- I’m Sorry, but the Omegaverse Cannot be Stopped
Blog Writer // Madelynn Graham TW: discussions of sex, minor mention of sexual assault Dystopian science-fiction is a relatively new genre in the literary sphere, first being seen within the last 130 years with H.G Wells’s The Time Machine. Some… - Haunted: The Perfect Halloween Read or an Abuse of the Alphabet?
Blog Writer // Allegra Gonzalez When I think of fall, two types of people come to mind. There are pumpkin spice latte people— think pumpkin patches, autumn candles, and Uggs paired with fall-esque colored outfits. Then I think of those… - Building up a Bare-Bones Resume and More From the Fall ’24 Internship Panel
Blog Director // Leanna Florez The publishing world is always changing, and so are internships. If you’re worried about falling behind in this competitive field, the Undergraduate Students for Publishing Internship Panel had the solutions straight from the mouths of… - I Just Want to Watch my People Smile and Laugh
Blog Writer // Pilialoha Gaudiello Popularized media of Indigenous people often includes aspects of an overwhelmingly colonial narrative. Although these are representations founded in the reality and history of various Indigenous and Native communities–ranging from Turtle Island to small islands… - How to Make the Proper Book to Screen Adaptation: A Lesson by Mike Flanagan
Blog Writer // Paige Bayliss As a long time reader and book-lover, I think there is nothing more exciting than finding out that your favorite novel or series is going to have its very own screen adaptation. From blockbuster films… - Lost in Translation: A World of Knowledge and Beliefs
Guest Writer // Allegra Gonzalez Literature has been part of my life ever since I realized Roald Dahl’s characters were far more interesting than my human friends. Growing up, I was always taught English was the language of the bourgeois,… - Ten Beach Reads for Summer 2024
Guest Writer // Camryn Lehr As the temperature grows warmer and the sun starts to shine, the clues that summer is here become apparent. And you know what summer means. . . beach days! Every beach day requires an exciting… - On Embracing the Night: Why Writers Thrive After Dark
Guest Writer // Jagger van Vliet I believe, truthfully, that the night belongs solely to the writer. When it comes to that question of what time writers are most productive, it should be of little surprise that the hours of… - Tequila SunriseFiction Guest Writer // Ari LaColla Juliana sat alone in the dark green booth, sipping at the drink in front of her. She had ordered a tequila sunrise, orange juice and grenadine cutting out any harsh liquor taste. She felt…
- NomenclatureFiction Guest Writer // Madison McMahon Do you know my name? You have seen me before. You should have at least heard of me. Still no? Well, why? Come on, think. You study the classics in school. There are treasures…
- The Crimson Walls of Grimrose ManorGuest Fiction Writer // Mia Solimine TW: Knives, blood, su*cidal/hom*cidal actions She loves the moon, particularly when it is whole. How enchanting it looks, staring down at her from behind the glass roof and illuminating the surrounding looming clouds, which…
- Interview With Author Callan Whitley
Assistant Blog Director // Liz Gomez I don’t know which was better: reading Callan Whitley’s novella Meet Me at Harvest Moon or interviewing her for an hour about the writing process—bonding over our love of Lenny, Harry Potter, and chai… - Snapewives: A Tale of Modern Religious Figures
Guest Writer // Paige Bayliss The Harry Potter series has made large cultural impacts on fandom spaces since the first novel was published in 1997. Fandom spaces are known to have a wide variety of interests and creative endeavors that… - ARC Review: In Tongues by Thomas Grattan
Guest Writer // Grace Mattsen This book is exciting, funny, and raw. Gordon is lost. He is twenty-four and floundering around New York City in the early 2000s. Estranged from his born-again father and disinterested mother, Gordon is grasping for… - Literary Civil War: Inside the Mad World of Early Surrealism
Guest Writer // Jagger van Vliet TW: mild violence It is entirely unexpected that there was once a time in which writers and artists waged brutal war against each other, all in the name of genre. It seems trivial, or… - The Chalice of the Gods or The Chalice of Qualms: Is the Percy Jackson Franchise Continuing Strong or Is it Going Downhill?
