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Realistic New Year's Resolutions for Writers
January 3rd, 2014
The holidays are stressful for a lot of reasons. You're compelled to travel, hang out with tons of people (some of whom you don't want to see to begin with, some of whom you OD on while they're around), and gorge yourself on food, drink, and cheer. There's shopping, endless parties...it's an all-around orgy of excess that's quickly followed by an admonition that you make a conscious decision to reform mere days afterwards. I'm speaking, of course, of the dreaded New Year's resolution.
Read Column →5 Storytelling Lessons You Can Learn From the Films of 2013
January 3rd, 2014
This column was born out of a desire to inject a little film criticism into my work here at LitReactor. Spice things up a bit. After all, screenwriters and film directors are storytellers too, and we can learn just as much about narrative from watching movies as we can by reading books. So I pitched an article on the best screenwriting of 2013.
Read Column →Write Every Day in 2014: 14 Steps for Forming A Writing Habit
January 2nd, 2014
If you want to be a writer, the single most important thing you can do is write. And writing, oddly enough, isn't the hard part. The hard part is starting to write. The best way to keep yourself from getting stuck in the pre-starting phase is to write consistently enough that it never feels like you need to start up again.
Read Column →UPDATED WITH WINNER: LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: December (Holiday) Edition
January 1st, 2014
Flash fiction: A style of fictional literature marked by extreme brevity. Welcome to LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown, a monthly bout of writing prowess. You get 31 words and 3 holiday song or movie titles. How It Works We give you inspiration in the form of a picture, poem, video, or similar. 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 →4 Tips for Making Your Writing Resolutions Stick
December 30th, 2013
I know. I'm lazy. But I made myself a New Years resolution that I would write myself something really special. Which means I have 'til December, right? —Catherine O'Hara
Read Column →Storyville: Editor Interviews—Shock Totem, Shimmer, and The Dark
December 30th, 2013
I decided to do something a little different this column. I wanted to reach out to a few editors to get their thoughts on what they are looking for these days—what their magazine is all about—five quick, easy questions. I decided to select markets that have not only been elusive to me, for this first column, but also markets that I consider to be some of the best out there. Shock Totem publishes some of the most entertaining and layered horror I’ve read, and they’ve really become a favorite of mine.
Read Column →Exploring the Digital Wilds: Expanding Our Approach to Novels
December 27th, 2013
Telling stories is a part of human nature, but the way we tell those stories changes constantly. Once upon a time, neolithic cave-dwellers shared stories around the fire. This transformed into oral storytelling traditions, religious morality tales, representational drama, epic poetry, romances, novellas, and novels. Now the mode of storytelling is changing again thanks to our journey into the digital landscape.
Read Column →The 2013 Author Awards
December 27th, 2013
Actors get the Oscars. Musicians get the Grammys. Sportspeople get sponsorship deals. Authors get zilch. Apart from a dedication on the inside cover and (if they are really famous and/or pretty) a photo on the back, when it comes to public recognition, writers are the red-headed stepchildren of the entertainment world. This is a wrong begging to be righted, in which spirit I now pick out those in the literary sphere who made themselves conspicuous in 2013. And not always in a good way…
Read Column →Freelancing: The Art of Saying Yes
December 26th, 2013
This is the story of how I came to stand within arm's length of Annie Leibovitz as she led a small group of writers and photographers through her highly-touted, extraordinarily personal new exhibit: Pilgrimage. But wait. Back up. Hold the phone. This is a writing site. A reading site. Why do you care about me getting to see a really famous photographer? Why am I talking about this?
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