Meredith Sue Willis
This page is about Meredith Sue Willis, her teaching, projects, and books, which include novels and short fiction for adults; stories for children; and nonfiction on writing and the writing process. For a full list of her books, see the column on the right. Click here for information about MSW's upcoming appearances, teaching and workshops. There is also information for writers (Resources for Writers and A Journal of Practical Writing) along with reviews of all kinds of books and excellent things to watch, listen to, and read online. If you discover broken links or typographical errors, please contact us at msw@meredithsuewillis.com.
MSW and others reading at Women of Appalachia Project Women Speak at the Frank & Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State 4-13-24. Left to right: Patsy Kisner, Kristi Stevens Walke, Jennifer Browne, Kari Gunter-Seymour, Rose Smith, Meredith Sue Willis, Bonnie Proudfoot, Susan Truxell Sauter, ,Nathalie Sypolt, Cat Pleska.
Books for Readers #232 Now Available!
Reviews of books by Jim Minick, Clarice Lispector, The Porch Poems, George du Maurier, Louise Fitzhugh, Natalia Ginzburg, Marilynne Robinson; Kathleen Watt; Hambly, Connelly, Alison Hubbard, Imogen Keeper, James McBride, Jenny Offill. Reviews by Hilton Obenzinger, Eddy Pendarvis, Diane Simmons, Suzanne McConnell, and Christine Willis.
Review of Love Palace
Hilton Obenzinger says, "In Martha, Meredith Sue Willis has created a great hardboiled narrator. She’s been hurt and pissed off,
mainly by her two “rotters,” her father and her ex-husband, and the world that’s dealt her a tough hand, and she finds relief through sex and constant instability, confiding in her therapist, when she can afford her. She’s ready for change, and stumbles into the Love Palace, a church, a social center, and an organizing HQ for its elusive charismatic spiritual leader, and by happenstance she becomes its administrator. The Love Palace is among the last low-income housing buildings in the riverside New Jersey neighborhood being overrun by gentrification, and it becomes the focal point for a fight to save what’s left. The Love Palace is a catalyst, pulling together multiple lives and stories into a pulsating community. Martha ends up cajoled to marry a much younger man, scion of the rich couple who owns the Love Palace as a project of their church – or at least we think they own it. The Love Palace community fights eviction and demolition, and knowing who owns the building is crucial – and knowing the truth about the spiritual leader as well. The novel is filled with surprises and revelations as the mysteries peel away, and Martha grows increasingly capable of handling the madness of seduction, deceit, and betrayal. Love Palace, the novel, is a delight to read, and Martha is a tough character worth meeting again and again."
Buy it from Bookshop.org or any of the usual online hardcopy suspects. Also available as a Kindle book on Amazon, and for most e-reader formats at Smashwords.com.
"The Craft of Story Telling" video with Meredith Sue Willis
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For Writers and Readers
One hundred tips to improve your novel (or not) from Ryan Chapman at Literary Hub
Alison Louise Hubbard: How I Got My Book Published.
Apriil 2024 Adventures in Editing with Danny Williams
The wonderful Persimmon Tree offers some thoughts about beginnings in fiction.
Here are a couple of resources about short story writing. The one from writers.com offers several possible structures, including Freitag’s pyramid: https://writers.com/how-to-write-a-story-outline.
Some good sources for where to submit are the classifed section at NewPages.com as well as others online. I have a somewhat out-dated list on this website: https://www.meredithsuewillis.com/places%20that%20publish.html
Rediscovered: Libraries Today: West Virginia Library Commission
Interview with Meredith Sue Willis about Their House
Danny Williams' March Adventures in Editing
See Ben Shepherd's suggestions for online marketing. He sells services, but has lots of free ideas too.
Notes on using "past habitual" passages in prose narrative: this is the unspecified past of "she always used to" and "every Sunday in summer we would." In fiction and other story telling, this is a natural drafting technique which often works best in finished stories when it comes into focus/leads to a very specific example of the habitual scene. "Every Sunday after church we would gather for a cold dinner. At least, we did until the fateful Sunday just before the war when Brother stood up and announce,..."
- Have you wondered about Meredith Sue Willis's books? Read a Sample.
More for writers: Free lectures from Authors Publish
New Short Story by Meredith Sue Willis at Cold Mountain Review: "The Sweetest Man Who Ever Lived."
Audio Recording of MSW reading "The Sweetest Man Who Ever Lived.
A New Way to Get Ideas for What to Read: Shepherd.com
Have a listen: West Virginia Writers... ...at https://www.wvstories.com/ -- audio recordings, materials for teachers and much more! Produced and hosted by Kate Long."
Latest Issue:New Books For Readers #232. Reviews of books by Jim Minick, Clarice Lispector, The Porch Poems, George du Maurier,Louise Fitzhugh, Natalia Ginzburg, Marilynne Robinson; Kathleen Watt; Hambly,Connelly, Alison Hubbard, Imogen Keeper, James McBride, Jenny Offill. Reviews by Hilton Obenzinger, Eddy Pendarvis, Diane Simmons, Suzanne McConnell, and Christine Willis.
Latest Issue: Hamilton Stone Review #49 Fall 2023 Poetry: Robert Gibb; Tony Beyer: Erin Wilson; Lynn Gilbert; Rochelle Robinson-Dukes; Bruce McRae; Barry Seiler; John Repp; George Moore; J.R. Solonche; Mary Dean Lee; Jennifer Dotson; Stephen C. Middleton; Priscilla Atkins; Cordelia Hanemann; James Owens; Eugene Datta; Daniel Romo; V.P. Loggins; Leonore Hildebrandt; Joel Aleghetti; Rizwan Akhtar. Prose: Stephen Combs; James Hartman; Eleanor Lerman; Pegah Ouji; Li Ruan; Daniel Ruefman
Dialogue punctuation: Reedsy's six "unbreakable" rules for dialogue punctuation.
"Review for Writers" Danny Williams on MSW's Love Palace
Various types of third person in fiction
Check out my collection of articles for writers
New Essays at A Journal of Practical Writing: George Lies on Switching from 3rd to 1st Person in Fiction. Eddy Pendarvis on Free Indirect Discourse
E-book Versions of MSW books
(To buy any of these books as e-books, click on the image. They are also available
at the Kindle Store and at the Nook Store as well as the
iBook store and other e-book stores.)
In Memoriam
Taxicab Willis-Weinberger Extraoredinary Budgerigar
March 2006-March 30,2020
E-mail List and Free subscription to Books for Readers and Writers
Irene Weinberger
Books.... an imprint of
Hamilton Stone Editions
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Images and photos found on the various pages of this web site may be used by anyone, but please attribute the source when it is specified.
Meredith Sue Willis Author and Teacher is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