Guest Writer // Camryn Lehr I first picked up a Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief, when I was in third grade. I was instantly hooked from the first sentence: “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.” I’ve read the… - Increased “Smut” in YA literature
Guest Writer // Tessa Donohue In the rise of popularity in reading, specifically within the YA genre, it has become evident that romance sells. Or, more specifically: smut sells. In the books a person will see while scrolling through “most… - On the Value of Fantasy Novels
Elliot Berkley // Guest Writer You’re introducing yourself in a new lit class, and the professor asks what everyone’s favorite genre is. As the domino chain of answers makes its way to you and you hear “fantasy” over and over… - The Case for Screenplays: What Modern Writers can Gain From Reading Scripts
Above is an excerpt from Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney’s breathtaking 2016 screenplay Moonlight. In this scene, the main character, Little, is asking Juan, the man who has become a father figure to him, about his involvement with drugs. - ARC Review: A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Grace Mattsen // Staff Writer A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda When Priya and Ashok Shah move their family to the affluent Pacific Hills, California, neighborhood, they feel like they have finally made it. After immigrating to the United… - The Switch: Goodreads to The StoryGraph
By Elisabeth Grass Every avid reader, and most not-so-avid readers, know about the wildly popular book-logging site Goodreads. It has been the frontrunning social cataloging website for years, and currently has over 125 million users, which is a little over… - Do Bookstores Deserve Your Money? : Deciding When and When Not to Purchase New Books
By Paige Bayliss I love owning physical books. I love being able to say I have a collection. I love seeing them lined up on my shelves, spines aligning in a way that satisfies the deepest corners of my brain… - Literary/Writing Charities to Support
By Meg Rady As we journey into the new year, many of us have set resolutions to become more charitable. There are many literary and writing charities that are looking for donations, time, and voices to advocate for them. If… - New Year, New Reading Goals
by Grace Mattsen It is the time of year when I find myself hungry for reinvention. Each January I firmly resolve to go on walks everyday, or start listening to political podcasts, or learn to play the guitar, because this… - Interview with Two Span Time author Rita ChunBy Liz Gómez I had the incredible privilege to interview Rita Chun, who is the author of the upcoming Wilde Press novella TwoSpanTime. Her kindness, passion for writing, and talent for words shone in each response—each word and sentence—to the…
- Character-Driven FictionBy Savannah Bell What makes evocative fiction? Some would argue it’s a compelling setting, something either mystical or deeply grounded in reality. Perhaps it’s realistic dialogue, or maybe, satirical speech that allows for subtext. It could be a strong voice–confident…
- Fall 2023 Internship Panelby Meg Rady Last Tuesday evening, Undergraduate Students for Publishing, better known as Pub Club, hosted their annual internship panel for students, by students. The event is welcome to anyone who is interested in publishing and is curious about starting…
- ARC Review: Queen of Cuba by Peter J Lapp
by Callan Whitley “When you picture spies, you may think of martinis, sweet cars, and sexy clothes. That wasn’t Ana. She didn’t go out with coworkers. She behaved awkwardly at parties. She hadn’t had good luck dating. She filled her… - Reading for the Sake of Reading: Where do we draw the line?
