Ryan Chapman's Blog
August 14, 2026
Join me for a seminar on comic fiction, August 22nd
I'm popping my head over the Goodreads parapet to invite you to an online craft seminar I'm giving on Saturday August 22, 2026. The Rules of Comic Fiction (and Their Infinite Exceptions) will be held from 12pm-3pm ET in The Shipman Agency's Workroom. This is for emerging writers, readers, MFA students, and even published authors.
What do we talk about when we talk about comic voice? Vladimir Nabokov’s linguistic wordplay. Paul Beatty’s situational ironies. Oscar Wilde’s bone-dry wit. (And whomever you’re thinking about right now.) Comic voice is endlessly capacious and incredibly elastic. It allows us to trojan-horse the most difficult subjects into our fiction. It provides catharsis when the world feels on the verge of collapse. And, as we’ll learn, it’s essential for defining our prose style and our ideal reader.
This zoom-based craft seminar will enumerate strategies for employing the comic--broadly defined--in our own practice. Whether you’re interested in satire or the lightly humorous, you’ll come away with practical steps for advancing your craft. Expect nerdy discussions on rhetoric and earnest ones on empathy, with close readings of brief passages by Miranda July, Gunnhild Øyehaug, Gary Shteyngart, Donald Antrim, and Rebecca Makkai.
Also! This is a ticketed seminar, but we have a couple scholarship spots available.
April 10, 2020
A Literary Trivia Game Show, on Zoom
Hey friends,
Like many of you I've been sheltering in place and going a little batty. I miss my friends and the larger literary community. So in an attempt to make lemonade from these quarantine lemons, I'm hosting Nerd Jeopardy each week on zoom.
It's a literary trivia game show modeled off the TV program, but with more swearing and usually one technical mishap. We'll be answering clues in the form of a question, rolling our eyes at some egregious punning, and temporarily distracting ourselves from the barrage of bad news.
Each week I'll bring in authors with new books out. Authors like Chelsea Bieker, Kevin Nguyen, Mary South, Deb Olin Unferth, and Teddy Wayne.
If you want to compete--or just watch, that's fine too--sign up at my tinyletter. And if you want to see what it's like, check out our rickety pilot (and a truly terrible video thumbnail) at Literary Hub.
I hope you'll join me, and that all of you are staying safe.
regards,
Ryan
January 16, 2020
NPR says, “Dark, daring, and laugh-out-loud hilarious, Riots I...
NPR says, “Dark, daring, and laugh-out-loud hilarious, Riots I Have Known is one of the smartest—and best—novels of the year.”
March 13, 2019
A giveaway for RIOTS
Hello friends and strangers, my wonderful publisher is hosting a giveaway for my debut novel Riots I Have Known!
Enter by March 24 for your chance to win. The rest of the free world has to wait until May 21. If you enjoy Roberto Bolaño, Gary Shteyngart, and long walks on the beach, you might like my book.
As a reader who first joined Goodreads waaaay back in 2007, it's beyond exciting to be sharing my first novel with all of you. If you don't win a copy, I hope you'll check it out from your local library or buy it from your local independent bookstore. Okay, time for me to return to my pre-publication stress dreams.
