Columns

How Did Comics Become a Social and Political Battleground?

August 9th, 2018

My brother asked me if I liked writing about comics on LitReactor. “Not really,” I said. He was surprised because in my day-to-day, I talk about comics a lot. Too much. You know how you have a friend who compares every real-life event to The Simpsons? I can be like that, but with comics. Even when it’s extremely inappropriate, like the comparison of juggling a cup of coffee and spilling it to Spider-Man kinda, sorta killing Gwen Stacy, who was perhaps the love of his life.

Read Column →

6 Books to Stoke Your Inner Cyclist

August 8th, 2018

Image by Andreas Just Cycling. It means so many different things to so many different people. To some, it means riding a cruiser bike with a wicker basket along the Pacific Coast. To others, it's old-timey dress up parties with waxed moustaches and those seemingly unridable bikes with the big wheels. It can be a no-fuss way to get to work. It also refers to a sport. Most people know something about it. There was Lance Armstrong and those yellow wrist bands. There was scandal.

Read Column →

From Creepypasta to Doubleday

August 7th, 2018

I started writing just for kicks. No big dreams. No small ones either. I wanted to write a single short story for some internet pals. This August, my second book drops from the massive machine of Doubleday and Blumhouse Books. Weird. Creepypasta to self-publishing to Doubleday. That’s not a template. Or if it is, I’m not sure how to use it. I think you could go in any order or dodge any step; each has different merits, but I’m not sure there would be much worth in trying to measure them against one another here.

Read Column →

5 Essential Character Traits For Ourselves, Not Our Creations

August 6th, 2018

Image by Robbie Ribeiro Writers often talk about the traits we want our characters to have and how to bring them out, but not enough about the traits we ourselves should have in order to be successful wordsmiths.

Read Column →

Celebrating Kafka: 5 "Kafkaesque" Scenes in Books & Films

August 3rd, 2018

In the ninth episode of Breaking Bad’s third season, a therapist tells Jesse Pinkman that Jesse’s situation is “Kafkaesque.” Poor Jesse agrees, saying that it’s “totally Kafkaesque” — even though he obviously has no idea what the therapist is talking about.

Read Column →

Teaching My First Writing Class

August 3rd, 2018

There was a time when I thought I would never teach a writing class. It was about 7 years ago, and I had just finished my MA in creative writing. I was nowhere near close to having my manuscript ready for publication and feared I'd gotten a useless degree. I told myself that if I wasn't able to get my own work published I wouldn't be able to help anyone else with theirs. But learning to write isn’t just sitting in a classroom or joining an online group; sometimes it can be hanging out at a diner with another writer.

Read Column →

10 Tips to Help You Write Believable Dialogue

August 2nd, 2018

I think dialogue can make or break a novel. If a narrative has a decent plot, but the characters all sound the same or the author gives someone a six-page soliloquy in a vain attempt at disguising an info dump, I start to tune out. Similarly, sometimes I’m reading a novella with a somewhat pedestrian storyline, but then the dialogue kicks in and it crackles, makes me laugh, and allows me to get to know the characters better. When that happens, the book is saved, somehow redeemed in my eyes, and I start recommending it.

Read Column →

Why Nobody Gives A Crap About Books In The Summer

August 1st, 2018

Is it just me, or do the rest of you feel like there’s a summertime slump when it comes to reading? Just this...dispassionate feeling about books that comes around every May and sticks around into September? It’s not like you have to think that hard to come up with reasons why reading might take a backseat in summer. Summer is the most popular time to:

Read Column →

10 of Our Favorite Moments From the Harry Potter Series

July 31st, 2018

July is a big month for fans of the Harry Potter series: July 31st is both J.K. Rowling and Harry’s birthdays. So while we all eat pink cakes proclaiming “Happee Birthday” in green to celebrate, we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on some of the series’ best moments. This is no easy task, as the magical novels are packed with scenes that made us laugh, cry, reflect, cheer, sigh, and smile. But we think you’ll agree that the following moments are, above all, memorable.

Read Column →

Your Favorite Book Sucks: 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

July 30th, 2018

'Your Favorite Book Sucks' is an ongoing column, written by different people, that takes a classic or popular book and argues why it isn't really all that great. Confrontational, to be sure, but it's all in good fun, so please play nice. Charlotte Perkins Gilman would be 158 years old this July. Which got me thinking about her classic tale, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” If you were an English major in college, I’d wager you’ve read this story no less than three times.

Read Column →