By Paige Bayliss Teenagers are reading again, but they’re not reading what you would hope. On an average day, you could walk down an American public high school and see at least three different Colleen Hoover novels. At eighteen, I… - Social Media, Digital Publishing, and their Love Child: Substack
By Grace Mattsen If you care about writing, reading, or publishing, you are likely familiar with the digital publisher, Substack. The venture-backed subscription-based company explores an alternative to traditional publishing, offering a place for writers to share their ideas while… - I’m So Glad I Live in a World with Autumns (And Books) : Favorite Fall Reads!By Callan Whitley It’s the season of warm cups of tea, rewatching Gilmore Girls (only seasons 1-3, for personal vendetta reasons), and cozying up with a nice book. Here are some recommendations for Fall!! Little Women by Louisa May Alcott …
- The Benefits of Audiobooks
by Elisabeth Grass All throughout 2022, I think I read a total of maybe twelve books—including those I needed toread for school. At the beginning of 2023, I decided I wanted to get back into reading. It was something I… - Hispanic Heritage Month Recommendationsby Leanna Florez Hispanic Heritage Month takes place from September 15 to October 15, so in the last week of this month, we wanted to highlight some amazing reads by Hispanic authors. Commitment to diversity in reading is important not…
- Maddie Gregorski on writing The Neural Networkby Wilde Press Spring ’23 Author Maddie Gregorski It all started with a single scene: an argument. I spent so many nights replaying those few lines in my head and slowly building a conversation. The perfect couple at the dinner…
- Teya Sorenson on writing This Cursed Death
by Teya Sorenson, author of This Cursed Death, Wilde Press Spring ’23 Author In July of 2021 while hacking my way through the lengthy writing process of another project, I sat down to write a brief scene between two characters… - Trope Tuesday: The common female sacrifice, powers
by Monica Rivera Sosa Even in fictional words of paper and ink women are still being oppressed and made to look small to conform to the standards of the patriarchy in the real world. Why are authors finding it so… - Trope Tuesday: Found Family
by Meg Rady We’ve all heard the old adage, “blood is thicker than water.” Today, the cliché implies that familial bonds are stronger than any other relationship. Whether you think it’s true or not, the common ‘found family’ literary trope… - “The Rainbow Rose” by Sam Kostakis
Congratulations to our winner of the March 2023 Writing Challenge, “The Rainbow Rose” by Sam Kostakis. This piece is an aromatic retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty fairytale. The prompt was to write a piece inspired by folklore or mythology.… - ARC Review: Not So Perfect Strangers
by Meg Rady Not so Perfect Strangers seems like a compelling take on race gender politics through this twisting thriller mystery follwing two woman, complete strangers, bound by a chance encounter, which gives them an opportunity to escape their marriages.… - Trope Tuesday: Representation of Mixed Race and Racially Ambiguous Characters in Literary Tropes
by Karina Jha Diversity in the literary canon is horrifically sparse. Old white cishet men dominate the literary world, even now, as we bolster our efforts to include as many new and different voices as possible. But step by step,… - Books that Empower Women
By Angela Cene In dedication to Women’s History month I want to share some books that empower women, and support female authors. However, for younger girls and generations they need to see females like them who take control and do… - Trope Tuesday: Enemies to Loversby Monica Rivera Sosa What is it about a knife-to-the-throat scene that drives us readers crazy? Psychologists will say it’s due to some unresolved trauma or unhealthy coping mechanism but I’d venture a different possibility. Is it possible the reason…
- “Good” World-building from a Consumer’s Perspective
by Monica Rivera Sosa As someone who mainly reads fantasy, it’s become increasingly apparent that world-building is more important than we give it credit for. We must ask ourselves why we read these stories to begin with. For me, I… - “To Let You Love Me” by Anonymous Author
Congratulations to our winner of the February 2023 Writing Challenge, Anonymous Author with her piece, “To Let You Love Me.” The prompt was to use the words block, satisfaction, and favor in a romance piece. - Female Alumni Author Spotlight: Taylor Jenkins Reid
It took me about three years of being a student at Emerson College before I learned that one of our illustrious alumni is none other than Taylor Jenkins Reid, lauded for her command of the adult literary sphere. - Why Are E-Books So Expensive?
By Ana Sophia Garcia Cubas Assemat Allow me to paint what may be a familiar picture: You get a book recommendation. Maybe from your mom, a friend, or Tiktok, but you hear about a book that you simply must get… - Is BookTok Worth the Hype?
By Meg Rady How reliable is Booktok? Today, the social media subculture has taken the reading community by storm. By dictating the latest trends and taking over sections at bookstores, it is hard not to stumble upon a book recommended… - New Books by Black Authors for Black History Month 2023By Leanna Florez If you read one of these books, email pubclubonline@gmail.com to review it! This debut novel by author Eleanor Shearer follows a mother traveling the Caribbean to find her children post-slavery. It is a moving and powerful novel…
- “I am become a blade”: The Male Ego in “Shadow and “Bone”
by Guest Writer Monica Rivera Sosa “I am become a blade.” This iconic line from Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone created a surge of TikToks and memes about the Shadow and Bone character, Malyen Oretzev. However, this line is not… - Who/What is a 21st-Century Monster?
