{"id":15986,"date":"2025-10-30T15:26:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=15986"},"modified":"2026-02-25T19:54:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:54:53","slug":"the-art-of-fiction-writing-a-life-with-hannah-grieco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2025\/10\/30\/the-art-of-fiction-writing-a-life-with-hannah-grieco\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of fiction: \u201cWriting: A Life\u201d with Hannah Grieco"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Aleina Smith \u201927, staff writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LVC\u2019s \u201cWriting: A Life\u201d featured author, Hannah Grieco, read from her short story collection, \u201cFirst Kicking, Then Not,\u201d before answering questions about the craft of writing fiction in the Bishop Library Atrium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grieco, both a non-fiction and fiction writer, as well as an editor and college professor, read three of her stories from her debut collection of short stories, titled \u201cFirst Kicking, Then Not,\u201d published in August of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The best thing you can do if you really want to publish is be a reader,” Grieco said. “The more you read, the more you’ll understand how literary magazine writing is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOut of Sight\u201d is a third-person point of view story about a monster and its desires\u2014with \u201cmonster\u201d being a metaphor for a mother and her struggles of motherhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake Like a Tree and Leave\u201d is an uncommon second-person point of view story addressing depression: from breakups to family hardships. The use of addressing \u201cyou\u201d as a reader presents the material in a relatable manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, Grieco read her title story, \u201cFirst Kicking, Then Not,\u201d a first-person point of view thriller. This story features a young lead recalling their sister being taken by a \u201cgiant bird,\u201d which later takes three other children, and finally, after a few years, the child of the lead\u2019s previous love interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grieco also answered questions on the hardships of writing, including addressing how to handle difficult pieces and topics, point of view troubles and even troubles getting published, such as in literary magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDifferent pieces are hard for different pieces when we write,\u201d Grieco said. \u201cSo, I wrote these over a series of years with no idea of a collection in mind. But who you are when you write a story is still who you are when you write another story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last story in the collection, \u201cNina Parker Chooses Nymphomania,\u201d handles particularly intense subjects, as well as intense emotions, for Grieco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a serious story on identity, acceptance, and pain, and that was the hardest story I ever wrote because it was the first time I wrote a story that was purely my voice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another challenging story from this collection was \u201cThe Gold Standard,\u201d which Grieco had originally planned to be a novel. After 30,000 words, Grieco scrapped the idea and made it a short story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grieco provided advice on the difficulties of learning to write in different points of view, after the readings she previously gave in each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI finish a draft and then put it in every possible point of view to see what happens,\u201d Grieco said. \u201cIt\u2019s a different story in every point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grieco went into detail about the hardships of the second person, but also how a writer can make it work for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a really good way to tackle something very painful and hard that you might not be quite ready to write about in the \u2018I;\u2019 you do it in the \u2018you\u2019 and it gives you enough distance that you can tackle it,\u201d Grieco said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy as a writer to get comfortable writing in one point of view; Grieco stresses the importance of getting out of your comfort zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just play and play and play with everything I write in different points of view until the one I decide works,” Grieco said. “I never just accept the one I did in first draft because that’s just what’s comfortable and easy and what’s comfortable and easy may not be what’s best for the piece.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grieco advised students to get involved on campus with things such as our literary magazine, ‘Green Blotter,’ to read submissions and find out what works and what doesn’t for their own works.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Aleina Smith \u201927, staff writer LVC\u2019s \u201cWriting: A Life\u201d featured author, Hannah Grieco, read from her short story collection, \u201cFirst Kicking, Then Not,\u201d before answering questions about the craft of writing fiction in the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"category-front-page","9":"category-homepage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15986"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16444,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15986\/revisions\/16444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}