Instructor Spotlight: Amy Dupcak
How long have you been with The Writer’s Rock? What led you here?
I’ve been at the Writer’s Rock since January 2020 and this is my fourth trimester teaching a fiction workshop here. And I’ve been a creative and essay writing instructor at Writopia Lab since 2012, working primarily with teens, so that’s what led me to the Rock!
What do you like to write?
Fiction is my core, as I’ve always been a storyteller, but I fully embraced confessional poetry in high school and took poetry workshops for my first two years as an undergrad at Sarah Lawrence before switching to fiction for my final two, which led me to pursue my MFA in Fiction.
Last summer I experienced a poetry revival and generated many new poems. In general, though, I tend to write character-driven and sometimes long-winded realistic fiction, and also enjoy writing stories with fantastical, surreal, or lightly sci-fi elements, like my YA novel.
I write creative nonfiction too, recently penning a personal/cultural essay about The Legend of Zelda.
Describe both your ideal and your actual writing routine.
To be honest, I am a scatterbrained human, so my actual routine involves a lot of clutter, multitasking, and procrastination. I jot down lines and ideas in notebooks, Word docs, gmail drafts, my notes app, the margins of novels, and sometimes my skin. I do a lot of writing when I’m not actually writing; whenever I’m working on a story, part of me lives on the page whether or not my laptop’s in reach.
My ideal routine involves more laser-beam focus for longer stretches of time, perhaps early in the morning. It looks like waking up knowing exactly what I want to work and then, you know, working on that and only that!
I should also note that I’m obsessed with editing; I feel deeply unsettled if a word isn’t right or if I’ve left some new writing in a particularly rough state, and I will edit lines in my head while I’m trying to sleep. For me, line-editing never really ends, but luckily I find it rewarding, and I also love editing the works of other writers.
Who’s currently one of your favorite writers?
Sally Rooney. I read Normal People during the most difficult weeks of the pandemic here in New York City and it hit me hard in the best possible way. I refuse to watch the TV show.
What do you like most about teaching at The Writer’s Rock?
I love getting to share my favorite stories and novels, bouncing around my apartment pulling beloved books from shelves so I can snap photos of the pages. I love analyzing and dissecting these excerpts to prepare a pointed craft talk, then facilitating discussions that take on a life of their own; in this way, no two classes or workshop conversations are ever the same.
I also love when my in-class generative prompts turn into full-fledged stories, and love being part of a writer’s journey and process; I've read so much incredible writing—fiction, poetry, and memoir—in my time at the Rock.
What else do you do?
Most everything I do right now is somehow related to writing or reading, such as acting as an assistant editor for Cagibi.
As far as other hobbies and interests, I enjoy taking long walks around the city and, more recently, CitiBike rides (I’m a fast walker and a slow biker); along the way, I seek out art installations, street art, abandoned places, secret parks and gardens, and little-known landmarks.
