“Typically my writing prompt is nothing fancy—just your basic same old, same old. Fear of death.” Lydia Millet shares on artist Dimitri Kozyrev.

• Geoff Dyer, in the Guardian, begins a series on writing fiction.

• Victor LaValle responds to Laura Miller’s essay on the National Book Awards.

• New fiction from Michael Kimball at Matter Press.

• Simon Cohn, Olympia Le-Tan, and Spike Jonze made an animated short film set in a bookstore.