryn Lynard Soper. SOLITAIRE
FROM The Year My Son and I Were Born

Emily Summerhays. HOW THE PRAYERS RAN DRY
FROM Sunstone

Lynda MacKey Wilson. WE WHO OWE EVERYTHING TO A NAME
FROM BYU Studies

Darlene Young. PATRIARCHAL BLESSING
FROM Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought

From the October 6, 2009 New York Times (by way of the AML-list):

In an ingenious spin on the co-author strategy, Stephenie Meyer, who wrote the Twilight novels, said that her vampire hero appeared in a dream and then dictated the first book as fast as she could type. He did not demand a percentage of the advance. This does sound like a great strategy, and I understand that millions of American women currently have a dream of having that dream.

I am one of those American women. Oh, not for the reason I think the Times writer implied. I wouldn’t let a man for whom the destruction of the human female was his most primitive instinct near my computer, much less me. But I do dream of getting in on that “it-writes-itself” genre…especially since it seems to be paying now.

Heck, I give my writing away. I work my butt off trying to make my fiction good enough for someone to publish for free. Rephrase. Actually, I’ve worked my butt on, seeing as its grown rather large as I build my career as an unpaid artiste. So yeah, I want to write my dreams by dictation, make a boat load of money, and have a home gym and a personal trainer. And a maid. I’d even get a dog if I had someone to clean up after it. And a golf cart. I’ve always wanted to pick my kids up from school in a golf cart.  Way cool. Oh, and maybe I’d buy an electric can opener. No, an electric knife for Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t want to seem worldly.

What about the rest of you? What would you buy if you made millions off your dreams?

The Association for Mormon Letters is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Irreantum fiction contest. A committee of judges considered 71 entries and awarded three cash prizes.

First place ($250): “A Confession,” by Lisa Rubilar of Niskayuna, New York

Second place ($175): “Abominations,” by Heather Halcrow of Orem, Utah

Third place ($100): “When We Remembered Zion,” by Thom Duncan of Sandy, Utah

Next year’s fiction contest will be announced in early 2010. With no official connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Irreantum fiction contest is supported by the Utah Arts Council, with funding from the State of Utah and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

Irreantum 2009 Charlotte and Eugene England Personal Essay Contest Winners

The Association for Mormon Letters is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Charlotte and Eugene England Personal Essay contest. A committee of judges considered 42 entries and awarded three cash prizes as well as two honorable mentions.

First place ($200): “Mornings and Nights,” by Melissa Inouye of Costa Mesa, California

Second place ($150): “Reluctant Saints,” by Alison Stone Roberg of Bridgewater, New Jersy

Third place ($100): “Garden of Dead,” by Catherine Curtis of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Honorable mentions were given to “Blue,” by Stephen Carter of Lyman, Wyoming and “The Missionary,” by Stephen David Grover of Sugarland, Texas.

Next year’s personal essay contest will be announced in early 2010. With no official connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Charlotte and Eugene England Personal Essay Contest is funded through the estate of Eugene England.

Congratulations to all the winners!

My first response to the article was “Can Creative Writing Be Taught” exhaustion. As a person with an MFA who also teaches creative writing, not only does the whole argument make me a little weary—this again??—but I’ll admit to a bit of defensiveness, too. The legitimacy of my undergrad major in English Lit was never called into question, and my decision to try and teach a bunch of squirmy, distracted, hormonal fifteen-year-olds how to read, understand, and talk intelligently about the symbolism in The Lord of the Files was deemed an appropriate enough use of my time.

Little did I know that choosing an academic system that purports to teach folks about reading (or literary devices, or rhetoric, or expository writing) was an entirely laudable choice, if low-paying. But choosing an academic system that purports to teach others about creative writing? Waste of time! Ridiculous! A fool’s errand! Or (worst of all) downright dangerous! Didn’t I know that I was contributing to the very downfall of American letters, homogenizing the voice of the masses?

