writing – J. S. Kuiken

Ch-Ch-Chaaanges

Changing careers and sticking with the novel writing.

I’ve been struggling mightily with my current project, a novella I have been working on since 2016. I have persisted through four drafts now, and I hope that the current draft, the fifth, will be closest to what I have wanted the project to be from the inception. But it’s been so damn hard toContinue reading “The Minutiae of Life”

Publication: Like Dying

Like Dying is a flash fiction piece about a man grappling with child abuse. It was originally published in U. S. Represented in 2015.

Publication: Man to Man

Man to Man was first published in Cactus Heart in 2012. It follows a trans man, Ben, a ranch-hand who picks up an odd job and meets a handsome, charming stranger along the way.

Publication: The Greek Boy

The Greek Boy was published in Bosie Magazine in 2018. It chronicles the last years of Lord Byron’s life, and his love for his pageboy. While many find Byron repellant, I find him fascinating. To say he was a complex man would be an understatement. He is so much more than just a misogynist, philanderer,Continue reading “Publication: The Greek Boy”

Recipe for a Work of Art

I was going through my old journals and I found this. It was written in June of 2001, by a then seventeen year old me. I took the liberty of editing some of it simply because it was a bit bloated. A Recipe for a Work of Art Ingredients: First and last parts inspiration EnumerableContinue reading “Recipe for a Work of Art”

Ssssh (Very Top Secret)

Four years ago, I started and then shelved a manuscript about a folk hero. The primary action of the story was set during the Regency, an era I adore. At the time it was too daunting for me to take on, which is why I put it away. But now I am a stronger, betterContinue reading “Ssssh (Very Top Secret)”

The Moral Responsibilities of the Reader

I previously wrote about censors and censorship, and the essential characteristics of the people who try to censor writers, be it the self proclaimed “social justice warriors” to the Evangelical parents who squawk loudly at the school board to have a book banned because it’s “inappropriate”. Today, I want to turn to the moral responsibilitiesContinue reading “The Moral Responsibilities of the Reader”

A Letter to My Younger Self

Dear 22-Year-Old Me: After getting over the shock of discovering your older self is, in fact, a man, and hairier, smellier, and grubbier than you currently are, I expect you might be a tiny bit disappointed. (But not with the impressively groomed facial stubble.) I know that you didn’t expect your life to be like this, thirteen years inContinue reading “A Letter to My Younger Self”

Impoverishment

I’ve applied for a few Stegner Fellowships in my time, and inevitably found myself looking at the biographies for the current Stegner Fellows. Supposedly the fellowship takes people from all walks of life, with different educational backgrounds. The website for the Stegner Fellowship states that a degree is not a prerequisite for the program. AndContinue reading “Impoverishment”