Cleo Qian on the Differences Between Writing Poetry and Fiction

Welcome to I’m a Writer But, where writers discuss their work, their lives, their other work, the stuff that takes up any free time they have, all the stuff they’re not able to get to, and the ways in which any of us get anything done. Plus: book recommendations, bad jokes, okay jokes, despair, joy, and anything else going on that week. Hosted by Lindsay Hunter.    

Today, Cleo Qian discusses moving between poetry and fiction, the inspiration behind some of the stories in her debut collection Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go, allowing her book to age as she revised, honoring the privacy of writing, and more!

From the episode:

Cleo Qian: I think that fiction is a form in which you kind of have to organize your thoughts, and there is the expectation that there’s going to be a narrative, which implies some cohesion and some arcs inside. With poetry, you’re allowed to be more explosive. There’s a lot of constraint, there’s so much attention on the line level and on the syntax level, but you’re allowed to be a little more disorganized with–for example–an emotional arc. You’re allowed to explain less in some ways.

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Cleo Qian (she/her) is a fiction writer and poet from California. She received her MFA from NYU. Her work has appeared in over 20 outlets; was a winner of the Zoetrope: All Story Short Fiction Competition; has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, twice longlisted for the DISQUIET Prize, and supported by Sundress Academy for the Arts. By day, she works at a nonprofit and reads self-help articles on how to be happy. Her debut short story collection, Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go, is out now.