Columns

National Encourage a Young Writer Day is Here

April 10th, 2023

Image by Olia Danilevich Happy National Encourage a Young Writer Day! What a fun holiday to celebrate.

Read Column →

For National School Librarian Day, Let's Show Our Appreciation

April 4th, 2023

Original image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi If you’ve ever wished you could thank a school librarian, today’s the day: it’s National School Librarian Day. School librarians are essential, important members of kids and young adults’ educational careers. They not only research appropriate books for their schools; they also make sure those books are kept in good condition and ready to be loaned out to students. They teach kids important lessons on literacy and how to research.

Read Column →

Foolkiller: The Strange, Forgotten Marvel Anti-Hero

April 3rd, 2023

When you tell people you like 90s comics, they assume it’s because of the grittiness, the way anti-heroes were cool before TSwift, the belts with endless pouches, the belt pouches even occasionally strapped to a character’s thigh, just in case there weren’t enough pouches. They make fun of Rob Liefeld’s drawing style, especially the feet he drew. All of a sudden, everyone’s a foot fetishist.

Read Column →

Storyville: Are You Ready to Write a Novel?

March 27th, 2023

I’ve been teaching now for about six years, getting my MFA back in 2012, and writing for over fifteen years in total. In that time, I’ve published over 170 stories (134 originals), in four collections, as well as four novels. I ran Gamut magazine for a few years, and Dark House Press as well, publishing eight books. So, I’ve been around the block a few times. Today, I’d like to bring all of that experience (good and bad) to this conversation so we can chat about whether or not you are ready to write a novel.

Read Column →

Taxonomies for Storytelling

March 23rd, 2023

Header image by Roy Christopher Story structure helps us recognize a story as a story, but how are there so many stories? How do they stay interesting to us if all of them have the same basic structure? I feel like another task of a good story is to overload our perceptive buffer and sneak the rest of the goods in unnoticed. But how?

Read Column →

How to Write with a Newborn in the House

March 21st, 2023

Header images via Leonardo Luz & Pixabay No one can write with a child around. It’s no good. You just get cross. - Doris Lessing

Read Column →

What Digital Comics Readers Really Want

March 20th, 2023

Header image via unsplash The good thing about reading average-type books is that you can get your hands on them without too much trouble. As long as you don't care about collectability, you can lay hands on just about anything put to paper. Comics have been a little tougher.

Read Column →

Taylor Swift Albums as Books

March 17th, 2023

Even among fans, many of the discussions about Taylor Swift's songs revolve around her personal life; Swifties comb lyrics and videos for hidden clues to uncover which real person inspired each song. Curiosity is natural, and I haven’t always been immune to it, but I am no longer interested in any of that.

Read Column →

Storyville: Some of the Best and Worst Writing Advice I’ve Ever Gotten

March 16th, 2023

So over the years I’ve gotten a lot of advice about writing, from the masters Tweeting it out on Twitter, to my MFA professors, to my fellow authors. Here is some of the best and worst advice I’ve gotten over the years, and I how I have folded that all into my writing. BEST: “In order to be a writer, you must do two things—you must read, and you must write.”—Stephen King

Read Column →

Writing Through Depression—It's All About Sparking Joy

March 14th, 2023

Header images via Xi Xi & Ali Alcantara I’ve made it no secret, over the years I’ve lived and written for the internet, that I have depression. Some of my first published articles, back in 2015 and 2016, were about life with depression, and life trying to be a writer, and the way those two identities coalesced and often crashed into each other.

Read Column →