Okay, so I’m engaging in a bit of hyperbole (and if you were listening in the 10th Grade English class I used to teach, you know what that word means). And I do understand why creative writing, with an emphasis on the “creative,” is a much trickier subject to teach than, say, English grammar. As a product of the creative writing system, I agree that much of what makes a writer great–insight, inspiration, and yes, creativity itself–can’t really be “taught.” But I also know that my own MFA experience DID teach me many, many valuable things: basic elements of craft; how to read like a writer; how to revise effectively; how to give (and take) editorial feedback. These are all academically sound outcomes, in my opinion—outcomes born of a heckofa lot of hard academic work.

Which is why the initially snarky feel of Menard’s essay bugged me. His first sentence establishes a kind of roll-your-eyes, get-a-load-of-these-guys tone:

Creative-writing programs are designed on the theory that students who have never published a poem can teach other students who have never published a poem how to write a publishable poem.

First off, I suppose he’s describing the traditional “workshop” setting here, but many (most?) creative writing courses and programs don’t rely on the workshop alone. I know mine didn’t. Mine involved reading—lots of reading, both good literature and dense texts on theory and craft—as well as instruction by qualified professors, writing critical papers, and a truckload of creative writing (obviously?). Workshopping was a part of the experience, yes, but to reduce a creative writing degree program to Menard’s dismissive initial sentence is pretty misleading.

But, yes, workshopping is one important aspect of an MFA, and it can be hit or miss. In some classes (both courses I’ve participated and in courses I’ve taught) the intellectual energy in a workshop is downright electric. It seems to me the point of getting an education in a room full of other people, rather than sitting alone in front of a computer, is to participate in that energy. There’s no better classroom experience than when your instructor and fellow classmates are engaged and smart and thoughtful, and you get the opportunity to learn as both a giver and receiver of critical feedback. Workshops offer students the chance to experience this in ways that lecture-based classrooms can’t approach.

Some workshops I’ve participated in have flopped, of course. Often, the teacher’s not very good, or you can be unlucky and land in a class where the participants are bored or disconnected or downright misanthropic, tearing apart your text with a scarcely-contained glee. But can’t all academic programs be described as hit or miss? The courses required to obtain my secondary education certification, for example, were probably 90% miss . . . ah, the torture that was “Theory and Methods of Secondary Education”!!

But enough of my defensiveness. Menard does make some good points in the article, especially when dealing directly with McGurl’s book, which sounds like an interesting read. For example:

[McGurl points out that ] university creative-writing programs don’t isolate writers from the world. On the contrary, university creative-writing courses situate writers in the world that most of their readers inhabit—the world of mass higher education and the white-collar workplace. Sticking writers in a garret would isolate them. Putting them in the ivory tower puts them in touch with real life.

A provocative statement and, in my experience, true. Which makes me wonder what the outcome will be when Brigham Young University starts putting a bunch of would-be writers in the quintessential Mormon Ivory Tower.

Yes, beginning this fall, BYU will be offering an MFA in creative writing. I think a BYU MFA bodes well for the future of Mormon letters, but then again we’ve established that I’m biased. Now I want to know what you think.

How do you feel about a creative writing programs in general? The new MFA in creative writing at BYU in particular? What kind of influence will it have on the next generation of Mormon writing? Positive, negative, or will its presence cause nary a ripple?

Fiction

Angela Hallstrom: Faithful
Cara Diaconoff: I’ll Be a Stranger to You
Heidi Tighe: The Memo Box
Russ Beck: Two Things
Shawn P. Bailey: Outside

Criticism

B. W. Jorgensen: Reading about Sex in Mormon Fiction–If We Can Read

Poetry

Nicole Vogl: The Earth Has Stretch Marks
Donnell Hunter: The Story of Wolf; Children of Owl
Joyce Jordan: Blunt Force Trauma
Cassie Eddington: Grandma Was Never a Big Woman
Todd Chapman: Intercession for Fernandito; The Ten-Tone Fountain
Vanessa Arden Nuckolls: I’ll Tell You What the Butterfly Represents
B. W. Jorgensen: Beginning to Bodysurf

Creative Nonfiction

Joshua Foster: Long in the Tooth
Oliver Welch: The Mesa

“Well why in the world would anybody write a novel then?”

(Don’t get me going on the reaction I get when people find out I edit Irreantum for free!)