What is the difference between a friend and a follower? Both are interchangeable in conversations about social media and internet relationships, but is there a harm in this indistinguishability? Kim Fu’s “#CLIMBINGNATION,” in Lesser-Known Monsters of the 21st Century (2022)… - “Many white editors are not exposed to Black life beyond the headlines.”
June of 2020 was a time of Instagram posts: black squares, infographics, and corporate statements. The publishing industry was not exempt from the latter, as houses began posting their own acknowledgements of the calls for companies to support people of… - Bon Appétit: “Recognize your worth – these publications need us more than we need them.”
There may be readers who have, after parsing previous Diversity in Publishing posts, come to the conclusion that there is more being done to promote diversity within publishing than there is a need for it. Authors are able to write… - Five Books to Cozy Up With This Winter
‘Tis the season to snuggle up by the fire with a cozy blanket and a good book. If you’re looking for you next great read of the winter, here are some of our recommendations: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell… - Keep the Faucet Running: A Chat with Wilde Press’s Fall 2022 Authors
For many writers, our dream is to get a book published. Undergraduate Students for Publishing was able to make that happen for our two Fall 2022 student authors Karina Jha and Maddy Monroe through Wilde Press, Emerson’s student-run publishing company.… - Review of “Hijab Butch Blues” by Lamya H
Ana Sophia Garcia-Cubas Assemat // Blog Writer Hijab Butch Blues is a striking memoir written by Lamya H that takes her experiences growing up in the Middle East, along with her early adulthood in the United States, and interweaves them… - Reading for Fun
Rebecca Zaharia // Blog Writer If you’ve noticed a recent voraciousness for reading in your friends, family, or online, you aren’t alone. We have now entered the era of reading for fun. It seems counterintuitive to say; reading is a… - Wilde Press Spotlight: Always Winter
Maddy Monroe // Guest Writer When people ask me when I started Always Winter, I usually tell them I started last spring – that’s when I first started writing. However, I don’t personally think that’s where the writing process begins,… - Men Writing Women
Liberty Henry // Blog Writer Whenever men write women— particularly cisgender, heterosexual men— their inability to comprehend them is almost always disastrously apparent within the first few chapters, or even the first few paragraphs, of a book. While writers should… - When We Were Sisters: Review
Ana Sophia Garcia-Cubas Assemat // Blog Writer I love it when poets write novels. Their attention to pace and lyricism within the sentence, their meticulous word choices, and their use of imagery imbibes their prose with an ethereal quality. I… - Wilde Press Spotlight: Lisoyid
Karina Jha // Blog Assistant Hello! My name is Karina Jha and I am the author of Lisoyid, one of the Wilde Press publications for Fall 2022. I wanted to give a little insight into what the process of getting… - WLP Town Hall Recap
Leanna Florez // Blog Writer On November 1, 2022, the Writing, Literature, and Publishing (WLP) chairs, Creative Writing chairs, and WLP Student Government Association (SGA) senator Izzy Astuto held one of the most well-attended WLP Town Halls yet. Students across… - #OwnVoices and the Conditionality of Representation
Emma Shacochis // Blog Director When we discuss diversity in publishing, as important as it is to look at the internal operations of publishing houses, we also have to look at what – and who – these houses are choosing to publishing.… - NaNoWriMo and Writer’s Block: The New Enemies to Lovers
Leanna Florez // Blog Writer Writer’s block is the most feared enemy of any writer. NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, offers us a chance to break out of the creative sinkhole we’ve been sucked into; but despite the appeal… - History & Popularity of the Found Family Trope
Meg Rady // Blog Writer The found family trope is perhaps one of the most popular tropes in modern media. Chances are you’ve consumed at least one piece of media that features found family, also known as family of choice.… - To Love or to Hate: The Toxicity of Enemies to Lovers
Isabel DeSisto // Guest Writer Tension, pining, and walking the thin line between love and hate are some of the many aspects that elevate a subpar romance to a fantastic one. Hatred is a strong feeling: my mom used to… - Ali Hazelwood Faces Backlash for Writing Process: Should Authors Rely on Tropes?
