Today, Fringe managing editor David Duhr interviewed editor-in-chief Lizzie Stark about her new book, Leaving Mundania, which explores the world of live action roleplay or larp — essentially make believe for adults on steroids.

Curious about larp? In April, Lizzie gave a talk in Helsinki about how September 11 affected larp communities in New York City as part of the Nordic Larp Talks:

Of course, David, like the entire Fringe staff, is completely impartial about Lizzie’s book. You should probably consider buying it.

Editor-in-chief Lizzie Stark talks to Fringe about her new book, Leaving Mundania, a narrative nonfiction exploration of the world of larp, or live action role-play. more »

The NY Tyrant Guide to Not Being a Horrible Writer in the Year 2010 is Vice’s uncharitably snarky take on slush pile cliches, and it proves that I, too have tortured readers of slush piles the world over. Here are a few of my favorites from the list:

“When you think you are about to write something really good, go to the grocery.” This is true of my own fiction writing. If I think a sentence is great, that’s generally because it’s full of purple-prose or writerly diction that calls attention to itself and takes the reader out of the story. A  good rule of thumb is to cut it in the second draft.

“Oh sweet, you went to that museum alone one day and had a tuna sandwich in the cafe? You’re killing me, please.” I’ve written this story. Twice. And it even got submitted out. <dies of shame>.

“Write less dialogue, unless you are really good at it, which I guarantee you aren’t.” Yeah, I suck at dialogue. Now I mostly try not to write it. Reported dialogue and narrative summary are my friends.

“Please, God, no characters who are musicians. There is nothing worse than trying to describe music, or how someone... more »

Welcome to the new Fringe. As you may have noticed, we’ve reworked our website to improve your literary experience.

Most importantly, you won’t have to wait months to read great new writing — we’ll be posting new work on an approximately weekly schedule.

In addition to integrating the blog onto the site, changing up the display, and adding more art to our home and issue pages, the kicky new design features a few new widgets for your reading pleasure. Here’s what you can do on the new Fringe:

• Find more work from the same genre and issue using the handy right-side navigation bar
• Share pieces from the site on Facebook using the little button at the bottom of each work
• Recommend writing you like by clicking the “readers recommend” button at the bottom of each piece
• Search Fringe from the top of any page
• Find work easier with our new pages for contributors, issues and genres
• Discuss the most recent pieces we posted to Fringe on the blog

Want to read more about what we did and why we did it? Kim Liao over at Vernacular interviewed Fringe Editor-in-Chief Lizzie Stark about the new design.

And don’t forget to check back next Monday for hot new writing.

Lizzie Stark is a founding editor of Fringe, and the author of Leaving Mundania (Chicago Review Press, 2012), a narrative nonfiction book about the subculture of live-action role-playing, or larp. Her freelance journalism and writing has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, ... more »