{"id":138,"date":"2018-06-12T09:34:46","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T13:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/?p=138"},"modified":"2018-05-15T15:56:53","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T19:56:53","slug":"fellinger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/2018\/06\/12\/fellinger\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Fellinger – A Journalist Turned Novelist"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Richard Fellinger, writing and publishing a novel is the hardest thing he\u2019s ever accomplished. \u201cI\u2019ve ran seven marathons in my lifetime. I\u2019ve dealt with the mob and I\u2019ve dealt with the Klan. But, writing and publishing a novel remains at the top my list,\u201d Fellinger said.<\/p>\n

A Novelist<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Elizabethtown College Writing Fellow and director of the Writing Wing, Fellinger lives and breathes writing. Prior to his debut novel, \u201cMade to Break Your Heart,\u201d Fellinger published a col\"\"lection of short stories entitled \u201cThey Hover Over Us.\u201d This publication made him the winner of the 2011 Serena McDonald Kennedy Award for Fiction. But as a dedicated writer, Fellinger just couldn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to create a little every day,\u201d Fellinger said. \u201cI consider myself a realist, and I like to write about what I know. Writing is my passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, even as a passionate writer, Fellinger still hits the occasional roadblock. \u201cMade to Break Your Heart\u201d took roughly eight years to write, publish and market. Reflecting on this experience, Fellinger is using \u201cMade to Break Your Heart\u201d as a template for his future novels.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t go into publishing light-hearted,\u201d Fellinger said. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough business and such a hard market.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is currently in the process of starting a new novel, one centered on more controversial and topical issues.<\/p>\n

A Journalist<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a journalist has played a big role in who I am and how I write,\u201d Fellinger said.<\/p>\n

Fellinger grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania, an old railroad town built by the coal and steel industries. Emerging from Pennsylvania\u2019s rust belt, Fellinger graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and shortly after became a journalist. Fellinger spent roughly 15 years as a journalist in southern Philadelphia and then in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n

A Professor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Along with his writing, Fellinger currently works in the Learning Zone at the College. He also teaches classes within the English Department of the College<\/a>. His classes at E-town include Writing and Language, Advanced Writing and Writing and Analyzing the Short Story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy teaching and talking about what I do on a daily basis,\u201d Fellinger said. \u201cI believe writing is so important in any fields of study, anywhere you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior mathematics education major Katey Mowery took Fellinger\u2019s Writing and Analyzing the Short Story class. As someone outside of the English curriculum, she enjoyed his class and the opportunities it gave her.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Fellinger made the class interesting and extremely enjoyable because of the creativity we could use,\u201d Mowery said. \u201cI also enjoyed how he gave his students the opportunity to express themselves through their writing. He really cares for his students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellinger cannot stress enough just how difficult a strong career in writing is to achieve. He wants his students to be successful, and he is more than willing to help them along in any ways he can.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy best advice for students is to be a plugger,\u201d Fellinger said. \u201cBe prepared for the long haul, and read a lot. Collect lots of feedback on your work and always be professional. The professionals are the ones that make it in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Author Bio:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Melissa Spencer is a junior English-Professional Writing major at\u00a0Elizabethtown College. She also has minors in mathematics and data analytics. On campus, Melissa is the News Editor for the College\u2019s student newspaper, The Etownian. <\/em>Melissa\u2019s work has been featured in both The Etownian <\/em>and the College\u2019s literary magazine, Fine Print. <\/em>She hopes to one day become a writer who can combine her passions for English, mathematics and big data altogether.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Richard Fellinger, writing and publishing a novel is the hardest thing he\u2019s ever accomplished. \u201cI\u2019ve ran seven marathons in my lifetime. I\u2019ve dealt with the mob and I\u2019ve dealt with the Klan. But, writing and publishing a novel remains at the top my list,\u201d Fellinger said. A Novelist As Elizabethtown College Writing Fellow and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}