_As writers, the state of the writing world can’t help but interest us. On one hand, it’s a wonderful thing that someone can engage in an activity like writing, putting down their thoughts and ideas on paper and publishing it for the world to read and learn from. On the other hand there’s editors, agents, publishing houses, self doubt, rejection letters, worse writers getting accepted in your place and a slew of other mostly neurological, but no less daunting problems to face. So for a little writing advice, we at the Scene have turned to some of the brightest up and coming writers on the net to get their input into the state of the writing world. Today, we send our wonderfully designed questionnaire to Dennis Cass of Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome. Let’s see what he thinks:

Question 1: Who are you? What is your basic experience with writing, the writing world and the publishing world?

My name is Dennis Cass. I’ve written features for magazines like Harper’s, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, Slate and Mother Jones. In 2007, HarperCollins published HEAD CASE, which is a book about my crazy stepfather and the science of the human brain. Before all of that I worked for a literary agency. Recently I’ve started teaching creative nonfiction at Carleton College and blogging about writing and publishing. I’m also working on a novel.

Question 2: Obviously all writers want to get published and make a few dollars, but what do you really hope to accomplish with your writing? Do you want to change the world, or just get the movie deal?

If I could pick one word that governs both what I like to consume and what I like to make, it would be delight. Dickens is delightful. So is Hunter S. Thompson. So are the guys who made Sean of the Dead. Some artists just have this wonderful energy to their work, and it doesn’t matter if they’re being funny or sincere or important or trivial. It’s all propelled by delight. Read the rest of this entry »