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Showing 3559 Columns
October 8th, 2015
Clichés and tropes abound in horror movies. No matter what film you go to see on Halloween night, it always seems like something predictable happens at least once: the blonde girl trips while running from the serial killer; the car doesn’t start at the worst possible moment; a group of victims brainstorm the brilliant idea to split up. There are whole lists of faux pas our favorite movies make, even if we enjoy screaming right along with the characters while they’re being committed.
Read Column →October 7th, 2015
It’s no surprise that beginnings are hard. When you finally find your manuscript in the hands of an editor or agent, you want to make the best first impression you possibly can—and fast. A lot of times that means within the first five pages, but focusing on the first five sentences, or even words, of your manuscript can help you get over that hump and make the reader want to move further.
Read Column →October 7th, 2015
Nobody needs a book summary from you. Sorry. You can find a book summary anywhere. There's a whole flap on the cover that summarizes the plot. There's the Amazon description. There's the Goodreads reviews. There's a white bar at the top of every electronic screen where you can type in the title of a book and then see what happens. There are plenty of summary options. We don't need your book summary.
Read Column →October 7th, 2015
Fall is upon us. Just in time for Halloween, I thought I’d give you a reason to send out some short story submissions. Maybe dust off that piece you've been meaning to finish but didn’t think there’d be a market for. Or maybe you need an excuse to write something horrifying and new.
Read Column →October 5th, 2015
A few weeks back I wrote a column explaining what we could learn about storytelling from the failures of True Detective Season 2. Today's column is dedicated to another series which aired on television about the same time as TD2. Like TD2, this series breaks many of the conventions we associate with primetime drama. But where TD2 failed, this series triumphed. Spectacularly.
Read Column →October 2nd, 2015
As those brave, astute writers who have taken my LitReactor class “Everyone’s a Critic” know, I think smart criticism is as essential as good food. But like truly great cooking, not everyone can produce it consistently. Sometimes we get it wrong. Very wrong. There are times when, I’m forced to admit, we critics are just plain garden-variety assholes.
Read Column →October 2nd, 2015
Welcome back to What Works & What Doesn't. In the previous two installments, we discussed "The Story Triangle" as outlined by Robert McKee in his fantastic screenwriting book Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. First we explored the tenets of a Classical Design or Archplot via Robert Towne's classic Chinatown; next, we examined Minimalism or Miniplot by analyzing Sofia Coppola's wonderful Lost in Translation.
Read Column →September 30th, 2015
Flash fiction: A style of fictional literature marked by extreme brevity Welcome to LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown, a monthly bout of writing prowess. 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.
Read Column →September 30th, 2015
In school we used to have these writing assessments. A teacher would sit you down, give you three topics to choose from, and tell you to get busy on a five-paragraph essay. Here were the topics that always came around: school lunches, whether students should be allowed to wear hats in school, and of course, school uniforms. For the record, the correct responses were: gross, yes, and who gives a shit?
Read Column →September 29th, 2015
Over a year ago, I explored a topic that is central to the way I think about stories and the role of writers. In short, I believe that stories create the world we live in by shaping the beliefs and assumptions we hold about the "way things work," and that this in turn changes our behavior in dramatic ways.
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