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Story Structure: The Magic Bullet that Nearly Killed Me
April 13th, 2017
I was lost. After five years of work on a novel, it had become a Mobius strip: every time I reached the end, it was a completely different book. I would start over at the beginning, a new side, a total rewrite. The book slowly transformed while I was working as a reporter in DC in the mid-aughts, from a serious novel with hints of satire to a proper thriller about an Iranian conspiracy against the US. It would have been a great, prescient, cut-from-the headlines conspiracy tale, except it was old news by the time I was done.
Read Column →Be Smarter Than a Toddler: 5 Ways To Avoid Reading Books to Your Kids
April 12th, 2017
Every parent of young children knows the experience. Your kid has started to read and you’re so proud, but they’ve also latched on to a few certain books. This could last for days or weeks or even months, and as a 33-year-old individual there’s only so much you can take—reading it to them every night, every day, sometimes all day. You’re the adult, you’re responsible for this little creature’s upbringing, so you know you’re doing the right thing. But inside your head you’re screaming and dying a little.
Read Column →Five Storytelling Tips I Learned from Watching 'The Bachelor'
April 11th, 2017
I didn’t expect to become a fan. I really didn’t. I read award-winning books. I have watched the entire run of The Wire, TWICE. I don’t watch reality TV garbage. But then I started watching The Bachelor and The Bachelorette with my girlfriend, Leza, when we first got together. In fact, our very first date consisted of eating Thai food and watching The Bachelorette. I don’t think I need to tell you who got the rose that night. For real, though. I can’t even front. I love this stupid show.
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10 Mistakes I Made as a Debut Novelist
April 10th, 2017
As a debut novelist with an approaching pub date, your browser history gets filled with titles like "X Lessons I Learned as a Debut Novelist" or "Tips on Being a Debut Novelist" or "Marketing Your Debut Novel." In the months leading up to that big day, you can wind up doing as much research as an expectant mother. But there are some issues that, in my experience, you won't find addressed in these sort of articles—issues of the sort that blindsided me when my first book came out.
Read Column →Every Stephen King Short Story Summarized in 140 Characters or Less (Part 2)
April 10th, 2017
Last month I tackled every King story published in a 20th century collection. This month, we’re moving on to the 21st century collections.
Read Column →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.
Read Column →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.
Read Column →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.
Read Column →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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