Introducing #MWW24 Faculty Sean Lovelace

29 May at 1:01 pm

Faculty Interviews, MWW E-pistle, MWW Events

Meet Sean Lovelace

Sean Lovelace lives in Indiana, where he chairs the English Department at Ball State University. He wrote Fog Gorgeous Stag (Publishing Genius Press), How Some People Like Their Eggs, and other flash fiction collections. He has won numerous national literary awards, including the Rose Metal Press Short Short Prize and the Crazyhorse Prize for Fiction. He writes about nachos at https://nachosonly.wordpress.com/

Sean will be teaching “How to Vanquish the Monstrous Blank Page” and participating in the panel, “Live Long and Try to Prosper: The New Frontier of Artificial Intelligence and Creative Writing.” He is also a part of the manuscript evaluation team.

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Q&A with Sean

I attended a flash fiction workshop with Sean when I was just starting out as a writer and didn’t know how to get started. His approach to writing changed the way I looked at the blank page, and at the objects and world around me. He’s a terrific asset to our conference and I hope I get to sneak in on his session. Sean is also the mastermind behind our panel on AI, which Jane Friedman will also be participating in. It’s a timely and important topic, and I hope that attendees walk away with a greater understanding of the risks and benefits involved with this technology.

MWW: Your class description for “How to Vanquish the Monstrous Blank Page” is one of my favorites ever—and bonus points for including Dickinson! I love that you reject the fear of a blank page and instead view it for its potential. Can you tell me a little about how you developed these tricks for turning our fear around?

SL: I’m not sure how it happened but I am happy it did. I think it started with “persona” texts: I wrote from the perspective of Elvis Presley, then I think John McEnroe. Anyway, I realized using a persona character eliminated the need for me to “Write/develop” a character from nothing. Attributes of character already existed. Therefore, no blank page.

My next leap was structure. This was VERY liberating. I realized the ENTIRE world is potential imaginative structure. Everything is form, just waiting. You don’t need to build a structure onto the blank page. Just take one already built—and populate it with creativity. For example, a bird guide…a list, a piece of architecture, a Facebook post, a cloud formation—anything!

The ENTIRE world is potential imaginative structure. Everything is form, just waiting. For example, a bird guide…a list, a piece of architecture, a Facebook post, a cloud formation—anything!

You don’t need to ever face a blank page! There are so many ways to bring techniques to the page, to make it very full before you even begin writing.

MWW: I’m really excited about the panel you suggested, “Live Long and Try to Prosper: The New Frontier of Artificial Intelligence and Creative Writing,” and it’s exciting that Jane Friedman will join us in the discussion. Do you think that AI systems like ChatGPT are a threat to writing, or are there practical, positive uses for them?

SL: We don’t know the answer yet. I do think seeing a tool as a threat is misguided. We’ll just need to learn to use the tool. A lot of smart people thought the invention of photography would end the art of painting. They were wrong.

MWW: Can you tell us a little about your journey(s) in writing? What sorts of things inspire your work?

SL: Absurdity, silliness, fun, nachos. I think a lot of creative writing takes itself way too seriously. And I’m obsessed with narrative structure. It’s really enjoyable finding and working new forms.

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