I met Melanie Fogel over 5 years ago, through a creative writing course she offered (and still offers) through the Ottawa School Board's Continuing Education program. Her course caught my eye because she was the editor of Storyteller magazine through the fifteen years it was in existence. I scoured enough local writing courses to know that it’s rare to find a course taught by anyone who is more than a hobbyist. I jumped on the opportunity.
She told us that it’s difficult to teach people how to write, but she was able to draw on her experience in reading through endless slush piles to provide examples of how not to write. We learned how you can lose a reader by the end of the first paragraph. How not to leave the reader with a sense of “So what?” by the end of the story and how if you can’t summarize your story in a single sentence, you’re probably in trouble. It was an excellent course and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in developing their writing skills.
I was especially fortunate in that she saw something in me and chose to continue to offer mentorship with my writing ever since.
Her latest short story, Pied-à-Terre, can be found in Cutting Block Press' Tattered Souls II Anthology. A preview can be found here.
Congrats on another publication, Melanie!
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