Columns

The Architecture of Fantasy: How Authors Use Real Places To Build Imaginary Ones

February 19th, 2016

Last month, J.K. Rowling announced that the North American school for witchcraft and wizardry is named Ilvermorny. It's apparently one of 11 major wizarding schools across the globe, with others located in Brazil, Japan, and Africa.

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Kindling Love: 9 of the Strangest Erotic Stories on Kindle

February 19th, 2016

Love takes a lot of different forms. There’s the love between a man and a woman, as exemplified by Adam and Eve. There’s love between two men, as exemplified by this Adam and Steve couple I’ve heard so much about lately. There’s love between women, Eve and Evie (they both used to go by “Eve”, but it’s too weird to date someone with the exact same name, so Evie made the switch). There’s love between like eight dudes named Chris, Jim, uh, Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Chip, Dale, and probably some other guy that was less memorable.

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Writing Tag Teams: How to Collaborate on a Novel

February 18th, 2016

Writing a novel is hard work. Anybody who tries to tell you differently is after your money. But don’t get me wrong, I’m also after your money, but at least I’m upfront about it. Writing a novel is not a quick process. It is very tedious, lonely work. You spend most of the time by yourself, with only your thoughts to keep you company. So, it makes sense to assume that collaborating on a novel with someone else would make the writing process much easier and less stressful.

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6 Coloring Books You Won’t Be Sharing With the Kids

February 18th, 2016

Coloring—it's not just for kids any more! You no longer need to raid the kid’s stash if you’re looking to unwind with a little art therapy. From crafty pages celebrating all things literary, to ones dedicated to creative swearing, adult coloring books are all the rage. Get your crayon on with these six adult coloring books.

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'City of Rose' Book Tour Diary: Portland

February 18th, 2016

Sitting in my hotel room in Portland on Monday, waiting to leave for my signing at Powell’s, I was a bundle of nerves. I always get like that before any book or reading event. Light-headed and pukey. This was worse than usual: It was my first solo event outside New York City. It was at a bookstore chain that I’ve loved for a very long time. And Chuck Palahniuk was going to be there.

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5 Lessons the Short Fiction of Jorge Luis Borges Can Teach Writers

February 17th, 2016

Every fan of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges remembers when they discovered his work. William Gibson describes it this way:  I…remember the sensation, both complex and eerily simple, induced by my first reading of "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius".… 

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6 Mainstream Comic Book Characters as Written by Non-Comic Book Authors

February 16th, 2016

There’s a reason why Will Eisner championed the terms “graphic novel” and “sequential art” as replacements for comic book: they are by their very natural a visual medium. That, and he was hoping to achieve a degree of respectability. That comes, for better or for worse, when mainstream comic books jump to the big screen, gaining validity in the eyes of some. But while the cinema allows for a fluid translation considering comic books function like storyboards, there have been other attempts over the years at transitioning into more virtuous channels.

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Book vs. Film vs. TV Series: 'Hannibal Rising' Vs. 'Hannibal'

February 15th, 2016

'Nothing happened to me, Officer Starling. I happened. You can't reduce me to a set of influences...' —Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

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Words Mightier Than Bullets: Tarantino on Story

February 12th, 2016

  Be warned, this will be a spoiler-filled discussion.

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5 Famous Bestsellers That Were Rejected (And 50 More)

February 12th, 2016

Receiving rejection slips is a pretty disheartening process, so being upbeat I thought I’d write an entire column on the matter. But instead of providing tips on how to deal with rejection (spoiler: keep on writing, keep on submitting) I’m highlighting a group of famous bestsellers that were rejected.

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