Columns

A Vague, Illustrated History of Modern Book Design in 19 Covers (and 7-10 Taco References)

May 14th, 2014

A book is kind of like a taco – the shell is as important as the contents… though I guess you probably shouldn’t eat a book, right? – Imaginary Uncle Larry. “When you don’t know how to start a column, quote an imaginary uncle, then yourself, then address your audience in a broke-ass Socratic dialogue that references a Rob Reiner film – Me

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Slipping Into Someone Else's Skin

May 13th, 2014

Here's a secret I hope you won't share with anyone: I always wanted to act. When I was young, I danced, took acting lessons. I was too shy for the spotlight, but that didn't keep me from trying on personas, living in imagined worlds. I think this fundamental truncation of my childhood dreams led me to write. I couldn't bring characters to life on the screen or stage, but I sure as hell can on the page.  This is how it's done. You put on their clothes. You breathe their air, taste food through their tongue.

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Five Amazing Superhero Cartoons Canceled Too Soon

May 9th, 2014

It’s a hard truth for writers (and likely artists of all kinds) that sometimes your work will fail. It either won’t be what you envisioned, or it won’t find an audience, or both. Most of the time it will be your fault, and you can always take solace when you look back on it later and realize you will never make that mistake again. But sometimes your best, most brilliant and polished work will fail for reasons you never expected that are entirely beyond your control.

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Believing In the Nonexistent: An Introduction to Fictional Realism

May 9th, 2014

When a writer creates a nonexistent, fictional object, that creation has a life beyond the immediate page. Readers sympathize with or loathe characters, and long to visit fantastical places. Have you ever wished that you really knew Lisbeth Salander or Atticus Finch? Or that Rivendell existed so that you could go there next spring break? Fictional realists argue that theoretically, all of those places and people do exist.

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Book vs. Film: 'The Killer Inside Me'

May 8th, 2014

WARNING: Spoilers discussed freely.

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Screenwriting: Turn Turn Turn

May 8th, 2014

Great art happens in the curves.  Any hobbyist with a grasp of the rudiments can take a concept in a straight line but, whether it's classical ballet, comic books, Formula One or dressage, the measure of a true artist is how they master the turns.

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Fiction Shmiction: How Writing Creates the World

May 7th, 2014

Today's task is pretty straightforward: I want to show you why I believe that fiction isn't just important in the realm of fiction—why stories aren't just stories—why the word "just" is as unjust as you can imagine. Because stories ... stories are everything.

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Storyville: Death in Fiction

May 6th, 2014

So, when you sit down to write, how often do you kill off some of your characters? Is it every single story? What if I told you that you couldn’t kill anyone in your next bit of fiction? Could you do it? What would that experience feel like, what would be left, if we took away your crutch? Can you risk it all on the page without your characters dying? IF you must kill people—when, how, and why? Let’s talk about death in fiction.

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Culling The Classics: One Hundred Years of Solitude

May 2nd, 2014

There was an unwritten rule when "Culling The Classics" began that, whatever else one might be able to say about a book, it had to be at least 50 years old to qualify as a "classic" for our purposes. First published in 1967, One Hundred Years of Solitude still has three years before it officially reaches that "classic" age, but sadly Gabriel García Márquez died last month, and this is the best way I knew to honor him. And besides, every rule deserves an exception.

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5 Great Memoirs, from Bette Davis to the Rolling Stones

May 2nd, 2014

Writing about oneself carries risks. A life that’s been fascinating to you may be dull as dishwater to everyone else. Honesty, a requirement for memoirs, may lead to humiliation, as you slip open your dingy raincoat and expose your dirty secrets for the sake of grabbing some attention only to find that readers look at them and laugh. Libel looms large; if you aren’t careful, telling the unvarnished truth may result in multiple lawsuits. And writing a great autobiography means knowing how to treat yourself as a well-rounded character.

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