Ana Garcia-Cubas Assemat // Blog Writer In an interview with Goodreads, neuroscientist and romance author Ali Hazelwood confessed that she struggled to write her second book, which followed the debut that landed her on the bestseller lists. Her first book,… - Tips and Tricks from the Pub Club Internship Panel
Leanna Florez // Blog Writer Internships can be a daunting subject. Between the applications, interviews, and introduction to work life, they can cause anxiety just from thinking about them; Undergraduate Students for Publishing understands that this does not need to… - The Six-Minute Memoir: Getting Lost in the Details
Rebecca Zaharia // Blog Writer As a writer, I always approach memoirs with some amount of trepidation. I’ve been a serial journaler for as long as I can remember, to make up for my inability to recall small details in… - Toni Morrison, Publishing Pioneer: “You Need to Free Somebody Else”
Emma Shacochis // Blog Director Working for what is now one of the “Big Five” publishing houses in the industry (the company now goes by Penguin Random House), Morrison was responsible for the work of Black female writers including Gayl Jones, Angela… - The Saga of Sensitivity Readers
Emma Shacochis // Blog Director Not every author who includes diverse characters in their stories is going to be doing so from an #OwnVoices perspective, but they still may hope to properly portray their characters. In these cases, authors will… - Which TikTok Books Are Worth the Read?
Kathleen Nolan // Blog Assistant If you’ve visited Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore recently, you’ve probably seen a “BookTok” table full of contemporary rom-coms, speculative fiction, and even YA novels. These genres have dominated TikTok, allowing new books… - Writing As Process and Goal
Allison Armijo // Blog Writer I remember when I was in elementary school, writing minorly fleshed-out stories on cardstock paper in crayon. I had control over the story; I could decide what my characters did, who they were, and where… - Welcome Spring with Some Magical Reads!
Karina Jha // Blog Assistant As spring is just beginning, here are some books that will add a little magic to the last of your gloomy winter days. Each of these books employs magic in some way or another. Sometimes,… - Sex “Self-Help” Literature: Who Is It Helping?
by Alli Armijo // Blog Writer Tucked between the relationship and sociology sections of every bookstore, there are usually three to four books about female anatomy, often with selectively provocative titles about genitalia. However, these aren’t medical books; rather, they’re… - Pub Club Recommends: Unconventional Stories About Love
As our definition of love continues to bloom outward, past the heteronormative and binary, past the expected, past what centuries of love stories have taught us before, we enter an era where love is precisely what each of us makes… - I Don’t Know About Charles Bukowski
Alli Armijo // Blog Writer The first thing I do when I am interested in a book is turn to a random page and read a passage. It might be a few words or a few sentences, but it usually… - Confessional Essays in the Literary Canon
Alli Armijo // Blog Writer Every morning, I like to sit down and journal. Sometimes I write about the people in my life, sometimes I vent, and sometimes I am trying to work through temporary existential crises. Whatever the case… - The Breakup Stories: Reflections Post-First Draft
Frankie Rowley // Blog Writer At nineteen, I have completed my lifelong dream: becoming an author. Becoming an author has been anything but the euphoric process I thought it would be. If anything, it was an outlet for overcoming a… - Dreaming of You: A Journey Into Celebrity and What It Means to Disappear
Allison Armijo // Blog Writer Have you ever brought your idol back from the dead? Have you ever wanted to? Melissa Lozada-Oliva is a Guatemalan and Colombian American author. Winning the 2015 National Poetry Slam for her poem, “Like Totally… - Love: What We Know Based On “What We Talk About”
Allison Armijo // Blog Writer Raymond Carver is known for his minimalist writing style, through which he challenges his audience to read between the lines, emphasizing the idea that what is said is sometimes just as important as what isn’t.… - Diving Into Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Glamorous Fictional Hollywood
Kathleen Nolan // Blog Assistant Whether you’ve spent hours scrolling through BookTok this year or love to browse the popular fiction table at your local bookstore, you’ve probably heard the name Taylor Jenkins Reid. Reid, an Emerson graduate, has been… - The Body: An Obligatory Haunted House
Allison Armijo // Blog Writer Carmen Maria Machado is no stranger to horror, as a genre, or as an experience. Critically acclaimed author of In the Dream House, a memoir about queer domestic abuse, Machado is known for confronting difficult… - Pub Club’s Internship Panel Recap
