Fiction Consultations with John Mauk

John Mauk began professional life as a rhetorical theorist, then later acknowledged his literary reflexes. His fiction has appeared in journals such as Salamander, Arts and Letters, The Forge, New Millennium Writings, Main Street Rag; his nonfiction in Rumpus, Beatrice.com, and Writer’s Digest. He has two full-length story collections, Field Notes for the Earthbound and Where All Things Flatten (April, 2024). He was elected professor of the year at two different colleges. Now, after twenty-four years of teaching, he hosts Prose from the Underground, an emerging video series for active writers.

John is accepting everything from flash fiction to novels for critique. The fees and parameters for each of these categories are as follows:

• Flash fiction, up to 2 pages in length, $25
• Short stories, up to 20 pages in length, $55
• Chapbooks, up to 40 pages in length, $275
• Novellas, up to 100 pages in length, $425
• Short story collections, up to 180 pages in length, $550
• Novels, up to 300 pages in length, $795

All manuscripts should be double spaced and formatted in 12-point font. The deadline to submit work for this consultation program is March 31. John will complete his work and respond to all participants by April 30.

John will provide detailed comments on your manuscript as well as a cover letter. After receiving these files, participants who submit chapbooks and full-length manuscripts may also book phone/video conferences with John at no additional charge.

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John Mauk's Statement of Purpose

Fiction writing is ballet on a tightrope. We must manage gravity and grace at each moment. No writer should go it alone. I’m willing and ready to help. As a reader, teacher, editor, and reviewer, I’ve noticed three primary issues that can make revision more productive: 

1) Tension: Great stories, in any genre, rely on a singular tension, one that is established immediately (or very early). It is the force that brings all other elements (imagery, description, prose, dialog, staging, history) along with it. I understand that singular tension in two different ways: as a function of the characters' purpose or the characters' desire. When that tension is palpable from the start, the story moves and carries readers with it.

2) Scenes: Fiction is all about the crucial scenes—not the information but the action that occurs in the narrative present. All writers need help intensifying their scenes. That often means minimizing exposition and maximizing the real-time situations that define characters’ lives. The better the scenes, the better the story.

3) Subtext: Subtext is the subtle current of thought beneath the text itself. Subtext allows readers to enter the text, grapple with it, make meaning within it. Subtext is the roaring silence between words, beneath sentences. For writers, it’s often the most challenging element to cultivate. But it need not be mind-boggling. It’s often simply a matter of strategic omission—carving out statements or passages that do too much work, that say too much.

As a consultant, I will consider these three elements. Of course, there are more issues: concerns about setting, syntax, narrator placement, and so on, but the above three issues will drive my approach. I’ll offer scene-by-scene comments. I’ll say what makes me hope, wonder, worry, and cheer. I’ll offer suggestions for intensifying and attenuating. Also, I’ll say what the story is doing best because we all need affirmation. I look forward to reading whatever you might send.