When I started out as a fiction writer, I honestly had no intention or expectation of making ANY money. I wrote for the love of it, and the idea of getting published in a magazine someday–even without payment, even if only thirteen people ever read the dang thing–seemed to me to be wholly adequate. Well, even more than wholly adequate. It seemed to me to be absolutely thrilling. I’ve been surprised over and over again when people seem so disappointed for me over my lack of writing-generated income. (Sometimes I feel like saying, “Hey, congrats on finishing the Salt Lake Marathon. How much money did they give you when you crossed the finish line? None? Seriously? So why d’ya do it then?” But that would be seriously catty and unbecoming, and I’m all about being uncatty and becoming.)

So my question for you: How do you approach writing and earning a living? Given the gender definitions in Mormon culture, is the expectation to earn a living with your writing–or at least buy a swing set–even more weighty for men? (I’m guessing yes.) In what ways have you managed to turn your experiences as a writer into cold hard cash, either directly or indirectly?

And speaking of cold hard cash: Enter the Irreantum Fiction Contest and/or the Charlotte and Eugene England Personal Essay Contest. The deadline is May 30th. You could win some money, honey!

Dear Irreantum Subscribers (and soon-to-be Irreantum subscribers):

There are some changes taking place at Irreantum that we wanted you to be aware of. But first, the Spring 2009 issue of Irreantum is due to ship soon. If you haven’t yet renewed your subscription (or if you have yet to subscribe) please visit http://irreantum.mormonletters.org/. During difficult economic times, print magazines need all the support they can get, and you don’t want to miss some of the excellent content in our upcoming issue.

Also, don’t forget our upcoming fiction and creative nonfiction contests. The deadline is May 31, 2009. Visit our contest page for more information.

This Spring 2009 issue will represent the last issue edited by Scott Hatch, who’s been heading up the magazine for the past two years. Due to a number of pressing academic and artistic pursuits, Scott has decided to step down from his position as co-editor of Irreantum. Scott’s artistic vision and commitment to Mormon letters has had an invaluable influence on Irreantum as a journal and on Mormon literature in general. We are very grateful for the time and talent he so willingly gave. Scott will be missed.

Our poetry editor, Michael Collings, is also stepping down. Michael is a very talented writer and editor who has done excellent work on Irreantum over the years. We wish him all the best and thank him for his many valuable contributions.

We are pleased to announce that Jack Harrell has agreed to sign on as Irreantum’s new co-editor. Jack will edit the Spring issue of the journal (beginning Spring 2010), and I will edit the Fall issue. Jim Richards has also agreed to join our staff as poetry editor.

Here’s a little more about both Jack and Jim:

Jack Harrell is a native of southeastern Illinois and a convert to the Church. He first heard of AML as an undergraduate, taking English classes from Eugene England in the early 1990’s. He holds an M.A. in English from Illinois State University, and a PhD in Education from the University of Idaho. He has published a novel, Vernal Promises, and short stories and essays in Irreantum, Dialogue, and the journal Popular Music and Society. Jack has been on the faculty of BYU-Idaho (Ricks College) since 1995. He and his wife Cindy have three children, Anjanette, Daniel, and Jessica.

Jim Richards teaches literature and creative writing at BYU-Idaho. He completed a PhD in literature and creative writing at the University of Houston in 2003. He has served as poetry editor of Meridian Magazine (online) and as a staff editor at Gulf Coast. His poems have appeared in The Texas Review, Perspective, Literature and Belief, and BYU Studies. He lives in Rexburg with his wife, Debbie, and their four sons.

I am confident that Jack and Jim will bring loads of talent and energy to Irreantum and I’m looking forward to working with both of them. This change ensures that Irreantum has plenty of fresh energy and new talent to keep us moving in a positive direction. Our Fall issue will be another double issue, and we will then be up-to-date and on track for delivering the best creative and critical work in Mormon letters—consistently, reliably, and on time! Please support us by submitting and subscribing, and telling your friends. You can also join our new Irreantum Facebook page (and tell your friends about that, too) at and receive updates, links, and other Irreantum news.

Your subscriptions and submissions will help ensure that Irreantum survives and thrives. Thank you for your support!

