Columns

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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How to Persevere in Your Writing

August 5th, 2016

I heard somewhere that you have to write a million words before you write anything worth reading. Some say it was the late, great, David Eddings who said this, some attribute it to Ray Bradbury, others still to Elmore Leonard or John D. McDonald, and I’m sure, before long, another literary great will claim the honor. It doesn’t matter who said it, what matters is they are right. Sort of. You do have to write a lot of words before you write something worth reading, but not a million. It actually works out to far more than that.

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The Strange Day Jobs of Five Fiction Writers

July 29th, 2016

A lot of writers hold down a day job. Sometimes by choice, sometimes out of necessity. I decided to track down five writers with unusual day jobs and explore how their occupations help and hinder their writing.

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I Tried. I Just Don't Like Harry Potter

July 29th, 2016

Before you start waving a wand at me and yelling "Fuckemupus!" or something, please hear me out. I don't hate Harry Potter. I don't hate that this thing exists. I just don't like it. Don't enjoy it.  But I'm not sure whose fault that is. Mine or Harry's. Let me explain. Why I Read The Books The two-word version of this section: a girl. If you want more than two words, keep reading. 

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UPDATED WITH WINNER!!!!!!! LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: LAST ONE!!!!!!!!

July 29th, 2016

THE LAST  Flash Fiction Contest Welcome to LitReactor's Last Flash Fiction Smackdown (for now, anyway...) How It Works We give you inspiration in the form of a picture, poem, video, or prompt. You write a flash fiction piece using the inspiration we gave you. Put your entry in the comments section. One winner will be picked and awarded a prize.

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Bookstores As Innovators

July 28th, 2016

“Do you sell iPads here?” I was asked this question at least a half dozen times during my various stints as a bookseller. It always puzzled me in its consistency. Does a small, independent bookstore seem like a place that would sell Apple products? 

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6 Tips For Cleaning Up Your Dirty Words (Grammatically, Of Course)

July 26th, 2016

There is an art to profanity that is hard to come by for many writers. As an editor who favors working within genres the other editors can’t stomach, from hardcore erotica to medieval splatterpunk, I really don’t see enough helpful information on the ins and outs of writing with obscenities. You won’t find anything on the many versatile uses of “fuck” in The Chicago Manual of Style or Amy Einsohn’s The Copyeditor’s Handbook.

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