Matthew Neill Null’s fiction is described as stark, vast, lyrical, and fresh in reviews of his first book, Honey from the Lion, and in more recent publications, “scarifying” and “gorgeous.” He often writes from a vast perspective, following large casts of characters across long spans of time.

It’s a style he developed while studying at the University of Iowa and has continued to refine throughout his career.

His writing delivers something uniquely his, and now, as an associate professor in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he encourages students to undergo a process of discovery all their own.

“The most exciting thing about teaching is helping students find their particular idiosyncratic style,” Null said.

He wants students to develop writing distinctive enough that readers could recognize their work without seeing their name on the page.

“I’m not interested in ironing out the idiosyncrasies in your prose,” he said. “If anything, I would like more idiosyncrasy.”

The student becomes the teacher

Null remembers his own time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as transformative.

Being surrounded by other writers gave him the opportunity to examine his choices closely. Workshops allowed him to hear how readers responded to his work, and to consider why he approached fiction differently from other writers.

That process ultimately strengthened his confidence in the kind of writer he wanted to be.

“I did realize that it was my style and it was a good fit for the subject matter I write about,” Null said.

Developing that individuality wasn’t just about what came naturally—on the contrary, it required looking beyond what came easily.  

Null made a deliberate effort to study elements of writing that require more conscious attention from him, including plot. He points to plot-driven writers such as Stephen King as an example of how a writer can sustain action and keep readers engaged. He balances that with close attention to language at the sentence level.

“I try to make every sentence and phrase serve its purpose,” he said. It is a practice he encourages for his students.

From blank canvas to lively work

“Everyone has certain natural talents as a writer, but you can’t stay there,” Null said. “You begin with that, but you have to work toward improving your weaknesses.”

That combination—cultivating what makes a writer distinctive while continually expanding their abilities—is central to Null’s approach in the classroom. Returning as a faculty member gives him the opportunity to offer another generation of writers the same encouragement and rigorous attention he received.

“I want to praise what’s working in the writing and build up the confidence of students, but I also want to have high expectations... Ideally, in one hundred years, someone will pick up your book and still respond to it and find it to be lively work,” he said. “That’s what I try to impart to students.” 

Null also sees Iowa as a place that offers writers a unique kind of possibility.

“I’m from a place that’s mountainous—West Virginia—and the geography really affects what you’re able to do and dream with your life,” he said. “It really has a way of enclosing it. But out the highway, Iowa’s this expanse of land. It’s flat, and it seems like it’s a landscape that accepts human dreams and designs more readily. It feels like more of a blank canvas, and that’s very attractive.”