Best,
Angela Hallstrom
co-editor, Irreantum

So far I think it’s great. Even though the book’s about screenwriting, it applies marvelously well to fiction of all kinds. One of the sections I found particularly lucid and well-said was a short, three page examination of didacticism and why it ruins stories. Over the years on the AML-list and in other discussions between Mormon artists, I’ve engaged in lots of discussions of didacticism. But I feel like McKee gets to the heart of the matter exceptionally well, so I’ll be quiet now and let him talk. He says:

“A note of caution: In creating the dimensions of your story’s ‘argument,’ take great care to build the power of both sides. Compose the scenes and sequences that contradict your final statement with as much truth and energy as those that reinforce it. . . . If, in a morality tale, you were to write your antagonist as an ignorant fool who more or less destroys himself, are we persuaded that good will prevail? . . . [It is in a] balanced telling [that] your victory of good over evil now rings with validity.”

This is why “affirmation” fiction so often comes off as cheesy or unearned or dissatisfying. When the bad guy is unredeemably bad, he loses power, and then the story loses tension. Of course good will prevail! There’s no other logical option.

And speaking of the AML-list, today on the list Scott Parkin said something really smart (as he often does). He said, “affirmation exists on both poles of the conversation [in Mormon literature]–either affirmation that all is well in Zion, or affirmation that Zion is a pointless fool’s paradise. I find both flavors to be prone to the same limited and limiting presentations. A revolving door story is (quite often) just another polemic, whether it’s revolving in or out.”

Whether it’s revolving in or out! Yes, Scott. Excellent metaphor. McKee agrees with you. He says:

“When your premise is an idea you feel you must prove to the world, and you design your story as an undeniable certification of that idea, you set yourself on the road to didacticism. In your zeal to persuade, you will stifle the voice of the other side. Misusing and abusing art to preach, your [story] will become a thesis [piece], a thinly disguised sermon as you strive in a single stroke to convert the world. Didacticism results from the naive enthusiasm that fiction can be used like a scalpel to cut out the cancers of society.”

I think often, as Mormon writers, we assume the injunction above applies mainly to those who are trying to “convert” a reader to our standard Mormon conversion message: that the Church is true and that you’re happier with it than without it. But it applies just as readily to those Mormons with other theses, those who use “fiction as a scalpel to cut out the cancers of [Mormon] society.” Those writers with a bone to pick can fall victim to didacticism just as easily as those with the goal of proving the truthfulness of the gospel. Both narratives are, in essence, conversion narratives.

So how do we avoid didacticism? Must a writer have no point of view, no convictions? McKee again:

“Make no mistake, no one can achieve excellence as a writer without being something of a philosopher and holding strong convictions. The trick is not to be a slave to your ideas, but to immerse yourself in life. For the proof of your vision is not how well you can assert your Controlling Idea [your thesis, your theme], but its victory over the enormously powerful forces that you array against it. . . .As a story develops, you must willingly entertain opposite, even repugnant ideas. The finest writers have dialectical, flexible minds that easily shift point of view. They see the positive, the negative, and all shades of irony, seeking the truth of these views honestly and convincingly.”

It seems to me that for Mormon fiction to succeed, Mormon writers, both “conservative” and “liberal,” need the ability and willingness to grant their antagonists humanity and power. In one example, the antagonist might be an attractive female non-member tempting a Mormon boy not to go on his mission and, instead, come live with her. In another example, the antagonist might be a rigid and conservative Mormon mother who won’t accept her son’s homosexuality. But in both cases, these characters must be complex, their motivations must be understandable, they can’t be “all bad.” Because if they are, what choice does our protagonist have? If there isn’t something compelling or even good about these characters, what will our hero be giving up if he rejects them? Where is the tension in a story where any logical human being would run away, fast, from a person who’s so obviously bad for him?

One last McKee quote: “A great work is a living metaphor that says, ‘Life is like this.’ The classics, down through the ages, give us not solutions but lucidity, not answers but poetic candor; they make inescapably clear the problems all generations must solve to be human.”

Exactly. And I’m curious: what “classic works” of fiction, Mormon or otherwise, do you think do a good job of saying “Life is like this”? Heck, you can even throw in some movies if you’d like. (I’ve been reading Story, so I have movies on the brain.)

Thanks again, Stephen, for the recommendation.