Emma Shacochis // Blog Director Spring internship deadlines are looming – are you ready for them yet? If you aren’t, and don’t know where to start, look no further than the tips offered by our very own team from Undergraduate… - Wilde Press Spring 2021 AudiobooksOlivia Smith // Pub Club Vice President The Destruction of One, Penelope Evans by Isabella Rodrigues and Rootlines by Kelsey Day are the latest books in the Wilde Press catalog. However, these publications stand apart from their predecessors: they are…
- Where History Begins
Andi Smith // Blog Writer I’ll ask you a question that seems simple: what is historical fiction? That’s not a trick question: it’s just fiction set in a historical moment. It is, however, a bit of a trick answer. According… - Bird by Bird: Anne Lamott on Writing & Its Process
Allison Armijo // Blog Writer From Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft to Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing, authors, both new and old, have provided readers and fans with the opportunity to gain insight… - Stretching and Submitting
Isabella Rodrigues // Wilde Press Author “You have to stretch before you run a marathon.” That’s what I kept telling myself while writing The Destruction of One, Penelope Evans while marooned at my grandparent’s house over the summer. I had… - Normal People: How Social and Economic Class Affect Modern-Day Relationships
Rachel Tarby // Blog Writer Normal People by Sally Rooney is a novel that features two protagonists, Marianne and Connell, who have a very strong gravitation toward each other. This unique portrayal of a modern-day love story shows a more… - Resume and Cover Letter Workshop with Hachette Recap
Olivia Smith // Blog Director Whether you’re a first time applicant or a seasoned intern, everyone could use some more tips and tricks when it comes to applying to publishing jobs. Last Friday, Hachette Book Group HR specialists Lia Hartman… - Spend Your Summer with Genre Fiction
Emma Shacochis // Blog Assistant Whether you’ll be interning, returning to work, or completing summer classes over the next few months, it’s undeniable that you’ll have at least a bit more time in your schedule for pleasure reading. There’s nothing… - Sandra Cisneros and Body Recognition in “Guadalupe the Sex Goddess”
Alli Armijo // Blog Writer Known for her bildungsroman The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros is celebrated for confronting the innocence of childhood with a perspective tainted by the reality of a lived experience. In her essay “Guadalupe the… - Richard Siken on Queer Relationships
Alli Armijo // Blog Writer The critically-acclaimed poet Richard Siken holds nothing back when it comes to love. He is ruthless and unapologetic, detailing just how blissful –and equally terrifying– romance can be. But one must consider, based on how… - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Review
Lauren Simpson // Blog Writer “People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist The Alchemist is an introspective and symbolic piece that articulately presents its story and meaning through… - Unload the Canon
Julia Brukx // Blog Assistant On January 1, 2021, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s chef d’oeuvre The Great Gatsby entered the public domain. First published in 1926, the statute of limitations had passed for Gatsby to remain in the possession of Fitzgerald’s… - Surviving Shakespeare
Olivia Smith // Blog Director Shakespeare is intimidating. His plays are over four hundred years old, use archaic words and definitions, and can be filled to the brim with obscure references. Reading his plays is no small feat. Regardless of… - Realistic Queer Representation in Literature
Alli Armijo // Blog Writer What defines something as realistic? And who has the authority to decide what is realistic? Especially in the realm of literature, realism can often be subverted for drama or fantasy, which is beneficial in the sense that… - Zami: A New Spelling of My Name Review
Rachel Tarby // Blog Writer Zami: A New Spelling of My Name was written by the profound poet Audre Lorde, who is most well-known for writing about her experiences as both a lesbian woman and a Black woman. The book… - Review: Mariko Tamaki’s Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
Emma Shacochis // Blog Assistant Frederica “Freddy” Riley feels like she’s lucky. Her girlfriend, Laura Dean, is, on paper, the girl of her dreams: confident, popular, and beautiful. The only issue is that, almost every time a holiday rolls around,… - The Secret History Review
Ana Hein // Blog Writer There are some books that feel like rites of passage into the club of the “true reader.” There’s a transformative air about them perpetuated by the literary public: you read this book, you will never… - Writing History
Andi Smith // Blog Writer Rachel Barenbaum, author of A Bend in the Stars, told me that she wanted to be able to see her characters’ worlds as well as they did: “If they’re on a dock, I want to…