Columns

Tech and Product Round-up: August Edition

August 16th, 2016

Hello all. I've got a decent handful of news and tips to share with you this month. Amazon released a pretty cool but not really cool new feature for their Kindle tablets and app. Though Apple is on the verge of announcing a new phone (probably, anyway, because they always do around this time of year), we haven't heard terribly much from their camp, though a few tidbits about iOS 10 are of particular note to writers. Last but not least, I've got a handy setting for you fellow Scrivener nerds, as well as some BIG news from the folks over at Literature and Latte.

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Writing the Crime Scene: Dead Bodies

August 16th, 2016

Every murder needs a victim. If you’re writing a crime story, there will undoubtedly be a character dropping dead in your manuscript. But when your dashing detective walks into that seedy hotel for the first time to examine the corpse, you need to make sure you have the technical details right to maintain your authority.

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8 Mini Grammar Studies in Modern Music

August 12th, 2016

Music is a great way to remember specific details. When you take a closer look at the lyrics in certain songs, you can easily remember tricky grammar devices and spend less time looking things up. This list will not only include songs demonstrating grammar gaffes, but will also cover examples of lyrics that show proper use of grammar. The trick is remembering what’s wrong and what’s correct. Hint: if it’s pop, maybe don’t trust it.

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LURID: Last Seen Wearing - Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Databases

August 11th, 2016

There’s a story familiar to all of us, across cultures and through history, the story of someone who was there and then was not, of the person who relinquished their lifetime role as lover, sister, husband, grandpa, neighbor, colleague, or daughter and joined the always-swelling ranks of the Missing. She popped out to the liquor store for a packet of cigarettes, didn’t take a coat, never came back.

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Buy Your Villain a Birthday Present: 5 More Development Exercises

August 11th, 2016

About two years ago, I put together a short list of character development exercises, curated from various blogs, social media platforms and podcasts. Since the Internet is basically a limitless resource for such things, it seemed like a decent idea to pull together a few more.

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Darth Trump and Princess Hillary: How Claudia Gray's 'Star Wars: Bloodline' Mirrors the 2016 Election Year

August 10th, 2016

Header images via Nightflight and Twitter This election year is a memorable one. With the Republican National Convention proving that politicians can indeed stoop to new lows and the Democratic National Convention demonstrating that the Left would rather bicker than unite, it’s looking like the next few months will be for the record books.

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Can I Survive ONE Choose Your Own Adventure Book?

August 10th, 2016

My experience reading Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid was probably a lot like yours. I picked up a book that seemed more exciting than a regular book, made about three choices, and then saw my character consumed by fire. I picked up another one, made about three choices, and my lifeless corpse was flung into outer space.  But that was decades ago. Surely, now, as an adult, and as an adult who reads a lot and understands what writers are trying to evoke in children, I can survive one of these things. Right?

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A How-To (and Why) Guide for Writing in a Retro Layout

August 8th, 2016

Photo: Wtshymanski / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain Remember how computer screens looked back in the 1980s? 

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What Makes the Original 'Ghostbusters' So Special?

August 8th, 2016

I finally went to see the new Ghostbusters movie, and like many fans of the original, I left fairly disappointed. I really wanted to like it—the idea of a new team of Ghostbusters, one filled with some of the funniest women alive, sounded great to me. Just what we needed to make the old franchise shiny and relevant again. Sadly, the film failed to deliver on its considerable promise.

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I Am So Evil - The Problem With Devilish Bad Guys

August 5th, 2016

One of my all-time favorite bad guys from literature and/or movies has to be Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Sgt. Hartman is horrible. He's a venomous, sadistic monster, full of hate and language that makes even this Jersey girl blush. He slings racial and homophobic slurs like he's Jackson Pollack, aiming nowhere and everywhere simultaneously, coating every nearby surface with his bile and vitriol. There's nothing to like about him as he barks insults and punches Marine recruits in the gut. Yet I adore him.

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