Columns

Open to Inspiration: How Your Own Family History Can Feed Your Fiction

April 10th, 2017

I didn’t expect to find the hook to my next book by the veggie platter. But that’s what happened, and it saved my novel. Let me back up. This was a couple years ago, at my mother-in-law’s birthday party in Brooklyn. We’d all gathered to celebrate the day, eat some food and relax. I wasn’t even thinking about my third Pete Fernandez Miami mystery novel, Dangerous Ends. Hell, I was actively trying not to think about it. That was mostly because I was hitting a big wall with the story and the clock was tick-tick-ticking.

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Email Newsletters: A Writer's Best Friend

April 7th, 2017

Header images via Pixabay & Andrea Piacquadio Email newsletters—they're probably a thing you delete on sight and wonder why you just don't unsubscribe already. They've become so much junk, as expendable as LinkedIn messages, penis enhancement correspondence, and offers of beaucoup bucks from Nigerian princes.

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The Case For and Against Bob Dylan's Nobel Win

April 7th, 2017

Maybe it’s been long enough that we can talk about Bob Dylan’s Nobel win with clear heads? Before we start, I’m going to tell you this: I’m not a Bob Dylan fan. When I set out to write this, I felt one way about it. By the time I finished, I felt differently. Perhaps you can join me. Open your mind a bit, maybe have a drink or seven, and really consider the possibilities. Let’s look at the various arguments for and against Dylan’s win for the Nobel Prize In Literature.

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Give the Girl a Name, Already!

April 5th, 2017

Imagine if Rebecca, Jane Eyre and Lolita had been published in 2017. The Ghost Girl. The Girl with Dignity. The Girl on the Road. Or, The Girl With the Creepy Old Dude. Or perhaps, better yet, simply The Girl. It just doesn’t work, does it? And yet…

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10 Reasons Why Poetry is the Manliest of Genres

April 3rd, 2017

Okay, so when you're not trying to be very politically correct about it, chances are you think of romance as a feminine genre and crime as a manly one, right? You are obviously wrong because a plethora of authors in both genres have shown that, even if romance if predominantly consumed by women, gender has absolutely nothing to do with writing. Just kidding: it totally does. In any case, I want to prove to you that poetry is, surprisingly, the manliest genre. Here are ten reasons why.

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The Violence Yet to Come: Breaking Down the 'Taboo' Pilot

March 31st, 2017

Late in the series run of FX's Taboo, James Delaney leans in and warns a character: "You can leave right now, or you can stay here for the violence yet to come." There is no better description for the rather unimpressive Taboo pilot. It's an unimpressive placeholder of a TV episode, but there's a reason I watched the entire season—because I was afraid that if I didn't watch, Tom Hardy would find me. And I didn't want to miss the violence yet to come.

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On Writing Books for Nobody

March 28th, 2017

Right now there are people writing books they never intend to publish.

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Tech and Product Round-up: March Edition

March 28th, 2017

Welcome to the March 2017 edition of LitReactor's tech and product roundup. Today we're talkin' fonts, sound effects, and online-based writing platforms. There's plenty to cover, so let's dive right in.

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7 Tips for Donating Old Books Without Being A Jerk

March 27th, 2017

I work at two places that accept donations of used books: a library and a bookstore that serves as a front for a non-profit. Okay, the bookstore funds the non-profit. It’s not a “front.” But “front” sounds more crime-y and thrilling.

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Let's Get Political: 10 Tactics for Writing Resistance Fiction

March 27th, 2017

In 2011, when I was in grad school, I was working on a novel about drought, wildfire, and radical activism in the West. A novel exploring the implications of the so-called Patriot Act, which essentailly allows the US government to target environmental activists as terrorists.

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