Blaise Zerega

Nov 21, 2024 | thereportedessay.substack.com | Erika Hayasaki |Courtney Maum |Blaise Zerega |Matt Haber

Last week, in a post on story structures, I mentioned “the reported essay.” Here is how I described the form:A first-person story grounded in reflection and reporting. These pieces weave facts, scenes, interviews and research with personal observations and narrative storytelling.

Jun 24, 2024 | altaonline.com | Blaise Zerega

As the saying goes, people use clichés because they’re true. Here are two about California: first, that people move here to reinvent themselves; second, that our state is the land of cults. The pair are intertwined, the latter an inevitable consequence of the former. From the gold rush to the Summer of Love, California was a place with neither the societal strictures of the East Coast nor the traditions of a dominant religion.

Oct 17, 2023 | altaonline.com | Blaise Zerega

Ye Chun’s Straw Dogs of the Universe is a devastating novel that lays bare the hollow promise of the California dream for Chinese immigrants of the 19th century. Told with an unflinching attention to detail, Ye’s narrative captures the brutal racism and violence inflicted upon these newcomers both in the crowded alleys of San Francisco and amid the vast beauty of the Sierra Nevada. Yet Ye’s characters never surrender their aspirations for a better life.

Oct 3, 2023 | altaonline.com | Blaise Zerega

The best fiction performs two levels of deceit. First, the author draws characters so convincingly that you’d swear they were real. Second—and this is where the real magic occurs—the author explores issues and ideas through them. Fire in the Canyon, the second novel by Daniel Gumbiner—his first, The Boatbuilder, was long-listed for a 2018 National Book Award—succeeds wildly at both. He has written that rare book of people and ideas. Let’s start with Gumbiner’s characters.

Sep 25, 2023 | altaonline.com | Blaise Zerega

In January of this year, months before the Writers Guild of America went on strike, the discussion on a group email list of fellow magazine editors turned to artificial intelligence. Was anyone receiving machine-generated submissions disguised as human-created ones? With advances in software like ChatGPT, Chatsonic, and Bing Chat, would editors be able to tell the difference? Could anything be done to prevent AI from taking the place of humans when it came to the art of writing?